Major League Baseball has no plans to suspend Yankees’ pitcher Micheal Pineda for having what resembled pine tar on his hand during Thursday night’s game vs. the Boston Red Sox.
William Perlman/THE STAR-LEDGER/USA TODAY Sports
According to the rules of MLB, rule 8.02 states that a pitcher may not apply a foreign substance of any kid to the baseball. The second part of the rule 8.02 (b) states that a pitcher may not “have on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance.” The punishment that goes along with Rule 8.02 and 8.02 (b) is that the pitcher will be ejected from the game and subject to an automatic suspension.
MLB issued a statement saying,
“The umpires did not observe an application of a foreign substance during the game and the issue has not raised by the Red Sox,”
The statement also mentioned that the league would be talking to the Yankees about the situation.
The umpires did not notice the substance and the Red Sox did not complain however tv cameras did show the substance on Pineda’s hand in the early innings. Red Sox manager John Farrell said that by the time he was made aware of the substance it appeared that Pineda’s hand had been wiped clean so he saw no reason to address the umpires about it after the fact.
After the game Pineda was made aware of the situation. His reaction was one of surprise. He said,
“I don’t use pine tar,” he said. “It’s dirt. I’m sweating on my hand too much in between innings.”
Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi said that he did not approach Pineda about the situation. Brian Cashman did tell reporters before Friday’s game that MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations, Joe Torre, had reached out to him, that they had a conversation about it and that it is a “resolved issue.”
The GM did praise Pineda’s performance. Pineda pitched six innings, giving up four hits and striking out seven batters. Cashman said he had no plans to talk to Pineda and told the press,
“He’s been looking good. We’re really excited about what we’re seeing — happy for us, happy for him.”
So it appears that MLB Rule 8.02 and 8.02 (b) just aren’t that important to enforce or even really look into. The rules simply deem a conversation with the team whose pitcher is accused’s general manager. That’s interesting to know and what happens if the team is not the Yankees. Would things go over as smoothly?
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