June 25: Diaz will not appeal and will start serving his suspension tonight. Joel Sherman of The New York Post was among those to relay the news on X.
June 24: As expected, Diaz has received a 10-game suspension. Jon Heyman of The New York Post was among those to relay the news on X. The righty can appeal the decision but it’s not yet clear if he will.
June 23: Mets closer Edwin Diaz was ejected from tonight’s game due to an apparent use of an illegal substance on his hands. Diaz was taking the field in the bottom of the ninth to try and preserve a 5-2 New York lead, but after the standard check every pitcher receives before entering and exiting games, crew chief Vic Carapazza tossed Diaz from the game. Drew Smith and Jake Diekman combined for a scoreless inning to preserve the Mets’ victory over the Cubs.
As per league rules, Diaz now faces a mandatory 10-game suspension for use of foreign substances. He won’t be paid for those 10 games, and the Mets aren’t allowed to replace him on the roster, so the club will have to field a 25-man roster over the course of Diaz’s suspension. Diaz has the right to an appeal, so it is possible he might receive fewer than a 10-game ban, even if that scenario is rather unlikely given the seemingly apparent evidence.
Diaz is the third Mets pitcher in the last two seasons to be tossed for a game for use of an illegal substance, as both Smith and Max Scherzer received 10-game suspensions during the 2023 campaign. Similar suspensions were issued to the Astros’ Ronel Blanco earlier this season, and to Robert Suarez and Domingo German last year.
Tonight’s incident is the latest turn in an up-and-down comeback season for Diaz, who missed all of the 2023 season due to a torn patellar tendon. Diaz has a 4.70 ERA over 23 innings and 23 appearances this season, recording seven saves in 11 chances. While he looked pretty close to his past All-Star form early in the year, a few shaky outings led the Mets to move Diaz into lower-leverage situations, and he was then sidelined entirely due to a shoulder impingement.
The right-hander missed a little over three weeks due to the injury, and has looked sharp in his three outings since being activated off the 15-day IL. Diaz has tossed three scoreless innings and earned two saves and a win in those three games, while allowing two hits and no walks, and striking out three batters.
He’ll now get another unwelcome break from action while serving his suspension, leaving the Mets likely to return to the closer committee approach they used earlier this season when Diaz was both injured and out of the closer’s role. Diaz’s absence throws a wrench into the momentum of a New York that has won 13 of its last 17 teams, and gotten back into the hunt for a wild card berth.
Bro is having some kinda two year stretch.
This why you don’t pay relievers, it is quite possibly the most volatile positioning sport. Very few are consistently good for consecutive years.
*position in sports
Make that “position in baseball”.
Very few exceptions to the rule, Mariano Rivera is one of the few.
foreign substances weren’t inspected on pitcher’s hands and glove after every inning pitched when Rivera was active
You can’t prove that he did cheat anymore than you can prove that he didn’t
And Hoffman, Lee Smith, wagner, and most of the rest of the 300+ saves club. Jansen and Kimbrel too.
Relief Pitcher’s are like place kicker’s in the NFL. In that their performance can change drastically from one year to the next. And unless you have one of the best in the league(i.e.Mo Rivera/Justin Tucker) you’re always going to be nervously sweating out those final 3-outs or that last second game winning 45- yard FG attempt.
If you do pay them then they can afford spider tack!
Or is that just in the Cohen clubhouse budget?
I mean Diaz has been for the most part
He better get right before he ends up as a Taco Bell spokes man.
RE: Shadow
Funny that Diaz flaming out still is more successful than you
What’s wrong with Taco Bell????
“HI I’m Edgwin Dias, formore MLB pisher” I can see it now
This got a solid laugh from me
Hawk tuah
Spit on that thang!
His fingers had some kind of funk on them. They were zoned in on something inside his glove too. Umpire was just looking at the glove and his fingers, and then looking at Diaz like, “Nah, bruh. Nah.”
Pressure changes everything.
These guys want to succeed so badly and live up to the expectations that it must really weigh on them psychologically. In many ways I feel for a guy like this. Not condoning the action but looking behind the reasoning and having empathy.
It’s also subjective so they are likely pushing the envelope to see what they can get away with. We only hear about the guys who get caught. There’s probably plenty of situations where guys have stuff on their hands and the umps let it go because they feel like it doesn’t reach the threshold for ejection.
