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MLB Tightening Crackdown On Foreign Substances

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Major League Baseball’s efforts to root out pitchers’ usage of foreign substances was one of the biggest stories in the sport last summer. Beginning in early June, the league made clear that it was planning to crack down on grip enhancers, concerned pitchers were using sticky stuff to enhance the quality of their raw arsenals as opposed to merely trying to improve their control.

That decision wasn’t without backlash. Rays ace Tyler Glasnow claimed the timing of the midseason enforcement contributed to an injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. Phillies manager Joe Girardi and then-Nationals star Max Scherzer had an on-field squabble after Girardi asked for umpires to check Scherzer. A pair of pitchers — Héctor Santiago and Caleb Smith — were suspended for ten games apiece.

However, the foreign substance controversy mostly faded from public view after the first few weeks of its enforcement. Umpires continued to examine pitchers’ hats, gloves and belts frequently, but Smith was the only pitcher to fail a substance check in the second half of the season.

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated reports that MLB sent a memo to teams today informing them that foreign substance inspections will become more rigorous this season. Beginning with Spring Training contests this weekend, umpires will check pitchers’ hands directly, according to the memo. They may also continue to examine players’ equipment. Starting pitchers will be checked between random innings, while every reliever will be inspected at least once, as was the case last season.

Verducci obtains a copy of the memo, quoting MLB senior vice president of baseball operations Michael Hill as saying “If an umpire’s inspection reveals that the pitcher’s hand is unquestionably sticky or shows unmistakable signs of the presence of a foreign substance, the umpire will conclude that the pitcher was applying a foreign substance to the baseball for the purpose of gaining an unfair competitive advantage.” As was the case last season, that’d lead to an automatic ejection and suspension.

Position players aren’t subject to foreign substance inspections, but they would also be ejected and suspended if found to be harboring sticky stuff for pitchers. Verudcci writes that the league is tightening inspections in response to a fear that pitchers began carrying foreign substances on areas of their body besides their hat, belt and glove late last season. He notes that leaguewide fastball and slider spin rates and velocity-adjusted spin rates starting to trend upwards late in the year (albeit not to pre-enforcement levels) after falling dramatically in the immediate aftermath of the crackdown. Directly examining the pitcher’s hand should theoretically make it harder to skirt the substance checks and curtail whatever portion of that increase was due to pitcher subversion of the sticky stuff ban.

There remains the possibility that foreign substance checks won’t need to be as prevalent at some point in the future. MLB began to test pre-tacked baseballs in the minors late last season. In November, commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters the pre-tacked ball could be put in circulation during regular season action at some point in 2022.

Rob Manfred Discusses Possibility Of A Lockout

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The current collective bargaining agreement expires in less than two weeks, with the possibility of an offseason freeze looming. If a new deal isn’t agreed upon when the current one wraps up at 11:59 pm EST on December 1, the general expectation within the industry is that owners will lock the players out — resulting in a ban on transactions until another agreement is reached.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the state of the labor situation when speaking with reporters (including Evan Drellich of the Athletic and Jeff Passan of ESPN) this afternoon. The commissioner stopped short of calling a lockout an inevitability, but he certainly seemed to suggest that course of action was on the table. Manfred drew a distinction between the impact a winter transactions freeze would have on the sport versus that of a work stoppage that lingers into next season.

“I can’t believe there’s a single fan in the world who doesn’t understand that an offseason lockout that moves the process forward is different than a labor dispute that costs games,” he said. As to whether the sides still had hope of hammering out a new CBA before December 1, Manfred said the league was “committed to continuing to offer proposals and suggestions in an effort to get to an agreement before” that date, but acknowledged that “time is becoming an issue.”

Technically, the expiration of the CBA wouldn’t necessitate a lockout. As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explored in August, the sides continued to conduct offseason business during the last winters (1993-94 and 94-95) that proceeded without a CBA in place. The players went on strike when no agreement was reached during the 1994 season, and that year’s World Series was eventually cancelled.

