SAN FRANCISCO — Inside the Mets club, Max Scherzer held a phone in his right hand and walked like a man with a lot on his mind. Major League Baseball just announced his 10-game suspension for “violating the ban on foreign materials.” At that point, Scherzer only shared that he intended to appeal the decision, that he “was working on this,” and that he was “talking to MLB.”
Two hours later, Scherzer dropped his appeal. His comment began Thursday night. With Scherzer suspended, the Mets must play down one player on their roster. He’s expected to play when the Mets host the Braves in a four-game series starting April 28 and ending May 1.
so what happened? Why the sudden change? Well, think of it this way: Scherzer has won enough times to know when to expect a loss.
“I thought I would be facing a neutral arbitrator but I wasn’t,” Scherzer said. “It was through MLB. So, given the process, I’m not really going to top it. I’m going to follow what the Mets wanted me to do, and that was accept the suspension.”
The batter against the Braves ends up being a positive result for the Mets over what would have been a potential replacement, with Scherzer losing time at some unknown point over the next two weeks. The Mets’ turnover features a few key missing pieces; Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana and Carlos Carrasco are still out with injuries. It doesn’t look like the situation will change over the next two weeks. Better to get on with it now, player and club stood out. Because regardless of his selection, major league sources briefed on the appeals process strongly believed Scherzer would end up suspended, even if he only used sweat and rosin like he said it was on Wednesday when he was fired.
For some within the game, Scherzer’s acceptance of the suspension should not be seen as an admission of guilt to any serious wrongdoing, but rather an understanding of the odds being stacked against him. Major league sources said Scherzer never had a chance.
Someone said: “He will die in the water.” “Hang to dry. One hundred percent, he will lose.”
If anything, the sources said, MLB can nail the issue to the exact language of the rules. One of the rules says that rosin can be a foreign substance. It read, “No player shall intentionally discolor or damage the ball by rubbing it with soil, rosin, paraffin, licorice, sand paper, sandpaper, or any other foreign substance.” Another rule states that a player cannot put rosin on their glove. This rule states: “A pitcher may use a rosin bag for the purpose of applying rosin to his bare hand or hands. Neither the pitcher nor any other player may flick the ball with the rosin bag; Any part of his costume with a rosin bag.” Therefore, MLB can win an appeal based on a glove containing rosin.
In other words, the intention does not matter. During the presentation, the player and his representative can view the umpire’s video, spin rates, and the results of the glove being tested – and even if it all indicates no intention of cheating, it probably won’t end up with much.
And this is where Scherzer sees flaws in the whole system.
He referred to accepting the suspension as “a very difficult decision”.
“Hopefully we can adjust the rule,” said Scherzer, whose turnover rates on Wednesday were unchanged from normal levels. “The intent of this rule was to try to clean up the game, clean up the things that were really causing turnovers to go up and all that stuff. I don’t think it was meant to crack down on pitchers who were using legal stuff. I used legal stuff.
“I wish there was an adjustment for running turnover rates, to be able to make that the minimum the referee could check. I still don’t understand how I could be deemed cheating or guilty of that without it happening.”
Referees Dan Bellino and Phil Causey determined that Scherzer’s hand felt stickier than any other hand they had examined over the past three years since MLB began cracking down more seriously on pitchers using stickies. When used excessively or misapplied, rosin may be determined by the referees as a prohibited foreign substance. However, those who expected Scherzer to lose his appeal process said the refs were put in the difficult position of trying to decipher the material. According to the league, based on the umpires’ training to detect rosin on the pitcher’s hands, they concluded that the level of stickiness during the fourth inning check was so intense that it was inconsistent with the use of rosin and/or sweat alone. “We don’t really care what it is,” Causey said, because of the level of adhesion.
People like Scherzer see a lot of subjectivity in that.
“When you’re applying rosin, there’s no such thing as a test where you can say, ‘Oh, I’m on seven units,’ or, ‘Oh, I’m on 10 units,'” Sherzer said. Sticky as soon as I sweat. It is an imprecise science. So, yeah, I mean, Phil obviously figured I was too involved, but how am I supposed to know? Where is this line? It is very subjective when using legal substances. That’s my problem with this. Instead of having the referees check us left and right, let’s use technology to be able to locate the actual problems.”
The bottom line remains though: Scherzer was breaking the rules.
Teams were warned before the season about the use of rosin and how it could be considered a foreign substance if misused or used excessively. Athletic Jason Stark first reported that the league issued a Notice of Difference. Scherzer said he was aware of the memo.
“Yeah, you’re aware of that, but you’re thinking of using, you know, pine tar and all the other stuff; like, that’s how you read and interpret it,” Scherzer said. “Rosins are different in different environments. What you do in Miami is different from what you do on a cold day in New York, which is different from what you do on a cold day in Los Angeles. It gets sticky in inconsistent ways. I think that’s one of the reasons MLB explores sticky ball, To try to even pitches between cities. That’s one of the problems with rosin. I had a situation in L.A. where I was in the previous start in New York, where it was cold and windy. The turnover rates were low in that start. I get to L.A. for a day game, and you know, it’s hot Sunny, all of a sudden, the rosin is working over and that’s what happened.”
Before the game, Mets manager Buck Showalter, given Scherzer’s successful run as a potential Hall of Famer, was asked how he felt about how the situation might or might not affect how people viewed his teammate.
“If you look at what actually happened, it shouldn’t at all,” Showalter said. “He didn’t really do anything that guys don’t do anyway. I can’t say much. I definitely have some strong personal feelings about that. But we’ll see how the whole thing changes.”
Despite Scherzer being ejected before the bottom of the fourth inning, the Mets ended up beating the Dodgers on Wednesday. Subsequently, the players said that the situation motivated them. In the Mets club, other players see Scherzer as a leader.
Francisco Lindor said Thursday, “When things like that happen to a teammate that you have a lot of respect for and a loved one, yeah, you care about him, you attract that person, you create a bond and you say, ‘Man, let’s rally around him and show him some love and support’.” “.
In Sherzer’s view, what he did on Wednesday should be legal. The league basically said he cheated. Scherzer may not have lost the appeal but his name has taken a hit. However, he said he expected his reputation to win.
“I faced the Dodgers, and I know these guys. So I told them, ‘That’s what I did,’” Scherzer said. “They understood. They know me. I got my reputation in the game. Players understand this. Players understand what you did. They know what I am. “
(Top photo of Max Scherzer arguing with referee Phil Causey: Catelynn Mulcahy/Getty Images)