If pitchers are smart, they would put it in their hair or on their belt, or even socks. Umps don’t check there!
The old hair gel trick. Hair gel + sweat can make a pretty sticky concoction. You aren’t the first person to think of this.
I believe Maxwell Smart started the trend lol
@gww
they check belts or are supposed to atleast and its kind of obvious is you put your hands on your hair often as most dont regularly run their hands through there hair or adjust their socks regularly. A manager will call that out and have it checked within a few pitches.
If they were smart they would have the catcher hide it in the vest or somewhere. The pitcher wont have anything on them and the catcher can sticky it up and toss it back. They never have their hands checked. They always adjusting themselves so easy enough to sneak it in.
Might also be a loophole as catchers dont pitch and the pitcher doesnt have the foreign substance. Its against the spirit of the rule but not the word until they close that loophole.
the problem with that is if the umpire accidentally touches the tainted ball or a fan in the stands catches a tainted foul ball for example
It’s too much of a risk for the catcher to be rubbing a foreign substance on the ball
how often does an umpire touch a ball that has been used maybe 2 or 3 times in a game at most and thats usually for the pitcher asking for a new ball and throws back the old one. If the pitcher tosses him a tacked ball he deserves to be caught.
Also if a fan catches a ball do you think they really would know if its a got a little bit of tack to it? Probably got sticky fingers from beer, soda, ice cream, etc etc from the concession stands with the sodas.
The only thing i would worry about is if its end of the inning and the next teams pitcher catches it. give it a quick rub in the dirt when you roll it back 🙂
And $1.3MM+ forfeited for the 10-game suspension.
The reason is hitters have advantages thanks to the last 30 years of baseball evolution and two baseball commissioners who wanted this to happen.
Oh look, a political discussion triggering people, goodie!
PEDs, illicit underage relationships, illegal gambling, foreign substances…
Mlb has turned into a dark seedy nightclub run by al capone
Compare them to a random group of twenty- and thirty-somethings, and they might not come out too bad.
Random 20somethings dont have $300 mil contracts. Random 20somethings Dont have young kids looking up to them, idolizing them. When i was 20, billion dollar businesses didnt hang their hopes on me. These players are dumb, irresponsible & unprofessional . Have fun playing in mexican league & korea when you flush your career in the toilet bec of drugs or gambling, etc
You are just unlikeable.
Utah: Nobody’s accusing Diaz of drugs or gambling.
Seriously, who whizzed in your breakfast cereal?
Johnny
“Random 20somethings dont have $300 mil contracts. Random 20somethings Dont have young kids looking up to them, idolizing them. When i was 20, billion dollar businesses didnt hang their hopes on me. ”
Right. So even more pressure. And temptation.
“These players are dumb”
F off
JUM
Troll
Adios
CBeisbol, Diaz is dumb for how be blew out his knee last year. Even Kendrys Morales shook his head.
He’s dumb for celebrating? You serious?
i_h
Another baseball fan who seems to hate the players
Adios
“You blew out your knee? How did you do it? Running? You got hit?”
“No, I decided to jump around after a win that was kinda meaningless. I couldn’t contain my excitement.”
How is it not dumb, exactly?
Because you don’t understand the importance international players place on winning in the WBC. It’s a matter of national pride. The MLB is a paycheck/career but the WBC is passion.
Also, jumping up and down isn’t an over-zealous celebration for anyone under 65 years old, especially professional athletes. It’s a freak accident. It happens. It’s not an indictment on someones intelligence….. Unlike certain brain dead comments made on here. ..
@happening
The only thing dumber than diaz blowing his knee out & maybe destroying his career in a Meaningless game & the only thing dumber than PED users who cheat the game, cheat the fans, and cheat themselves… the only thing dumber are the people who defend them. There’s a reason there’s a mute button. I got better stuff to do than argue with these brainless fools who have zero respect for logic or common sense. Dont waste your time
Utah
“The only thing dumber than diaz ”
Adios
Lmao you’re beyond stupid.
Did you watch the same WBC we all did, MetsSchmets? That game was a simple round robin, first of all. And second, national pride does not warrant any player tearing anything around their knee.
Are you seriously justifying the absolute stupidity of this person? This wasn’t a freak accident this was pure idiocy. Have something to truly celebrate and do it without losing a limb.