Manfred implied the league wouldn’t want to run the risk of negotiating without an agreement this time around, pointing to the ’94 strike and trends in other professional sports leagues as justification. “I don’t think ’94 worked out too great for anybody,” Manfred said. “I think when you look at other sports, the pattern has become to control the timing of the labor dispute and try to minimize the prospect of actual disruption of the season. That’s what it’s about: It’s avoiding doing damage to the season.”

The commissioner’s comments come amidst a background of a very slow back-and-forth between the league and Players Association. The MLBPA has made two core economics proposals over the past six months; the league has made just one, although it made an alteration to its August offer last week. It doesn’t seem there’s been much progress on economics issues, with the MLBPA pursuing such goals as raised luxury tax thresholds and earlier arbitration eligibility. The league, meanwhile, has pushed for lowered luxury tax markers and an age-based system for free agency eligibility that could delay the path to the open market for the game’s brightest stars, among other things.

While much of Manfred’s focus was unsurprisingly on the core economic structure of the game, he also touched on a few other topics. The commissioner expressed optimism about the league’s ongoing testing of pre-tacked baseballs, suggesting they hoped to test the prototype in Spring Training 2022. Manfred didn’t rule out the possibility of using a pre-tacked ball in regular season games at some point next season. He also voiced support for the possibility of a pitch clock being implemented in upcoming CBA talks, saying that “owners remain very interested in” introducing a clock at the major league level after testing it in minor league games for years.

Manfred also addressed the respective stadium situations in Tampa Bay and Oakland. He again suggested Las Vegas could be a viable landing spot for the A’s if they’re unable to work out a deal in the Bay Area. Manfred confirmed that the Rays have made a proposal to the league’s executive committee regarding the franchise’s hopes for splitting home games between Tampa and Montreal. (John Romano of The Tampa Bay Times explored the issue at greater length earlier in the week). The executive committee has yet to weigh in on the topic, Manfred said this afternoon.

Finally, the league announced the previously-reported decision to provide housing for minor league players in 2022. Josh Norris of Baseball America shed some light on the details, reporting that teams will now be responsible for leases and utility agreements for players on minor league contracts who make less than $20K per month. Norris adds further details on the base amenities (including utilities, electricity and WiFi) that acceptable residences must include. His full piece is a worthwhile read for those interested in the specifics of the new policy.

MLB To Test Pre-Tacked Baseball In Triple-A

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Major League Baseball will introduce a pre-tacked baseball at certain Triple-A games for the minor league season’s final week and a half, reports Kyle Glaser of Baseball America. The new ball won’t be in effect at all games at the minors’ top level, as MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword tells Glaser there’s not yet enough supply to support a wide rollout.

It’s a bit surprising to see the experimental ball introduced at such a late stage of the season. The pre-tacked ball being tested in games did seem to be an inevitability at some point, though. Last month, Hannah Keyser of Yahoo! Sports reported that MLB had sent a prototype of a pre-tacked ball to certain big league players for feedback.

That experimentation comes on the heels of the league’s crackdown on pitchers’ usage of foreign substances. That was motivated primarily by a desire to police the most egregious offenders, pitchers who’d used extremely sticky substances to improve the quality of their raw stuff. However, MLB announced they’d legislate out all non-rosin sticky stuff — even substances more generally considered acceptable, like a sunscreen/rosin combination — to make enforcement more feasible for umpires. The league expressed an openness at the time to potential pre-tacked baseballs that would improve pitchers’ grips without meaningfully, artificially enhancing pitch movement. Three months later, they’ve found a product they deem suitable for in-game evaluation.

The pre-tacked baseball — which involves more than the traditional process of rubbing down the ball with mud — will be a change to the affiliated ranks. It’s not a new concept, though. Certain foreign leagues like Japan’s NPB and South Korea’s KBO have used pre-tacked balls for years, and a few players from the U.S. National Team have gone on record in support of the pre-tacked balls used in this summer’s Tokyo Olympics. (KBO and NPB rules call for slightly different specifications regarding the ball than do MLB regulations, so MLB’s pre-tacked prototype will not be the exact same as those foreign leagues’ balls). MLB itself experimented with a pre-tacked baseball in Spring Training 2019 but scrapped the project after receiving negative feedback.

