Max Scherzer was becoming unglued on the sphere, and it’s hard guilty him. While he was booted from a game and is now in line for an “automatic” 10-game ban, that isn’t near Scherzer’s real issue now.
The integrity of a first-ballot Hall of Famer is in query now.
And it’s throughout a judgment call.
Judgment calls are wonderful when it’s a check swing, a ball or strike and even whether a batter is actually set in time. But when someone’s making a judgment about whether another person cheated, we now have an issue.
MLB’s heart is in the appropriate place. It’s trying its level best to level the playing field. And Phil Cuzzi’s heart is, too, even when he’s the one umpire who in three years of sticky-stuff rules has ever made the judgment that a pitcher is “over the road.”
Over the road. That’s one phrase Cuzzi used to explain what was happening with Scherzer’s sticky hand and fingers.
Listed here are a couple of more from Cuzzi and crew chief Dan Bellino, who’s heart is also in the appropriate place (even when he’s a trained lawyer, too).
“So far as stickiness, level of stickiness, this was the stickiest that it has been since I’ve been inspecting hands,” Bellino said. “All the hand was stickier than anything we had inspected before.”
“It was far stickier than anything we felt today and anything this 12 months,” Cuzzi said.
“There was something likely greater than just rosin,” Bellino added.
Yep, judgment calls, every one.
When asked in the event that they could discover what foreign substance they consider Scherzer was using, Bellino said, “, I couldn’t. I’d only have to invest and I don’t think it’s fair to invest.”
Here’s the massive problem: The entire thing is concept. And it’s all unfair.
The good thing about PED rules is you realize if you get someone, regardless of what bizarre excuse they make up. (My personal favorite: Manny Ramirez suggesting he took PEDs to assist him get pregnant. Thanks Dr. Manny.)
The bad thing in regards to the sticky-stuff rule is that, while well intended, it’s an utter failure. In three years they’ve “caught” three perpetrators when we now have to know many more pitchers are attempting to game the system. And here’s the clincher: In three years, the one umpire who’s caught anyone is Cuzzi.
Possibly he’s the one one in every of 100-plus umpires who’s a superb judge of stickiness. Possibly he went to a special school to evaluate what’s good sticky and what’s bad sticky. In fact, perhaps he just happened to be scheduled for games with “cheaters.”
“The Cuzzi on-field spectrometer shouldn’t be the reply,” Scherzer’s agent Scott Boras texted me. “MLB must employ available scientific methods (not subjective) to create verifiable certainty of rules.”
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I feel for the umpires, who are actually expected to time batters and pitchers, and police pitchers, too. Cuzzi warned Scherzer twice so he wasn’t in search of a headline. The issue is there must be a strict rule, not only a regular.
In Hector Santiago’s case, the umpires (yes, Cuzzi) impounded the glove and MLB tested it. They couldn’t well impound Scherzer’s hand. Possibly they need a strategy to test it on the spot.
Bellino said he understands the importance of their decision to eject Scherzer. Although he didn’t elaborate, the importance goes way beyond the 2 or three extra innings Scherzer might need gotten out of a game where his stuff wasn’t good (Is that exculpatory evidence?). Bellino surely understands a person’s fame is at stake.
And never just any man. Middle reliever Santiago was the primary “cheater,” and he was later caught with PEDs. Journeyman Caleb Smith was the second “cheater,” and he received the identical penalty although MLB believes his case was less obvious. Again, more judgment.
Now we now have a first-ballot Hall of Famer who’s been “caught,” at the least we still think he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. So folks are finally going to start out to look more closely on the sticky-stuff rules.
Fair or not, many will consider Scherzer tried to get away with something, and perhaps he did. But we are going to never know of course.
Based on MLB bylaws, pitchers can’t use “foreign” substances, which suggests anything apart from rosin. But they will’t use an excessive amount of rosin either.
MLB’s recent memo states that the “use of rosin have to be consistent with the necessities and expectations of the Official Baseball Rules,” which suggests that just the appropriate amount of rosin have to be applied. But who’s to say what that’s?
While Scherzer said he only used rosin, the umpires consider something else might need been involved. Possibly.
Scherzer revealed he washed his hands with alcohol in front of an MLB official after being warned to remove the rosin. Is it possible the alcohol combined with rosin residue created stickiness? One former All-Star pitcher told me alcohol can actually cause stickiness. So perhaps it’s all about how Scherzer removed the rosin.
“Not tacky,” Bellino emphasized to the pool reporter about Scherzer’s hand. “Sticky.”
“It sounds silly,” he continued, “but there’s a difference between tackiness and stickiness.”
Right, some tackiness is allowed, and even a little bit of stickiness. But not an excessive amount of.
From here, the rule, while well intended, seems a bit tacky. Hopefully, it doesn’t stick.