Wowzers MetsSchmets……….
Adios. The line used by every soft as melted ice cream person here. Your echo chamber’s IQ is declining.
I understand the importance. You don’t understand how to celebrate. Nobody blows a knee partying unless you’re an idiot.
Run-on sentence abuser Jonathan Utah and self proclaimed best respecter of logic or common sense hereby states he isn’t going to waste any more of his time with us brainless fools.
But we all know he’s going make to multiple comments, none positive, on every Mets related post without fail. They will all be a unhinged rants only tangentially related to the content itself.
Nah,they’re just trying to catch up to the headlines from the NFL & NBA players.
Or for that matter, Premier League footballers.
lolMets
Another feather in the muts cap
Muts? Good one.
His brain is a hamster on a wheel
The curse of Spider Tack…attacks again. What next for the Mets?
A hastily-called press conference to announce that several, current unnamed players engaged in dog-fighting and Ayahuasca-centered demonic rituals.
It’d make more sense if it read “getting drowned out in their own ballpark by Yankee fans during the Subway Series”.
Crap
Diaz – what really happened was the clubhouse door was hot and greasy that day so it must have been when I used the railing to
go up the stairs.
was literally nothing even the broadcast said this was dumb. Rosen and sweet. they saw nothing wrong with him and they zoomed on the sticky looking hand and said bull pen cams were on him the whole time
I’m baffled when people have this take. Pitchers get checked every game. Umps see rosen and sweat all the time. This was obviously out of the ordinary. Also important to remember that you’re not supposed to have any rosin on you from the bullpen. That’s supposed to be washed off before using what’s on the mound. Clearly Diaz was using excess rosin (from the bullpen) or some other illegal substance. He was testing the limit and got caught.
Von you are correct.
These umpires check ever single pitcher, if you look at the dudes hand it’s as clear as can be. You may be slightly biased
Mets will get a handle on this sticky situation soon.
metsfan
“was literally nothing even the broadcast said”
How would the broadcaster know, from hundreds of feet away, what was on Diaz?
Exactly! And whose broadcasters was the metsfan79 listening to? I’m sure it wasn’t the Cubs broadcasters. There’s always two sides to the story.
ESPN, not Mets or Cubs
It was ESPN, He might have been fooled by the fact that the play by play announcer was Boog from the Cubs.
“I’m sure it wasn’t the Cubs broadcasters”, are you sure because maybe there was no Cubs broadcast?
Do you usually make sweeping statements about events you didn’t even watch?
Wait! Tell me again. What reason is there REALLY to watch a 4th place team 2 games under .500 play a last place team 5 games under .500?
ayeah
“Wait! Tell me again. What reason is there REALLY to watch a 4th place team 2 games under .500 play a last place team 5 games under .500?”
The enjoyment of the game.
Watching select players. Even the worst teams have interesting players.
You’re welcome
The broadcast really didn’t say that either, aj pierzinski and many other former Big leaguers have come out and said they’ve never seen a hand look like that.
AJ said he saw Kenny Rogers hand once that had pine tar all over it, was the most similar. But to most, this is obvious
So the guys in the broadcast booth are right, and the guy that actually touching whatever it was, is wrong? That’s your best take?
It was literally something!!! Who cares what the “broadcast” said he broke the rules serve your punishment and come back…. It’s not that hard…. Fan is short for fanatic every team has had cheaters don’t make it right….. he broke the rules take your punishment….. no excuses
metsfan79: What’s Rosen’s first name and what’s so sweet about him?
It’s just some Grimace Shake.
Hang out with Grimace long enough, you start getting mistaken for Ronald…
Woe is Mets, LOL
LOL you did a Shakespeare! Congrats!!!
“Let me tellya … that guy was philthy !”
Diaz is standup guy. known for accountability, being great teammate and owning up like a man.
A lot of posts in this thread are ridiculously one-sided, with zero reference to Diaz’s side of the story.. Shame on you. And I believe him. He was using his usual substance mixture which is within in the rules and has been checked by umps every outing like every pitcher He wasn’t deliberately cheating.. On Sunday however, that mixture became more tacky and led to his ouster and suspension. No way would he deliberately cheat, hurt himself and his team. It would in fact be the ultimate team and self-sabotage if this was deliberately done under current team and personal circumstances. That’s just not Diaz.