With less than two weeks remaining in the Triple-A season and the pre-tacked ball not yet going into effect at all those games, there won’t be much time for the league to collect data this year. Still, the introduction of the new ball into competitive affiliated game at all is notable, and it’s safe to presume MLB will continue to solicit player feedback and monitor the results in future seasons before considering introducing it at the big league level.

Potential modification of the ball is only one of a few changes with which MLB has experimented in the minor leagues. MLB introduced rules changes at various levels entering the season. The bases were expanded slightly at Triple-A; defensive shifting was limited at Double-A. An electronic strike zone, limits on pick-offs and a 15-second pitch clock were put into place at different levels of the low minors.

Most of those measures will remain under evaluation, as Glaser separately reports that MLB plans to test those rules at this year’s Arizona Fall League. While MLB purposefully distributed those rules changes throughout various levels of the minors to evaluate their impact in isolation, combining them in the AFL is designed to gauge whether there will be any holistic effects. Glaser’s post on the Fall League changes is worth a read in full for those interested, as is this article by Jayson Stark of the Athletic from last week about the pitch clock’s influence on play in the Low-A West league this season.

MLB Reportedly Exploring Prototypes Of Pre-Tacked Baseballs

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Major League Baseball recently sent out prototypes of a pre-tacked baseball for player feedback, reports Hannah Keyser of Yahoo! Sports. Mets starting pitcher Rich Hill tells Keyser New York’s players received the prototypes a week and a half ago.

It’s not much of a surprise to hear the league is in the early stages of trying to develop a pre-tacked ball. MLB’s mid-June enforcement of the prohibition on pitchers’ usage of foreign substances provoked plenty of immediate backlash among players. Rays starter Tyler Glasnow hypothesized that the foreign substance crackdown contributed to a subsequent elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. Others speculated that taking away grip enhancers could put hitters at risk by making them more susceptible to being hit by pitches.

Over the past few months, the league has proceeded with foreign substance checks without too much incident, though. The concern about hits-by-pitch, at least, doesn’t seem to be founded. Through games on June 20, the leaguewide HBP rate checked in at 1.15%. Since June 21 — the date on which the league began foreign substance checks — that rate is 1.20%.

Offense has also improved a bit. Through games on June 20, non-pitchers were hitting .243/.318/.409 with a 23.2% strikeout rate. Since the first day of enforcement, that’s up to .253/.326/.428 with a 22% strikeout percentage. It’s not quite that simple — offense always picks up as the weather warms during the summer months, so that’s surely at play here — but it’s fair to presume MLB is generally happy with how the first few months of enforcement have played out.

That’s not to say everything has gone entirely without issue. Diamondbacks left-hander Caleb Smith became the second player to be suspended for a foreign substance violation earlier this week. Smith is appealing that ban, but it seems unlikely he’ll have much success. MLB Rule 6.02(d) prohibits players from applying rosin — an otherwise legal grip enhancer — to their glove. Smith denied using an illicit substance after being ejected from last Wednesday’s game, but his suspension could still be upheld if rosin is detected on his glove.

Suspending a player for having an otherwise permissible substance on his glove doesn’t seem to be the intent of the league’s crackdown, which was designed to root out more powerful grip enhancers (i.e. Spider Tack) used to improve the quality of a pitcher’s repertoire. Unsurprisingly, Smith’s agent Scott Lonergan of Ballengee Group was critical of the prohibition of rosin on players’ gloves. Speaking with Zach Buchanan of the Athletic, Lonergan expressed support for the overall foreign substance crackdown but called the rosin-on-glove provision of Rule 6.02(d) “too black and white as it stands” and said a Smith suspension would “unfairly (catch him) in the web of Major League Baseball trying to clean up the game.”

While Smith has been adamant he didn’t use any prohibited substances, it does seem there’s an ongoing concern about some pitchers using foreign substances without detection. Eno Sarris of the Athletic notes that inning-by-inning variance in pitcher spin rates is up significantly this month relative to immediately after the start of inspections. In other words, pitchers’ spin rates are fluctuating more between innings within one game than they have in the past. That’s not true of every hurler in MLB, of course, but there’s a notable increase in spin rate variance from a league-wide perspective.

