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.
bucsfan0004
So did MLB actually inspect his glove? They didnt inspect Santiago’s before suspending him.
Deleted User
What do you think? There is no process. The appeal is pointless. Its like asking your mom if you can be ungrounded. This is entirely a show to make it look like the MLB is “cracking down” on an issue to appease the fans when no one (not even the umps who are entirely in charge of policing it) know enough about the situation to be the judge of anything.
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
“…like asking your mom if you can be ungrounded” is a superb comparison.
RobM
Better chance mom might throw some mercy a few days into the suspension!
brave from the woods
And, am I wrong that it was the same umpiring crew that was involved in the other one? If so, that’s kinda interesting.
Darthyen
Steve not to mention do we even trust the umps to NOT do something to said glove to be sure they are proven right.
Considering it is the same ump and no other ump has done this, do we dare say maybe the glove should be taken by a third party and not left in the accusers hand?
SoCalBrave
I’m gonna guess they didn’t.
schwender
Didn’t they confiscate it to examine it? They must’ve found something.
donotinteruptMYkungfu
He used rosin in between innings as he stated. No testing was not done as the MLB is OK with the word of the umpires. Check the tape which would be more than what the MLB did here.
BuJoBi
The Mlb should be ok with the judgement of the umpires. After all they are there to umpire, “an official who watches the game or match closely to enforce the rules and arbitrate matters arising from the play” I mean it’s a mlb rule, its affecting play? I mean who should determine if there is a substance or not? Is there a committee of trained Sticky stuff testers out there, or a board of judges to make this call? Should they hire a sticky stuff specialist to be at every single game? Come on guys
mvlastowski
How do you k ow if MLB tested the glove or not??? Do you work in the MLB office?? Do you have personal knowledge that they did not test the glove?? If not, you shouldn’t be popping off on stuff you know nothing about.
tstats
They should have a board, 5 people, put Bauer on it lol
Deleted User
Just make sure there are no women on it with him
Faith in the Padres
You’d think they’d say what the foreign substance is that he tested for…. you know, if there was any.
GASoxFan
My guess is that in the eyes of mlb if there is something on the glove that isn’t rosin, that makes it a foreign substance in the eyes of the crackdown.
Congealed rosin with sunscreen? Now it’s not plain rosin and is a violation.
Could be how they’re justifying suspensions without detailed testing.
Lets Go DBacks
There is a really good article on this case written by Zach Buchanan on The Athletic.
The player’s agent is quoted several times who explains the case and the appeal.
They say the umpires deemed the build up of rosin, sweat and dirt in the glove as illegal.
Apparently rosin on the glove, or on any other item the player is wearing, is illegal. You can have it on your hands, the ball but not on the glove.
Darthyen
How the bleep does MLB expect you to NOT get rosin on the glove if its on the hand and the ball, which both see its share of dirt, and both hand and ball are in the glove more than _______(whatever dirty pun you choose)?
What’s next a new glove for every pitch? MLB waste baseballs now like a teenager waste tissues.
prov356
Darth – why are we talking about rosin? Is there a report that each pitcher only had rosin on their glove?
Darthyen
prov I am not referring to any particular case only to comment on what Lets Go Dbacks said, that the umpires deemed a build up of rosin, sweat and dirt.. However there has been SPECULATION with some of the writers that what Lets Go Dbacks said is actually the case.
nbresnak
MLB did NOT inspect Santiago’s glove and I’m sure that they won’t inspect Smith’s glove either.
I do like the rule to stop pitchers from using these illegal substances but this appeal process is a complete joke.
They shouldn’t have full control of the entire process and MLBPA should make sure of that in this next CBA coming at the end of the year.
mvlastowski
How do you know MLB didn’t test the glove?? Can you cite your personal knowledge of this non testing of the glove??? I would like to see how you know. Reading your comment makes it sound like you have first hand knowledge of glove testing.
Darth Alru
It was confirmed by Servais.
sadosfan
Call the Crime in Sports guys. New episode right here!!
getrealgone2
Is Caleb Smith a Jr.? That would seal it
DarkSide830
can we get a retroactive forfeit for that game?
Deleted User
lol Begging for wins. Phillies are the baseball panhandlers.
VonPurpleHayes
We need all the help we can get.
Monkey’s Uncle
Exactly. It doesn’t hurt to ask, right?
DarkSide830
i jest – though to that same end NYY should give us 2009 on cause of A-Rod.
VonPurpleHayes
If the NL won the All-Star game, Matsui, the WS MVP would’ve played in 2 less games. That was during that weird period when the ASG determined home field advantage.
some guy 2
“Whatever it takes, Dude!”