So you’re going with the insane theory that this was completely arbitrary? The umpires randomly threw out a completely innocent guy? It’s very hard to get thrown out for this. He was pushing the boundary and got caught. He barely argued because he knew he was caught. To your point, it may have just been some combination of rosin, but it was allover his hand before he took the mound (illegal) and there was so much on him that it could be seen on camera (illegal) and clearly the umps felt it was sticky beyond the norm (illegal).
What’s the difference between “discretionary” and “arbitrary?”
Pretty simple. These guys check hands and gloves about 9 times a game. Diaz’s hands and gloves stood out that much.
I get it. The rules need to be more clearly defined, but acting like the umps are throwing innocent people out is crazy. The % of pitchers getting tossed is low because the pitchers who get tossed go well beyond the acceptable limit of stickiness. They test the boundaries because the boundaries are not clearly defined. That’s an MLB problem, but I think it’s ignorant to assume these folks aren’t going well beyond the norm. Otherwise they wouldn’t be tossed.
“Innocent” is discretionary.
I don’t doubt that folks who get thrown out have generally more sticky stuff on them than those who don’t.
But I also doubt that Diaz just x5’d his stickiness for this particular outing compared to the last two for no reason in particular. Different umps, different standards, etc etc.
Could be. He was pretty ineffective before his recent return. I’d be curious to see if his spin rates went up.
I actually wrote a script to detect users of sticky stuff. It compares spin rates and other indicators before and after the “ban” in 2021. Trevor Bauer definitely used it. Shohei Ohtani too. Jose Quintana likely did not.
But to your earlier assertion, wouldn’t his sticky hands have been caught in any of his 3x recent effecting outings if they’re so egregiously sticky?
Lots of variables there. Did the umpires diligently check him every time? Was he using the same amount of stuff every time or at all? Was he gradually increasing sticky stuff as he wasn’t getting caught? This is why I’m curious to see his spin rate.
Because he didn’t use that much. Because he wasn’t checked as thoroughly? Because he didn’t use it at all?
Lots of things.
Raisinssss
“I actually wrote a script to detect users of sticky stuff. It compares spin rates and other indicators before and after the “ban” in 2021. Trevor Bauer definitely used it. Shohei Ohtani too. Jose Quintana likely did not.”
So, your script “definitely” works?
How did you test that?
I’m guessing that you didn’t
I had ol Trevvy beat me like one of his French girls and then had angel Hernandez rub my face to see if an “excessive” amount of sticky stuff was left behind.
Tell me sir, how might one “definitely” test such a thing?
Use pybaseball and figure it out.
And you’ve actually made the point I’m making.
The process is so arbitrary that any one of those variables could have played a significant role in whether a player is ejected in any particular situation.. When really it should only be down to one question; whether a pitcher’s hand is excessively tacky.
raisinsss
Right, you didn’t
So you cannot say that any player definitely used or didn’t use
Glad that we got you to (basically) admit that
Consider this a primer on statistical inference.
Take your low value commentary elsewhere.
And while on the topic of semantics, my script definitely works because it runs without exceptions and produces my desired output. So yeah, it DEFINITELY WORKS
Whether I’ve validated it as a predictive model is the question you tried to ask, which begs the question of how you can be so persnickety regarding others’ communications while failing to hold yourself to the same standard.
raisinsss
“whether a pitcher’s hand is excessively tacky.”
You realize, I hope, why that’s I possible to accurately test or.
So, you script cannot say that a pitcher definitely used sticky stuff, correct?
“Trevor Bauer definitely used it. Shohei Ohtani too. “
Diaz says it was rosin, sweat and dirt, the same mixture he says he always uses. MLB needs science behind this – set standards. Logically, a natural or unforeseen change in any variable – sweat, rosin or dirt, indoor and outdoor elements – perhaps even diet, body lotion, hair product impacting sweat has to be considered.
We want players to play by the rules, but when an honest guy like Diaz whose missed a bunch of time since 2022 and is trying to stay on the field, gets caught up in this – it shows the holes in this inadequate system.
You can believe him, but the excuses you are giving should be applied to every pitcher. I see alot of baseball and I don’t see hands that look like that. Only in this case. Hundreds of pitchers… Why aren’t they having these issues?
