Reliever Rincon finds relief in return to team
Minnesota Twins reliever Juan Rincon said Friday that he was excited to be back from a 10-day suspension for steroids and relieved he did not have to keep it a secret anymore.
“It’s not the same as when you get called up,” Rincon said with a sheepish smile. “But I’m excited.”
Rincon was suspended on May 3 for testing positive for a banned substance, becoming the highest profile player to be punished. Sixty-three players have been suspended this year for violating the minor league program and Rincon is one of five to receive 10-day penalties for violating the major league program.
“The hardest part was when I first got the call,” Rincon said. “Going through that situation, I don’t think too many people know what it is like. … It’s different now. Now it’s out there and now everybody knows and that was my main fear. Now I’m just here, doing what I’m supposed to do. Now I feel different.”
Rincon said he was informed of the positive test in mid-April, but had to keep the news a secret to teammates, friends and family for more than two weeks while he tried to appeal the ruling.
All the while Rincon kept pitching, emerging as one of the top setup men in baseball.
It was not as easy as it looked.
“That was the longest two weeks and the hardest two weeks I’ve ever been through,” Rincon said. “There was no eating, no sleeping, no life.”
The people who knew about the positive test were his wife and agent.
“I couldn’t even tell my mom and dad,” he said. “I thought I could get myself out of it, so why should I give them something to worry about?”
Rincon maintains that he did not knowingly take a banned substance and has filed a grievance with the players’ union in hopes of recouping some of the lost salary.
With the grievance still pending, Rincon would not divulge for what substance he tested positive, only saying that he has no idea how it got into his system. The whole process has taught Rincon to be careful about what he puts in his body.
“I learned a lot of things that we haven’t been taught,” Rincon said. “When they told me, I went on the Net and started to search everything because I never thought it was going to come up to me. I wasn’t worried about steroids or anything like that. Now that I know a lot about everything. What is illegal, what’s not illegal.”
Rincon spent the bulk of his suspension in Fort Myers, Fla. He pitched four innings in three simulated games.
“He’s ready to pitch,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He has a good smile on his face and that’s nice to see.”
Despite the stress he has been under since receiving that phone call, Rincon was all smiles on his return. The Venezuelan jabbered with countryman Johan Santana and horsed around with closer Joe Nathan in the clubhouse.
“My teammates were huge, amazing,” Rincon said. “When I walked in the clubhouse, you could tell they were happy. That’s what I have left in all this mess.”
Though it felt “weird” to be returning under these circumstances, Rincon was happy to be doing it during a homestand rather than on the road.
“I’ll get my feet wet, throw a couple innings and it will be OK,” he said.
Four more suspensions announced
Florida infielder Wilson Delgado and Kansas City utilityman Luis Ugueto, who played for the Seattle Mariners in 2002-03, were among four players given 15-game suspensions for violating baseball’s minor league steroids policy.
Pitcher Jeremy Cummings of St. Louis and first baseman Joshua Pressley of Kansas City were also suspended.