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.
So did MLB actually inspect his glove? They didnt inspect Santiago’s before suspending him.
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.
“…like asking your mom if you can be ungrounded” is a superb comparison.
Better chance mom might throw some mercy a few days into the suspension!
And, am I wrong that it was the same umpiring crew that was involved in the other one? If so, that’s kinda interesting.
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?
I’m gonna guess they didn’t.
Didn’t they confiscate it to examine it? They must’ve found something.
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.
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
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.
They should have a board, 5 people, put Bauer on it lol
Just make sure there are no women on it with him
You’d think they’d say what the foreign substance is that he tested for…. you know, if there was any.
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.
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.
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.
Darth – why are we talking about rosin? Is there a report that each pitcher only had rosin on their glove?
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.
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.
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.
It was confirmed by Servais.
Call the Crime in Sports guys. New episode right here!!
Is Caleb Smith a Jr.? That would seal it
can we get a retroactive forfeit for that game?
lol Begging for wins. Phillies are the baseball panhandlers.
We need all the help we can get.
Exactly. It doesn’t hurt to ask, right?
i jest – though to that same end NYY should give us 2009 on cause of A-Rod.
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.
“Whatever it takes, Dude!”
Only if the Dodgers can get their WS trophy…..
Wait that should be a thing…
Of course they get a guy on the worst team
Should be investigating the humidor. Wouldn’t be surprised if misuse of the Humidor in AZ is a lot more prevelant.
Baseball continues its crackdown on mediocre left-handed relievers who use gloves. They won’t try that again!
MLB and their manufactured drama.
This is absurd and Santiago had failed the appeal, Smith is still appealing his suspension
mlb needs to tell what the substance was.
It was web fluid. Peter Parker’s formula.
Whatever substance he was using definitely wasn’t helping him this year!
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
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.
gloves, or suspected items, are confiscated and sent to league office
Read the MLB reports/statements the gloves are confiscated but no testing is done. Purely word of Umpires they are backing here.
who said anything about testing?
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.
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.
Get off the baseball board
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
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?
per mlb, rosin cannot be in glove
Only the players know as there has been no testing. Smith admits and is seen using the rosin bag in between innings
They just don’t want to pay to test it
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.
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.
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.
This IS the procedure in place not the stated “testing”
So they are suspending a player without proof for that he actually uses a substance? This is a mess.
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.
If you ever needed another reason for a long lockout/strike in MLB, here it is.
Get better at cheating.
Or maybe stop cheating?
Don’t be ridiculous.
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
Again if you’re going to cheat hide the Spyder Tak in your butt. Umps aren’t going to check your ass.