Probably for the same reason he wasn’t ejected from any of his other appearances, ever.
Because the standard is arbitrary.
I agree that the process needs to be more defined.
Interestingly enough,only 7 pitchers have been suspended for using a foreign substance. Of those 7, 3 of them were Mets.
So this tells us that at the very least, the Mets need to change something up. This could all be arbitrary, but 3 seems extremely high.
How often do we see pitchers’ bare pitching hand right after they use rosin, sweat and dirt to grip the ball?
What’s missing I think is science, MLB determining what outside factors can impact tacky, sticky feel in using legal substances. I don’t believe Diaz deliberately cheated. Firstly, he’s known as stand up guy, and two, he’s worked so hard to get back on the mound this season after missing all of 2023 and struggling for 2 months of 2024 including dealing with another injury he overcame to pitch like Edwin Diaz again – finally..It makes no sense he’s gonna cheat, and then badly hurt himself and his team in such a selfish manner.
LongTimeFan116 hours ago
That’s just not Diaz.
=============================
Not for nothing, but you know nothing about Diaz. No one knows anyone that they don’t interact with.
I don’t know him but am reporting what is said about him from others who do.
Furthermore, after years of listening to a player’s interviews, you get a feel for personality, authenticity, how a player handles difficult on-field issues.
Ohtani knew Ippei too, and was a “truly personal” friend. Living with him 24/7 and I’m sure if you asked Ohtani up until the gambling debt came out he was saying Ippei had a great personality, was authentic and honest and would never gamble (or cheat in Diaz’s case).
So, how can you say you can believe Diaz is an honest guy who wouldn’t cheat?
I hope you are right. Never heard anything bad about the guy. He still needs to follow the rules! Clean his gear every day.
@LongTimeFan1, HaHa! When was the last time you sat down and had a drink and talked about life and family with Diaz?
What??? That’s irrelevant.
Whats relevant is his reputation, history, and his circumstance.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, is better than winning 13 out of your last 17 teams.
Winning 51 of your last 77 is better.
But there’s not even 77 teams
I didn’t say teams. I’m not even sure what the OP meant by winning 17 teams.
Well, teams is what the article said 🙂
“Beating 13 out of your last 17 teams.” I get it now. The phrase winning threw me off.
I, for one, have zero issue with pitchers trying to obtain more grip on the baseball for one main reason: MLB owns the company making the baseballs. It’s a significant conflict of interest, and MLB has been doctoring the baseballs to their narrative for quite some time.
A pitcher obtaining a little more grip on a baseball gains a modicum amount of extra spin or velocity. It also helps the pitcher control the ball into the strike zone better. I personally think it’s GOOD for baseball.
With MLB implementing the highly divisive pitch clock, and their numerous missteps in nearly all facets, you would think that they would want to avoid any additional reasons to put negative spotlights on their game. The organization is being ran by out-of-touch geriatrics who are more worried about ensuring “pride month” is celebrated than elevating the game.
Scrap
“I, for one, have zero issue with pitchers trying to obtain more grip on the baseball”
That’s why they allow rosin
“ensuring “pride month” is celebrated”
Maybe you’d like to give a few more thoughts on this
You make it sound like the two are mutually exclusive. I would like to believe that MLB today is more in-touch than ever recently implementing better pay for minor leaguers and rewarding high-performance, pre-arb players. I’m not a fan of the pitch-clock but the game needs to evolve and these things are always a work in progress. Stumbles by all parties will be made along the way and expected.
They are mutually exclusive. The better pay across the board is due large-in-part to the players association. It’s not coming from the corporate side of MLB. MLB has no interest in truly offering pay parity, their only interest is profit; hence, they control the actual baseball, so they control the outcome(s).
@Scrap Don’t bother with Latino-reincarnated “filihok”. We may get his French version next.
Au revoir!
You lost me when you injected bigotry into your post.
@longtimfan, it’s not bigotry, it’s fact. I simply stated that they needed to adjust their focus to appeal to the majority. The fact that you and that other cry baby call it bigotry says a lot more about your lack of character than mine.
True bigots look for reasons to call others bigots. Your raised your flag high and found a reason to be offended when you took what was posted and twisted it to appeal to your lack of mental ability.