Sarris speculates that could reflect some pitchers’ continued use of foreign substances, albeit more judiciously. For instance, a pitcher who passed an inspection early in an appearance could apply the substance after that inning, reasoning that he likely won’t be checked again until a few frames later on. That’s a speculative explanation, but it could require vigilance from MLB if they’re to continue to clamp down on foreign substances. (Sarris’ piece is well worth a full look for Athletic subscribers).

Settling on a pre-tacked ball could be the cleanest way for MLB to permanently address the sticky stuff issue. If the league can approve a ball that pitchers find easy to grip but which doesn’t meaningfully enhance spin, that could obviate the need for a rosin bag and perhaps decrease the advantage to be gained for pitchers who use the most powerful grip enhancers.

Both Japan’s NPB and South Korea’s KBO use a form of pre-tacked ball already. The specifications for the baseball in those leagues are different than those of MLB, however, as Lindsey Adler, Britt Ghiroli and Sarris explored at the Athletic last month. MLB unsuccessfully experimented with a pre-tacked ball in that mold (albeit with modifications to meet MLB specifications) back in Spring Training of 2019. Finding a suitable pre-tacked ball could be easier said than done, then, but MLB has apparently set out on that goal again in the hope of designing something more agreeable to players this time around.

Caleb Smith Suspended Ten Games For Foreign Substance Violation

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Major League Baseball announced that Diamondbacks left-hander Caleb Smith has been suspended for ten games and fined an undisclosed amount “for possessing a foreign substance on his glove” during last Wednesday’s game against the Phillies. Smith is appealing the suspension. (Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported the news before the official announcement).

Smith was ejected from Wednesday’s game after a foreign substance check at the end of the eighth inning. The 30-year-old had passed a substance inspection earlier in the contest and vehemently denied that he used an illicit substance after the game. Smith is the second player ejected after a substance inspection. Mariners left-hander Héctor Santiago, who was ejected by the same umpiring crew that tossed Smith, unsuccessfully appealed his suspension and ultimately had to serve a ten-game ban in June.

Unless Smith’s suspension is overturned on appeal, the D-Backs will eventually have to play a man short. Players suspended for foreign substance violations cannot be replaced on the active or 40-man rosters.

Quick Hits: Sticky Stuff Crackdown, Cardinals, Verlander

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As we approach trade season, teams are burdened with the overwhelming task of re-evaluating the league in the wake of the crackdown on illegal substances. Broad strokes, evaluators will be more trusting of pitchers who rely on two-seamers and sinkers, writes ESPN’s Buster Olney. Unsurprisingly, those pitchers who have taken to the recent trend of high-velocity heaters up in the zone and wicked curveballs diving away will be watched more closely. The next month will obviously provide important data points for potential buyers, but looking at how players have struggled and/or succeeded in the first few months of the year will also be heavily scrutinized by teams looking to find players on the rebound. In other MLB news….

  • The Cardinals are doing their best to patch together a rotation in the wake of Jack Flaherty’s extended absence, but they’re also exploring their options outside the organization. They have reached out to the Twins about Jose Berrios and the Rangers for Kyle Gibson, but the price for Berrios was “high,” and presumably, the same will be true of Gibson, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With very few difference-making arms likely to be available, Berrios and Gibson are sure to be in high demand. President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak spoke of the Cardinals’ desire to win, but “not at the cost of our future.” While that’s a reasonable mode of thinking, such a mind-set isn’t likely to procure an arm like Berrios or Gibson.
  • Justin Verlander hasn’t rule out the possibility of returning to the Detroit Tigers before his career runs out, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Of course, Verlander needs to get healthy first. He will be a free agent at the end of the season, however, free to pursue a return to Detroit, should that be his desire. Verlander played in Detroit for 13 seasons. He ranks 2nd in Tigers’ history for rWAR among pitchers, 2.7 rWAR behind Hal Newhouser. He is fifth in Tigers’ history in games started with 380 and 2nd in total strikeouts with 2,373.

MLB Suspends Hector Santiago 10 Games For Foreign Substance

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3:10pm: The league actually did not further inspect Santiago’s glove, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports (Twitter link). The ejection and suspension are based solely on the umpire’s discretion. That’s a rather surprising development and one that, speculatively speaking, could prompt some union pushback.

