Pineda, Pine tar Suspended 10 games, Pine tar probably gonna be gone awhile longer

Pineda suspended ten games for pine tar use

Contributions by Daniel Pfeiffer

+New York Yankees 

+Examiner.com 

Joel Wickerman

New York Yankees right-handed pitcher Michael Pineda was suspended for ten games on Thursday, one day after he was caught possessing a foreign substance on his person in his start against the Boston Red Sox. Pineda has decided not to appeal, which means the suspension will begin immediately and the Yankees will be forced to carry a 24-man roster for the duration of his suspension.

The 25-year-old pitcher was spotted with a brown substance smeared on his neck by Red Sox manager John Farrell, who brought it to the attention of the umpiring crew. Upon investigation, the substance was determined to be pine tar, and Pineda was ejected in accordance with +MLB rule 8.02 (b).

During a post-game interview, Pineda admitted what everyone watching on television already knew.

“In the first inning, I could not feel the ball and I didn't want to hit anybody so I put (pine tar) on,” Pineda admitted, declaring that he would learn from the mistake.

More: Pineda ejected after using pine tar in Yankee loss

However, it is unknown why Pineda did not learn from a previous mistake. The pine tar incident from Wednesday comes just two weeks after Pineda was spotted with a substance on his pitching hand while playing against the same +Boston Red Sox team. Because it was not brought to the attention of the umpires, no disciplinary action ever came of the issue.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman voiced his disappointment in Pineda on Thursday, indicating that the team had multiple conversations with the young right-hander since the first incident.

“I’m surprised that we as an organization are in this position,” Cashman noted when talking to reporters. “There have been enough conversations. And obviously there will be more now, or there have already been more now, even in-game when he was ejected from the game. I think after the last go-around with the same team, clearly there were a lot of conversations about this. There are no secrets there.”

Despite the ten-game suspension, Pineda will miss just one start due to off days built into the Yankee schedule. Though nothing is official, it is expected that David Phelps, who lost out to Pineda for the final spot in the rotation, will receive a spot start

Yankees Pineda Ejected this time for "Foreign Substance" After last Suspicion Resulted in Nothing

Yankees’ Michael Pineda ejected from loss to Red Sox after pine tar discovered on neck

Home plate umpire Gerry Davis came out to the mound at Red Sox manager John Farrell’s request and checked Pineda’s uniform. Davis ran his finger over the brown spot on Pineda’s neck and immediately ejected him.

BY ANTHONY MCCARRON 

+New York Daily News

COREY SIPKIN

+New York Yankees starter Michael Pineda appears to be bad at cheating. Pine tar is clearly visible on his neck here. When discovered by umpires in the second inning, he is ejected.

BOSTON – After giving up two runs in the first inning Wednesday night, Michael Pineda returned to the Fenway mound for the second frame with brown goop slathered on the right side of his neck, setting in motion a series of events that likely will push the Yankees’ 5-1 loss to the +Boston Red Sox into Rivalry lore.

Yankees Pineda on Pine Tar, "My hands get sweaty."

Pineda, now a “man of (foreign) substance” two times over, was ejected after plate umpire Gerry Davis dabbed his finger in the glistening stuff on Pineda’s neck at the request of Sox manager John Farrell. Pineda likely faces a suspension that could be as long as eight or 10 games, though +MLB officials won’t decide on the penalty until they’ve digested the umpires’ report.

And Pineda’s not the only one who could be in trouble. Yankee manager Joe Girardi moved an unmanned +ESPN camera after it turned to capture video of a dejected Pineda walking down the dugout tunnel toward the clubhouse with an athletic trainer and pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Girardi held the camera away, all of it caught by another camera angle. That could be subject to discipline, too.

Beyond the likely penalties, this storyline could keep reverberating through Rivalry games this season – now that the Red Sox have checked a Yankee pitcher, do Girardi and Co. retaliate by asking umps to look at any suspicious blotch on a Boston pitcher, just for the potential annoyance factor? Both Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have been suspected in the past. 

COREY SIPKIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

COREY SIPKIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

In the first inning with catcher Brian McCann (l.) Pineda appears to have a clean neck, but in inning two, the substance appears just behind the right ear.

The whole grand theater is a sequel of sorts to what happened at the Stadium April 10. That cold night, Pineda beat Boston but was spotted with similar brown goo on the palm of his right hand. The Red Sox did not protest, but Farrell and several his players suggested Pineda should be less obvious if he was going to use something to improve his grip on the ball.

