MLB officials plan to discuss the Michael Pineda pine tar incident with the Yankees, though a suspension isn't expected, Brendan Kuty of NJ.com reports. Pineda had what Kuty describes as a brown, oily substance on his hand during Thursday's start against the Red Sox, but league spokesman spokesman Pat Courtney notes that the right-hander was never seen applying a foreign substance, and the Red Sox never raised the issue. A couple more Major League notes on a slow night at MLBTR:
- The rotating cast for the closer's job in Oakland has continued despite the club's acquisition of Jim Johnson this offseason, writes MLB.com's Tracy Ringolsby. The A's have had eight different pitchers lead the team in saves over the past 13 seasons. Manager Bob Melvin says he "can definitely see" Johnson regaining the role, however.
- Giants manager Bruce Bochy says Pablo Sandoval has assured him that his contract situation hasn't been a distraction in the season's early going, according to a report from Alex Espinoza of MLB.com. Sandoval is hitting just .143/.265/.238 thus far. He's scheduled to become a free agent after the season, but extension talks with the Giants have reportedly been shut down.
If the Red Sox didn’t have an issue with it why is it such a big deal? Lester used a foreign substance in a playoff game last year and no one seemed to care!
And are they 100% sure it’s pine tar?
How about you go and tell your umpires to go investigate next time.
It’s great pitchers can cheat and use substances to doctor the ball, which is proven to affect the outcome of the game. Every team has pitchers who do it.
But take an illegal substance? Whoa, suspended without pay, no playoffs, you’ve ruined the reputation of our noble, wholesome sport and stolen money from your fellow players.
Yes, because those two things are totally the same. :p
That’s right guys, some kinds of cheating forever tarnishes the game, other cheating is part of the game’s charm and is only done by lovable scamps.
So true! A banned substance is a banned substance. It’s incredibly sad to see so many writers and analysts bash the taking of banned substances, and then turn around and say using pine tar is no big deal.
I’d be 100% behind an effort to relax MLB’s rules on pine tar use. But until those rules change, you can’t frown on one thing, and not the other.
Yeah, because so many young players trying to get to the majors jeopardize their health putting pine tar on their hands.
I never said I supported players taking banned substances. Please don’t twist my words. My point was that people need to stop saying it’s okay to break one rule, but not break another.
And mine is that there are different levels of rule violations, just as DUI and speeding aren’t penalized the same.
That doesn’t mean it’s okay to turn our heads, and make excuses, for the lesser violation.
Oh, you are concerned about the players’ health are you? Please explain tobacco being allowed.
Brown pine tar on a white ball isnt very hard to notice, even if the ball has been beaten up and grounded multiple times. Pineda’s fingers were pretty clean too.
IMO, these guys should be able to do whatever they want for grip. If they were truly doctoring the ball trying to get movement, now many of them would even have a clue as how to do it properly? Probably not many. Even if they did, these guys wouldn’t have half the movement that say, Greg Maddux had on his fastball. Let them use whatever.
Jim Johnson really messed up my fantasy team’s ERA category. Here’s to hoping he gets back on track.