2:20pm: Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that Mariners lefty Hector Santiago has been suspended 10 games and been fined an undisclosed amount for possessing a foreign substance on his glove in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game against the White Sox. Santiago is appealing the decision.

Mariners manager Scott Servais said after the game that umpire Phil Cuzzi was mistaken and that there was no illegal substance on Santiago’s glove — only rosin (which is permissible under MLB rules) and sweat. The league, after conducting an analysis of Santiago’s glove, clearly does not agree and has elected to punish the veteran lefty. Santiago’s suspension will be held in abeyance until the appeal process is complete. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets, Santiago’s case will now be heard by an arbiter  who works for Major League Baseball, which all but eliminates the possibility of the suspension being overturned. It could potentially be reduced, Passan suggests.

The 33-year-old Santiago has been quite effective with the Mariners thus far in 2021 after not pitching in the big leagues last season. He’s worked to a 2.65 ERA with a 23-to-7 K/BB ratio in 17 innings of work. This year’s 32.4 percent strikeout rate is easily a career-high, which will raise some eyebrows in light of the suspension, but it should be noted that Santiago hasn’t seen any appreciable uptick in spin rate this year. The spin on his four-seam fastball, in fact, has dropped from its previous levels, while the spin on his slider is right in line with his career marks.

Under the league’s new enforcement policy for foreign substances, the Mariners won’t be able to replace Santiago on the roster if his suspension is indeed upheld. They’ll have to play a man down while he serves his punishment.

Mariners’ Hector Santiago Ejected Following Foreign Substance Inspection

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Mariners left-hander Héctor Santiago was ejected from today’s game against the White Sox by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi after a between-innings foreign substance inspection, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post was among those to relay. Santiago’s glove was confiscated. (Ben Verlander of Fox Sports provides video of the incident).

Seattle manager Scott Servais confirmed (via Jesse Rogers of ESPN) that Santiago was deemed to have used a foreign substance but claimed Cuzzi’s judgment was incorrect. “He had rosin all over himself. Phil thought he had sticky stuff on his glove,” Servais said. “There is no sticky stuff in the glove.” Rosin is permitted under the league’s substance policy.

If Santiago’s ejection is ultimately deemed to be due to a foreign substance and not rosin, as Servais suggested, the left-hander wiill be subject to a ten-day suspension under the terms of Major League Baseball’s new enforcement of the prohibition against ball doctoring. Santiago would become the first player to be disciplined since MLB’s crackdown went into effect on Monday. The Mariners would not be permitted to replace him on the active or 40-man rosters during the course of any suspension.

The 33-year-old Santiago first appeared in the majors in 2011 and has thrown just under 1000 innings at the big league level. Signed to a minor league deal last month, he’s made nine appearances since being selected to the roster. Santiago entered play today with a 2.45 ERA/2.89 SIERA across 14 2/3 innings.

Rob Manfred Addresses Criticism Of Foreign Substance Enforcement

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Major League Baseball’s long-rumored enforcement of the prohibition on foreign substance use took effect during an eight-game schedule on Monday. With a full slate of games on Tuesday, last night marked the first time all thirty teams were subject to increased monitoring. The process wasn’t without controversy, including an ugly back-and-forth between the Nationals and Phillies when Philadelphia manager Joe Girardi asked umpires to examine Washington starter Max Scherzer for a third time on the night after noticing him touch his hair. (The inspection, like the first two, revealed no illicit substances). After expressing some frustration with Girardi, Scherzer called out commissioner Rob Manfred, saying “These are Manfred rules — go ask him what he wants to do with this. I’ve said enough.”

Manfred spoke with Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic and Tyler Kepner of the New York Times in separate interviews this afternoon, addressing last night’s developments and the future of foreign substance enforcement. Despite the Phillies-Nationals incident, Manfred opined that the overall enforcement process has “gone very well” (via Ghiroli). He pointed out that no MLB pitcher has been ejected and suggested the between-innings screenings, by and large, haven’t slowed down the pace of games. While Manfred conceded that last night’s scene in Philadelphia was “less than ideal,” he suggested the “vast majority” of inspections would proceed without incident.