Pineda was not disciplined for the first offense, but Joe Torre, MLB’s VP of baseball operations, talked to Yankee GM Brian Cashman about the matter. Pineda claimed it was dirt on his palm.

Though it’s technically against baseball rules, pitchers generally use something to help them get a grip on the ball on cold nights – it was 53 degrees at first pitch at Fenway, with winds gusting at 24 miles per hour – and nobody says anything because they don’t want their own pitchers checked, too. Hitters say they’re happy that pitchers actually know where their 90-plus mph pitchers are headed.

Before Wednesday night’s game, Farrell said he expected “if it’s used, it’s more discreet than the last time.”

It wasn’t. It was just in a different place.

Farrell likely asked Davis to examine Pineda because it was the second time television cameras easily spotted Pineda using something. With Grady Sizemore batting with a 1-and-2 count and two out in the second, Davis came out to the mound and checked Pineda’s uniform and the ball, felt the brown substance and ejected the pitcher.

David Phelps replaced Pineda and struck out Sizemore to end the inning, one of the few Yankee highlights on a dismal evening that included three errors.

Pineda, who entered the game with a 1.00 ERA, had been wildly successful in his first three starts, a bright rotation surprise. Pitching with a clean neck in the first inning, though, the Red Sox scored two runs off him, a scoring burst that started with Sizemore’s leadoff triple. In his abbreviated outing, Pineda (2-2) allowed four hits and two runs in 1.2 innings.

It’s worth wondering how the Yankees let Pineda go to the mound with a foreign substance so apparent on his neck. And why would he do it again after being caught last time? Couldn’t he and the Yanks have found a better hiding place? Maybe Girardi and his coaches didn’t know he was using it Wednesday night. 

COREY SIPKIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A foreign-substance free John Lackey dominates the Yankees over eight innings.

They do now. And now they’ll have to figure out how to deal with the fallout, as well as the potential rotation problems a suspension for Pineda will cause. They are already down a starter with Ivan Nova on the disabled and Pineda could be banned for two starts, meaning they’ll be using their seventh starter of the season.

There is precedent for suspensions as long as eight or 10 games – In 2012, +Tampa Bay Rays’ Joel Peralta was slapped with an eight-game suspension for having pine tar on his glove. The +Los Angeles Angels’ Brendan Donnelly was hit with a 10-game ban in 2005 for having a foreign substance on his glove and the +St. Louis Cardinals’ Julian Tavarez was suspended for 10 games in 2004 for doctoring baseballs. 

Pineda will surely face a suspension one way or another. Joel Peralta got 8 games in 2012.
— Mark Feinsand (@FeinsandNYDN) April 24, 2014

How long will Pineda get?

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Yankees SP Pineda Issues Apology

(+USA TODAY Sports)

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/pine-tossed-yankees-pineda-ejected-red-sox-game-pine-tar-neck-article-1.1766894#ixzz2zljzKvee

MLB Replay was Incorrectly 'Not Overturned' : Red Sox vs Yankees

USA Today Sports Images

NEW YORK -- Red Sox manager John Farrell challenged a call at second base in the eighth inning of Saturday afternoon's 7-4 loss to the Yankees, but the call was upheld despite a shot from the television broadcast that showed it should have been overturned.

After the game, Major League Baseball said the conclusive angle was not immediately available and acknowledged that the call should have been made differently.

The play in question began when Yankees shortstop Dean Anna laced a one-out double into the right-field corner with one out in the eighth, stretching for the extra base with a head-first slide into second ahead of the throw from right fielder Daniel Nava. Anna slid through the bag and came up into a standing position ahead of Xander Bogaerts' tag, but his foot momentarily came off the bag as his weight carried him past second base.

Following a brief review, umpires confirmed their initial ruling that Anna was safe while viewers -- and, according to Farrell, the Red Sox --were able to see an angle that showed Anna's foot off the bag with Bogaerts' glove on Anna's hip.

Brett Gardner followed with a fly out to shallow center and Brian Roberts struck out, so Anna and Yangervis Solarte, who was at third, were stranded.

"We had probably five angles that confirmed his foot was off the base, and when the safe call came back -- it certainly raises questions, if they're getting the same feed we are, the consistency of the system," Farrell said. "So it makes you scratch your head a little bit on why he was called safe."

Anna did not believe his foot had come off the bag, until he was shown a still shot from the broadcast in which it was clear the tag was applied with his foot off second.

