Michael Pineda is an Iimbecile

[EDGECRUSHER]

About 10 days ago he shuts down the Red Sox, but obviously has a foreign substance on his hand the whole game. Looked to be pine tar. Everyone knew it but the umps. The Red Sox players pretty much said everyone does shit and didn't make a big deal about it. They're probably right, but they had every right to complain.

Fast forward to tonight's start against.....the Red Sox. He has pine tar on his neck. Manager John Farrell points this out to the Umpires, Pineda gets inspected and then ejected.

What a stupid ass. Same team! It wasn't discreet either, that's what concerns me the most that someone this stupid may procreate one day.

This is an automatic suspension, although the number of games is up to MLB's discretion. I am in favor of a huge suspension. It would suck for the Yankees, but if bring outed as a cheater on every front page of every NY paper wasn't enough to make you rethink your tactics, then maybe a long suspension will.

Be more discreet next time and use steroids like everyone else.

[Sunstroke]

Suspend him 3 starts for the illegal substance and 3 more for having no substance between his ears...

[RichThrawn]

Suspend him 3 starts for the illegal substance and 3 more for having no substance between his ears...

Its an automatic ten games for shit like this

[EDGECRUSHER]

It's an automatic 10 games in the minors. In MLB, it's at their discretion, but I am sure they will go 11 games so the Yankees can't reshuffle their rotation so he only misses 2 starts.

Question now is, Pineda has been killing it. Is it because he has always been cheating or does the tar really not do that much and it's more mental?

[Brian Fein]

I thought it was funny that he tried to justify it by saying "it was cold, I was trying to get a better grip on the ball..."

No shit, sherlock.  That's why its not allowed.  You're CHEATING.

What a complete tool.  At least hide in in your glove or something, not on the side of your neck where everyone can see it.

[Dave Gray]

I'm not defending this guy, but...

Everyone seems to say that "everyone does it".  That this guy just did it poorly and got caught.  Is this the fault of baseball?  ...to know that a rule is regularly broken by all, but they let it slide?  It sounded like it was even an unwritten rule for teams not to complain about it, as apparently Boston knew about it and didn't say anything in the previous instance on the glove. (not sure how true that is)

[Brian Fein]

Before it was on the palm of his hand, it looked like it could have just been dirt or something else.

I don't think this is the "turn a blind eye" kind of offense by the league.  They have to catch a guy doing it.  Most who do are usually smarter about hiding it.  I don't think they can inspect every player prior to taking the mound, incase they might have pine tar on them.  You have to have "probably cause" I assume.

[CF DolFan]

I'm not defending this guy, but...

Everyone seems to say that "everyone does it".  That this guy just did it poorly and got caught.  Is this the fault of baseball?  ...to know that a rule is regularly broken by all, but they let it slide?  It sounded like it was even an unwritten rule for teams not to complain about it, as apparently Boston knew about it and didn't say anything in the previous instance on the glove. (not sure how true that is)

They can "know" it all day long but proving it is another matter altogether. If no one sees it or complains about it then how do they find it?

[Dave Gray]

^ What a bunch of bogus excuses.  It would take two seconds for an ump to walk out to the mound when a new pitcher comes in and check for pine tar...or to proactively look for it if there's reason to believe it's there.  I mean, they check a boxer's gloves before a fight...same idea.

And they could give serious penalties for it.  They just don't care.

[Sunstroke]

[EDGECRUSHER]

It really does help you on cold nights, lots of pitchers recently went on record defending him. Not sure if evidence exists that it helps you with any drop on your breaking stuff, but it IS cheating. It's just not like steroids cheating.

He was suspended 10 games mainly because he was an obvious idiot.

EDIT: I find it very funny that John Farrell was practically apologizing for calling Pineda out on this. He pretty much said "Yeah, we all understand needing a grip on a cold night, but you can't be that obvious".

It's pretty unanimous that no one cares he used pine tar, they just care that he is an imbecile.

[BigDaddyFin]

I saw this and immediately began longing for the days of Gaylord Perry and Amanda Wurlitzer.

A rule they let slide is a rule they let slide.  But I can't believe he was so stupid to put it on his neck like he did.  He might as well have worn a goddamn sign.

[Spider-Dan]

From what I've been hearing, even batters don't really have a problem with it; you don't want the ball slipping out of a pitcher's hand on a cold or damp day.  But that doesn't really matter, because It's A Rule and We Must Respect The Ancient Baseball Traditions.  Sandy Koufax pitched without pine tar!

I read an article detailing some of the tricks pitchers would use to grip the ball.  Apparently, sunscreen+rosin+sweat makes a substance sticky enough to palm a baseball upside down, so the pitchers would lather up their forearms with sunscreen.  In game, they would wipe their forearm, then the back of their neck (for sweat), then grab the rosin bag.

[MaineDolFan]

Let's make this clear:  Batters don't have an issue with it for one reason, to not make waves for their pitchers, who also do it.  That's it, that's all.

Does it help with your grip?  Sure.  Know what else would do that?  Lick your finger tips, which is allowed during cold games.

Pine tar directly impacts the pitcher's ability to spin a ball.  It gives a slider more bite, a curve more drop, etc.  How do I know this?  I played college baseball in a state where it was anywhere from 20-40 degrees when the season started.  We would literally have snow in parts of the outfield when our seasons began.  Every pitcher in the Little East, including me, used it.  Once the temps got above 60, or if it was above 50 and humid, I didn't need it. 

Know who knew and didn't say a damn thing?  The other teams.  Why?  Their guy was doing the same thing.  Same thing stands here.  This has always been an acceptable form of "stretching" during cold season games.  As long as you're not physically altering the ball, spitting on the ball, cutting the ball, etc, it's not cheating.  What's really too bad is this kid has now eliminated his ability to use this tool from his tool box.  How he will perform without it?  We will see.

[Dave Gray]

Baseball needs to address the issue, then.  Make it legal....don't know about it and just pretend it's not there and feign outrage when its finally outed.