In the wake of Girardi’s ultimately fruitless suspicions regarding Scherzer, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw suggested there be repercussions (perhaps the forfeiture of a replay challenge) for a manager who asks umpires to check an opposing pitcher who isn’t ultimately found to be wielding any illicit substances. Manfred didn’t seem receptive to such a plan, at least at this time.

“Managers have always had the right to challenge or ask the umpires to inspect somebody for the use of foreign substances,” he told Ghiroli. “I have great respect for two aspects of managers: a) their understanding for what’s going on the field and b) the good judgment they have in terms of not creating spectacles on the field. … As of right now, I’m comfortable with the rule the way it is. We did make a point, we appreciated the possibility of gamesmanship, and if in fact it becomes a problem we will deal with it.”

Manfred also pushed back against Scherzer’s characterization of foreign substance enforcement as a one-way, league-driven change. “It would be incorrect, blatantly incorrect, to assume that the players and the union did not a) provide input into what we are doing and b) have additional opportunities to provide input that they did not take advantage of,” Manfred told Ghiroli. The commissioner pointed to the memo about a potential crackdown the league sent to clubs in Spring Training, as well as the number of reports of imminent enforcement in the few weeks preceding MLB’s announcement, as evidence that those on the players’ side were kept in the loop throughout the process. (Ghiroli heard from a league source last week who claimed the MLB Players Association had been given opportunity to weigh in on the enforcement effort but chose not to do so).

The commissioner also suggested the league was seeing some desired results. He alluded to the dip in leaguewide spin rates that followed shortly after MLB expressed its intention to crack down on sticky stuff. He also pointed to recent upticks in leaguewide offensive numbers when speaking with Kepner. (The commissioner didn’t address the potential effects of weather, however. Offense tends to climb as the weather warms every season. It’s certainly plausible the crackdown on foreign substances has contributed to increased offense in recent weeks, but it’s not the only potential variable).

However one feels about the necessity of the league’s efforts, Manfred’s assertion that the “vast majority” of inspections would proceed without incident seems a bit simplistic. Technically, of course, it’s true; incidents like last night’s Scherzer-Girardi debacle will be much less common than cases of pitchers passing examinations without issue. But instances where the process doesn’t proceed smoothly are certainly going to draw plenty of attention, just as last night’s did.

Perhaps that’s a necessary evil, but MLB certainly doesn’t want that kind of situation to become commonplace. (For what it’s worth, Astros manager Dusty Baker- while not directly addressing Manfred’s comments- predicted we’re “going to see a whole bunch of stuff” like last night’s drama when speaking with Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Nevertheless, Manfred suggested mandatory inspections will continue indefinitely, with the league continuing to check pitchers regularly until he is convinced the foreign substance problem has been stamped out and would not “reassert itself” (via Kepner).

One potential solution that has been speculated upon would involve the creation of a tackier baseball. Manfred said the league is looking into the creation of a substance that could legally be applied to the ball to improve grip (presumably one that doesn’t dramatically enhance pitchers’ spin rates) but suggested it was unlikely to be ready in 2021. “We’re looking into it with a view that at some point, we would have a substance that we could use on all baseballs,” Manfred told Kepner. “I think it’s much more likely that would happen in a future year.”

Manfred’s conversations with Ghiroli and Kepner are both well worth full perusals for those interested in the foreign substance saga.

Mike Rizzo, Clayton Kershaw Weigh In On Scherzer/Girardi Debacle

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We’re just days into the league’s on-the-fly implementation of testing pitchers for foreign substance usage, and the checks have predictably led to some bizarre scenes. A’s reliever Sergio Romo completely removing his belt and dropping his pants will elicit some laughs, but neither the Nationals nor the Phillies found much humor in the new rules yesterday when Philadelphia skipper Joe Girardi called for a check on Washington ace Max Scherzer with a runner on first base in the fourth inning (video link via MLB.com).

An incredulous Scherzer complied, but both he and Nats skipper Davey Martinez were visibly livid with Girardi after the umpiring crew gave us the jarring visual of running a hand through Scherzer’s hair before ultimately clearing him.