"I feel like I was on the whole time, how the play happened, and how I was just getting up," Anna said. "I don't know. I couldn't feel myself off the bag. It was a natural feeling. It wasn't really like I was like, 'Oh no, I'm off, and I've got to get back on.'"

It was the second time the Red Sox have challenged a call this season under the expanded replay system.

In the Yankees' clubhouse, Anna showed support for the replay system that had left him standing safely on second base less than an hour before, even after he had seen the video evidence.

"Oh no, I think replay is pretty good, actually," Anna said. "It's helping the game. It's not really that slow. I think calls are becoming right."

Major League Baseball's instant replay system is working out

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Yankee Staff get out of its Sticky Situation, with the help of Michael Pineda

The bottom line is it wasn’t pine tar that made Pineda mostly unhittable for six-plus innings on Thursday night. After all, from spring training on, his slider has been his best pitch, with such tight spin that hitters fail to recognize it, so it’s not as if this was something new.

h/t +New York Daily News

MARK BONIFACIO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Who knows what's on Michael Pineda's hand, but it probably isn't the reason he shut down Boston.

It’s the most accepted form of cheating, if you will, in baseball. And that’s if Michael Pineda actually was using pine tar to get a better grip on the baseball.

He said he wasn’t. He said it was just dirt on his hand that became the talk of Thursday night’s Yankees-Red Sox game.

It looked like something a little stickier, based on the images presented on TV and then the Internet. But in any case, David Ortiz claimed to know nothing about it after Pineda shut down the Red Sox for six-plus innings in a 4-1 victory.

And when he was told Pineda may have been using pine tar, Ortiz made it clear he didn’t care.

“Everybody uses pine tar,” he said. “It’s no big deal.”


That’s surely an overstatement. And it is against the rules, so let’s not pretend otherwise. Though it is not grounds for ejection, but a warning, according to the rule book.

And certainly you shouldn’t be dumb enough to actually put the pine tar on display on your pitching hand, if indeed that’s what Pineda did.

But in any case, Ortiz pretty much summed up the feeling among players and managers: that pitchers use it on cold nights to help get a better grip on the ball, but pine tar doesn’t significantly alter the pitches themselves.

It’s not considered to be in the same league as scuffing the ball with sandpaper or doctoring it with a slippery substance — both ways of making the ball sink or sail or move unnaturally.


If it was, the Red Sox would have brought it to the attention of the umpires. They didn’t, which is standard practice these days apparently because the use of pine tar is such an open secret.

The Red Sox, in particular, weren’t about to protest after Clay Buchholz, their starter on Thursday night, was accused last season of doctoring the ball with something more slippery than pine tar.

So the bottom line is it wasn’t pine tar that made Pineda mostly unhittable for six-plus innings on Thursday night. After all, from spring training on, his slider has been his best pitch, with such tight spin that hitters fail to recognize it, so it’s not as if this was something new.

And after all the sound and fury on Twitter, that’s really the beauty of this night for the Yankees.

ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Michael Pineda (l.) fist bumps Derek Jeter in the third inning.

More and more they can believe that, two years after shoulder surgery, Pineda looks very much like the guy they thought they were getting in that trade of Jesus Montero to the Mariners in January of 2012.

His fastball is touching 95 and even 96 on occasion now, which means his arm strength is practically what it was as a rookie with Mariners in 2011, when he topped out at 97 mph.

More significantly, he seems to have a feel for pitching that allows him to read swings and change speeds accordingly, keeping hitters off balance. On Thursday, for example, his changeup was nearly as effective as his slider.

All of this means the Yankees could well have the deepest starting rotation in baseball, depending on what CC Sabathia gives them at the front end.

It’s not considered to be in the same league as scuffing the ball with sandpaper or doctoring it with a slippery substance — both ways of making the ball sink or sail or move unnaturally.

The Yankees are still going to be careful with Pineda, however. The minute Joe Girardi saw signs of fatigue, in fact, when Pineda gave up a home run and single in the seventh, he took him out with the right hander’s pitch count at 94. On this night that was no easy decision either, considering that Girardi had something of a bullpen crisis on his hand.

Indeed, with David Robertson on the disabled list, and Shawn Kelley and Adam Warren unavailable because of their recent work load, Girardi was minus his top three bullpen options.

Yet he still decided it wasn’t worth the risk of pushing Pineda too far. And it worked out for him, as Cesar Cabral and David Phelps buzzsawed through the Sox lineup for the final nine outs, making it look easy.