Another cheater. Let’s hope MLB gets a proper commissioner that will place a ban on all players found to be using PED and foreign substances and is retroactive to 1820.
This rule is so bogus. An umpire checks and subjectively makes a decision based on their feel. There are types of substances on the mound and on a hot night it’s been shown that they can cause the ball to stick to someone’s hand without them holding onto the ball. If they’re going to suspend people for a “foreign substance” than the league has to identify and test for what that substance is. Swab his hand, it can’t be that hard. This makes the league look like a bigger joke than it already is.
It would have been a bigger joke to let him continue to pitch with the hand the way it looked. The minute any average person sees it, it’s immediately odd.
But by all means.
KP
By all means, suspend a player because their hand looked “odd” to an average person.
Yes… Test him. If an umpire sees or feels anything out of the ordinary, he’s directed to do something about it. What would it take for you to remove a pitcher from the game?
Tell me what you would need to see before it rises to an actionable level?
KP
Test how?
It’s very difficult, probably impossible, for this to be done objectively.
It’s one of many reasons I went from fanatic to casual fan. I usually just check box scores and standings these days. I’m glad the sport is thriving despite all of its’ stupidity.
He should have saved it for a team that can actually hit.
drew smith from the mets was also tossed last yr and suspended 10 gms. he said it was nothing illegal, just sweat+rosin+dirt. in the yr since, smith says he hasnt changed a single thing, hasnt done anything different.
3 Mets pitchers have been suspended for sticky stuff. MLB has only suspended 7 players total. Whatever your feeling about the rules, the Mets are doing something that other teams aren’t.
Like this isn’t a court proceeding, it’s very crazy that someone sees this and thinks that’s somehow acceptable.
I wonder what would it take for these same people to throw out a pitcher
WHAT SAY YOU, BRIAN KENNY??
COWARD
Ha ha ha eat an eggplant Steve Cohen
Hmmm, LongTimeFan1 must be Diaz in disguise. He all of sudden must have gotten suspended from MLB Trade Rumors site for sticky keyboard too. Because he vanished from here.
I’m a she and I haven’t vanished.
I apologize. I stand corrected. I guess the word I heard from all the others that knew you, and gave me the impression you were an upstanding honest decent guy were wrong.
Why do I hear “but I’m telling you, it’s not mine” in my head?
Probably my oddball sense of humor.
I think it’s umpires manipulating their fandual acounts.
Mets gonna Met…
I thought if Edwin just gripped it on center, threw it like a football with a stiff wrist that would be good enough for him.
That Grip, Tilt and Wrist action are the cues for the Roger Beshens Football Slider. That’s the reason Heffner and Blake are in NY and Katz at chico state.
I don’t hear Glasnow complaining anymore about a slippery grip,
He may have realized it was the bad grip and/or tilt he had on that RB Football Slider that caused his TJ.
What a great guy this Diaz is.
If pitchers can’t have “substances” deemed illegal, time to tell hitters they can no longer use pine tar, batting gloves, hand protectors or bat grips.
Let’s have an even playing field. Tilting the scales to allow hitters to do what they want, wear what they want and basically get away with anything they want is unfair to pitchers who are heavily restricted.
It’s time to bring back the sharp belt buckle…….most baseballs today aren’t in play more than a few pitches so the evidence of a nice cut is gone……..then they “don need no stinking sticky sh….stuff”.
Gosh, another great contract signing by the Mets. Before you know it, they will be so broke they will have to install metal trashcans in the bullpen……..
He seems to be in a sticky situation!
Is this a one-off or does he have a substance abuse problem?
I want to know why only the player is punished for this? I think the Bullpen and Pitching, coaches, as well as the manager should be given suspensions. One or two games for them would clean up this problem!
How is that fair to other players to not have a manager and coaches who may not be aware nor complicit? Using your suggestion is a quick way to destroy a clubhouse.
Didn’t appeal? So, he knew he was breaking the rule.
That and taking 10 games to rest up.
Players usually appeal to get a reduction in the suspension. Not appealing is quite telling.
Batters use batting gloves to get a better grip on the bat, pitchers should be able to use a glove to get a better grip on balls
WOW! Rodney King once said: Why can’t we just all get along. He had a tough live and still regretted seeing all the destruction around him, regardless of the motivations of the parties. May we have a calmer and better night tonight!
EdLose Diaz