Scherzer, who’d already been checked after the first and third innings Tuesday, could visibly be seen yelling, “I’ve got sweat!” to Girardi as he ran his hand through his hair and returned to the mound. He escaped the inning unscathed, went on to complete five frames in his return from the IL and ultimately stared Girardi down as he walked off the field for the last time.

Further fireworks ensued. Girardi was tossed from the game after walking onto the field and challenging the opposing dugout. While some initially believed he was beckoning toward Scherzer, Jomboy astutely points out in a video breakdown that Nats hitting coach Kevin Long, who previously coached under Girardi in New York, was the clear target after lobbing some choice expletives toward his former skipper.

Girardi told reporters after the game that he had all the respect in the world for Scherzer’s career, calling him a future Hall of Famer. However, he also claimed (via Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia) that in more than a decade of watching the three-time Cy Young winner: “I’ve never seen him wipe his head like he was doing tonight. Ever.”

While Girardi insists that he wasn’t “playing games” to disrupt Scherzer’s rhythm on the mound, that defense isn’t flying with the Nationals. Washington general manager Mike Rizzo pulled no punches this morning when calling out Girardi during a weekly radio appearance.

“It’s embarrassing for Girardi,” Rizzo said on 106.7 The Fan (link with audio). “It’s embarrassing for the Phillies. Was he playing games? Of course he was. … He’s a con artist. He’s been doing that for years on TV. … I love Joe Girardi. I’ve seen him play since he was in high school in Peoria, Illinois — scouted him at Northwestern. I know him well. But I know him well.”

Rizzo is hardly the only one taking notice around the league. Fellow multi-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, in his own postgame media session, went out of his way to express bewilderment toward Girardi despite not initially being asked about it (video link via SportsNet LA).

“I will say this,” Kershaw began. “You know how Girardi checked Scherzer, or called him out? I think there should be a punishment if they don’t catch anything on the guy. Scherzer is one of the best pitchers of our generation. To see him get checked … and mess up his rhythm, you better find something if you’re going to call him out like that. Maybe there should be a punishment if a manager checks a guy and there isn’t anything.”

Asked specifically whether managers could deliberately call for a check to disrupt a pitcher, Kershaw acknowledged it as a “good technique” for managers to use. He suggested that perhaps a failed substance check should lead to a team losing a replay challenge to prevent such gamesmanship.

“You get going in a rhythm, and maybe you have a guy on base, and they check you?” Kershaw continued. “It throws you off. It’s something that you’re not used to. … I think there should be some repercussions for managers just doing that on a whim like that, because if you call somebody out — anybody — but [especially] somebody of Max Scherzer’s caliber and you don’t find anything? I think that looks pretty bad on [Girardi’s] part.”

As for Scherzer himself, he expressed frustration regarding not only being called out by Girardi but by the situation in general. The repeated manner in which he ran his hand through his hair, he explained postgame, was in order to get some type of moisture to mix with the rosin he was using. (Pitchers are permitted to either lick their fingers or use sweat in conjunction with rosin under MLB’s current policy.)

“I got sick of licking my fingers and tasting rosin the whole night,” Scherzer explained postgame (video link via MLB.com). “I couldn’t even get sweat from the back of my head because it wasn’t a warm night. The only part that was sweaty on me was my hair, so I had to take off my hat to be able to try to get some moisture on my hand to mix with the rosin.”

Scherzer chuckled as he added that he’d be “an absolute fool” to use any kind of substance on a night when the focus on such usage would be at an all-time high. He further lamented the fact that in the at-bat prior to Girardi calling him out, he’d nearly hit Alec Bohm in the head with a 95 mph fastball that sailed out of his hand due to lack of grip — a common concern we’ve seen expressed both by pitchers and by position players.

Ultimately, Scherzer shifted the focus to commissioner Rob Manfred: “These are Manfred rules — go ask him what he wants to do with this. I’ve said enough.”

Given the ultra-competitive nature of managers and pitchers throughout the league, the stakes that will be on the line as the season progresses and the rather haphazard implementation of the new substance-check policy, it’s likely that Manfred will indeed need to address the issue in a public fashion sooner than later. The Scherzer/Girardi saga may have been the first dust-up but surely won’t be the last.

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