Did Max Scherzer Do Anything Wrong?
MLB and Umpire Phil Cuzzi seem to think so
I got a surprise on Wednesday afternoon when I learned via Twitter that New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer had been ejected from his start against the LA Dodgers. Umpire Phil Cuzzi, after checking Scherzer’s hands after the bottom of the third and before the bottom of the fourth inning, said that his hands were too sticky.
Scherzer pleaded innocence, saying he didn’t use anything other than “sweat and rosin,” but the umpiring crew was unconvinced. After the game, crew chief Dan Bellino said that Scherzer’s hand “was so sticky that when we touched his hand, our fingers were sticking to his hand. And whatever was on there remained on our fingers afterwards for a couple innings.”
Scherzer has since been suspended for ten games and fined $10,000. He’ll begin serving his suspension immediately, this after there were some reports that said Scherzer might continue to pitch while he appealed.
Here’s additional detail from MLB.com.
Scherzer has maintained that he used nothing more than “sweat and rosin” -- both legal substances, provided they are applied in accordance with MLB rules. Specifically, in a memo distributed to teams last month, the league wrote that rosin “used excessively or otherwise misapplied (i.e., to gloves or other parts of the uniform) … may be determined by the umpires to be a prohibited foreign substance, the use of which may subject a player to ejection and discipline.”
There are many videos covering the ejection, but the best one comes from Jomboy Media, who has intercut footage from the ejection with Scherzer’s postgame scrum.
This isn’t the first time that Scherzer has been patted down by the umpires. Let’s go back to last season when thanks to Trevor Bauer and his ungodly spin rates, umpires started checking pitchers for foreign substances. When Scherzer got checked last season, he made sure to put on a show. Once again, thanks to Jomboy Media for the excellent breakdown and superior lip reading.
So what the heck is really going on? Ex-MLB pitcher and SNY analyst Jerry Blevins says the problem is rooted in MLB’s failure to produce baseballs that are easy to grip.
What’s the truth? Is Scherzer, who was a vocal proponent of cracking down on pitchers using foreign substances when MLB announced the new initiative, simply a victim of overzealous enforcement? Or has one of MLB’s best pitchers been skirting the rules for a while, simply hoping his reputation would leave him above reproach?
I’m not sure. I do know this: Scherzer has had a rough start to 2023, and this episode is not going to help coming in the midst of his efforts to put things right.
While the Mets went on to win the game over the Dodgers when Scherzer was ejected, a 10 game suspension is coming at the worst time possible. Over and above the roster bind this puts the Mets in, this is another blow to the team’s pitching staff. Justin Verlander hasn’t pitched this season and won’t before May. Jose Quintana, signed as a free agent from St. Louis, will miss half the season recovering from a lesion that was discovered on his rib cage. And Carlos Carassco is shut down for five days after the team discovered a bone spur in his pitching arm. The Mets have an old starting staff and it’s starting to show. Expecting David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Jose Butto to hold things together for any length of time is suboptimal, and in this case Scherzer likely miss a start during the team’s first series against the Atlanta Braves next week in New York.
I’m tempted to write #LOLMets strikes again, but this feels different.
So the A’s are leaving Oakland for Las Vegas by 2027 and you can hardly blame them. Between 2020 and 2021, over 500,000 people left the Golden State, with the population dropping by almost 200,000 over the same period of time (even migration can’t offset the population loss). Over the last three years where data is available, more UHaul trucks have left California than any state in the nation. It’s a cliche to say the only people who are going to be left in California are the ones who are wealthy enough to stay and those who can’t afford to leave, but it’s a cliche because it’s true.
Part of the reason the A’s are bugging out is that their current home, the Oakland Alameda Coliseum, is such a pit. Closing in on 60 years old, the place is falling apart and with the A’s threatening to move the last few seasons, the city of Oakland has little incentive to pay for repairs. Over last weekend, the Mets were in Oakland for a three-game set with the A’s, and the broadcast team of Gary Cohen and Ron Darling weren’t able to use the visiting television booth because an opossum had moved in.
This, apparently, is not a new problem. Just head to YouTube and you’ll find that opossums have made the stadium home for at least the last eight years. It’s only now that one has moved upstairs and is living inside the walls of the press level.
Las Vegas will be the fourth city that the A’s have called home after Philadelphia, Kansas City and Oakland and their vagabond ways are as much part of the team’s identity as any of their championships. I feel terrible for the fans who remain in Oakland, and can hardly blame the ones who refuse to show up to watch the worst team in all of Major League Baseball.
Maybe this is for the best. Professional sports should probably be seen as a luxury that economically vibrant communities can afford, rather than a status symbol that indicates that a city is “major league.” While civic pride in the Bay Area will take a hit, maybe this will serve as a wake up call for politicians everywhere that when it comes to the tab for professional sports, the juice may no longer be worth the squeeze. In Oakland, like many other struggling cities, there are a plethora of other priorities.
This tweet had me ROFLMAO.
Let’s make something clear from the jump: this gentleman has been a working professional in sports journalism for some time. He produces quality coverage. I suggest that you follow him if you love hockey.
But there was a time when a certain media company (not the one referenced above) offered me a paying gig for comparitively little. It was a formative experience that taught me a lot. It proved to be a first rung for a number of other bloggers to begin climbing the sports media ladder. Many of them have gone on to great things.
Not every publication has the best reputation, but its contributors can hold themselves to a higher standard, both in terms of quality and productivity. And if you’ve gotten a gig with the unnamed outlet, I say congratulations. Now make the most of it.
Eric McErlain lives and works in the Washington, D.C. area. He blogged at Off Wing Opinion regularly from 2002-2009. In addition to writing at Off Wing, his work has appeared at The Sporting News, AOL FanHouse, NBC Sports.com, Deadspin, The Hockey Writers, Pro Football Weekly and The Washington Post. In 1993, he wrote one of the first columns in a daily newspaper covering fantasy football for The Washington Times.