Ya'll a bunch of salty crybabies
Only if the Dodgers can get their WS trophy…..
tstats
Wait that should be a thing…
kscheer
Of course they get a guy on the worst team
towinagain
Should be investigating the humidor. Wouldn’t be surprised if misuse of the Humidor in AZ is a lot more prevelant.
Monkey’s Uncle
Baseball continues its crackdown on mediocre left-handed relievers who use gloves. They won’t try that again!
getrealgone2
MLB and their manufactured drama.
Peart of the game
This is absurd and Santiago had failed the appeal, Smith is still appealing his suspension
timyanks
mlb needs to tell what the substance was.
VonPurpleHayes
It was web fluid. Peter Parker’s formula.
CravenMoorehead
Whatever substance he was using definitely wasn’t helping him this year!
timyanks
he was complaining after the game about having to break in a new glove
1. always have two game ready gloves
2. soak new glove in 5 gallon bucket of glove oil
3. most players gloves probably have glove oil on it
4. no suspension
donotinteruptMYkungfu
MLB has not tested ANY glove. They are going by umpire word only. The SAME UMPIRE everytime. This is about throwing shade on the Players and split the players prior to the CBA. Yes cheaters need ran out but this is NOT the process MLB has outlined. The rosin bag is required to be on the mound. Watch the game and see him use the rosin bag. MLB is just dumb anymore, maybe it does need to Die with all this greed & lies.
timyanks
gloves, or suspected items, are confiscated and sent to league office
donotinteruptMYkungfu
Read the MLB reports/statements the gloves are confiscated but no testing is done. Purely word of Umpires they are backing here.
timyanks
who said anything about testing?
marcfrombrooklyn
It would be nice if they took the balls as well. Balls with a foreign substance on them would be pretty damning evidence. Either they didn’t save them or they were clean.
Inside Out
Go back to watching football and stop whining about baseball. He cheated and was caught. Only 2 players so far so not like the.umpires are going crazy.
tstats
Get off the baseball board
donotinteruptMYkungfu
It has been the same umpire each time. I don’t belive there is anything else but rosin on his glove just as the time before. As it seems spin rates are down all around everybody put the spider tack away. MLB and Umpires getting too wide with definition of foreign substance when a rosin bag is required on the field behind mound. Maybe you read up and learn morez about your precious MLB and the maroon running it
prov356
kungfu – “I don’t belive (sic) there is anything else but rosin on his glove just as the time before. ”
Do you know for a fact that the substance in both cases has been rosin?
timyanks
per mlb, rosin cannot be in glove
donotinteruptMYkungfu
Only the players know as there has been no testing. Smith admits and is seen using the rosin bag in between innings
baseballguy_128
They just don’t want to pay to test it
mvlastowski
How do you know MLB is not testing gloves. I have read several comments stating this. I am wondering what first hand knowledge you have that proves MLB is not testing confiscated gloves. If you have nothing, then it’s just your opinion. If that’s the case, you should say so. Otherwise you are just popping off on stuff you have no clue about.
Lets Go DBacks
In an article on The Athletic by Zach Buchanan the player’s agent and Lovullo are quoted saying that they don’t know what happens with the glove once it is confiscated.
Further on in that article you’d get the impression that they would use the glove more as a back-up of the umpire’s crew decision (something is found and here it is), but not that they actually test the foreign substance to find out what it actually is (i.e. it doesn’t look like some chemical examination is done).
I think the writer at MLBTR would do well to update this article and provide some information from The Athletic article. It really provides some useful insights.
empirejim
I find it troubling that MLB didnt say, “Testing revealed a banned foreign substance on the glove.” So it seems possible that no testing was performed, and thus the suspension is based all on an umpire’s say so.
Yet another shoddy job by MLB on Manfred’s watch. Failure after failure, embarrassment after embarrassment.
donotinteruptMYkungfu
This IS the procedure in place not the stated “testing”
axisofhonor25
So they are suspending a player without proof for that he actually uses a substance? This is a mess.
prov356
axis – I don’t think anyone on here knows the extent of the proof. There seems to be a lot of conjecture in these comments about the process and the proof.
Santiago appealed and his appeal was denied. This guy will probably appeal too.
Darth Alru
If you ever needed another reason for a long lockout/strike in MLB, here it is.
Cohn Joppolella
Get better at cheating.
prov356
Or maybe stop cheating?
Cohn Joppolella
Don’t be ridiculous.
ohyeadam
If it’s true they don’t actually do any testing, especially after an appeal, I don’t see how the players union can stomach players losing game checks
Ham Fighter
Again if you’re going to cheat hide the Spyder Tak in your butt. Umps aren’t going to check your ass.