New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda caught a lot of heat on Thursday night when it looked like he was using pine tar in his team's 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox.
While many have said it's "cheating," many players did not have an issue with Pineda using it since it helps him grip the ball. In fact, many MLB players themselves use it, they claim.
Per Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations Joe Torre, he says there is no reason to suspend Pineda. The MLB will not do so, but they will have a talk with the Yankees about the incident.
“The umpires did not observe an application of a foreign substance during the game and the issue was not raised by the Red Sox. Given those circumstances, there are no plans to issue a suspension, but we intend to talk to the Yankees regarding what occurred.” Torre said.
It's against MLB rules for a pitcher to apply a foreign substance to any kind of ball. For Pineda's part, though, he insists that he was using dirt because his hands were getting sweaty.
Overall, this shouldn't be seen as a big deal. Let this one go, guys.