Phelps got the final seven outs, and here is where the Yankees’ gamble of using converted starters in their pen this year seems to be paying off, having relievers who can go multiple innings.

Of course, there is a bigger gamble the Yankees are taking by going with so many untested arms in their pen. Indeed, it’s fair to ask why a team that spent nearly $500 million to ensure a return to the playoffs didn’t sign at least one proven reliever to help fill the void left by Mariano Rivera.

For now, however, Phelps and Warren are giving the pen the boost it needs, so we’ll see. The Robertson injury has raised the stakes on the Yankees’ gamble, but suddenly it’s starting to look as if the Yankees have more pitching than expected.

On this night, that meant Pineda got the help he needed to finish off a gem. From his relievers, not his pine tar.

LINK to +MLB Network highlights video and original reference

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/harper-pineda-helping-yankee-staff-sticky-situation-article-1.1753083#ixzz2yarSQCov

Yankees' Pineda on pine tar controversy: 'My hands get sweaty'

By BOB NIGHTENGALE

William Perlma/THE STAR-LEDGER via +USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — It was the controversy that ended in a dud.

Even in New York.

New York Yankees starter Michael Pineda, who dominated the +Boston Red Sox in a 4-1 victory Thursday night, was spotted by the Red Sox’s broadcast team on NESN with a substance on his hand that appeared to be pine-tar.

Surely, he was cheating.

Only Pineda said it was nothing more than dirt.

“My hands get sweaty,” Pineda said. “It was dirt.

“I don’t use pine tar.”

+New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi insists he didn’t see anything unusual. Let alone illegal.

“I really don’t have anything to say on the subject,” Girardi said. “He pitched great, and we’re glad to have him.”

Pineda yielded just four hits and one run in six innings during his Yankee Stadium debut.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said the he became aware of something on Pineda’s hand in the fourth inning, but by the time he got notified, it was too late.

“It was not there,” Farrell said, “by the time I was aware of it.”

Pineda’s hand apparently was wiped clean, and no one from the umpiring crew was asked to check Pineda.

“That was never brought to our attention,” said umpire crew chief Brian O’Nora. “No one said a word.”

When it was mentioned that the TV cameras showed a brown substance on Pineda’s hand, O’Nora said it made no difference.

William Perlma/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports

“I can’t comment on it because we’re on the field,” O’Nora said, “and the Red Sox didn’t bring it to our attention. So there’s nothing we can do about it.

“If they bring it to our attention, then you’ve got to do something.But they didn’t bring it to our attention.”

The Red Sox players, in fact, said they were completely unaware of the budding controversy until reporters asked about it after the game.

“Everybody uses pine tar in the league,” Red Sox DH David Ortiz said. “It’s no big deal at all.”

Red Sox catcher A.J. Pierznyski also said that he was unaware that anything funny was going on until notified later by reporters.

“I didn’t see it, sorry,” Pierznyski said. “He threw a good game, and that was it.”

The Red Sox, of course, were accused of doctoring the baseball themselves last season. Clay Buchholz, who started Thursday for the Red Sox, was accused by +Toronto Blue Jays TV analyst Jack Morris last season of throwing spit balls. Jon Lester was shown on TV during the World Series with a green substance on his glove in Game 1, which he later said was rosin. The +St. Louis Cardinals never complained.

Stay tuned.

The Yankees and Red Sox play 18 more times again this season, with another game scheduled Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

** The video and pictures are not the right of Sports CR3W **

Masahiro Tanaka allows a home run to the first batter he faces in MLB

By TED BERG H/T: For the Win

(USA TODAY Sports Images) Share this image:

The +New York Yankees invested $175 million this season in Japanese free agent starter Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka made his major league debut Friday night against the +Toronto Blue Jays, and got a rude greeting from stateside baseball.

The first batter Tanaka faced, Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera, blasted a home run to right-center field on the third pitch of the right-hander’s career (GIF via Larry Brown Sports):

Tanaka recovered to retire the next three Blue Jays in order, for his +MLB career, and finish the first, striking out both Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.

Cabrera hit only three home runs in 88 games in 2013.

Tanaka, who led the Yankees with 26 strikeouts this spring and had a 2.14 ERA, said he would “be amped up a little bit” heading into his first start.

After the solo shot, the Blue Jays tacked on two more runs in the second inning before Tanaka shut them down for five straight frames. He struck out eight with no walks to earn the win in the Yankees’ 7-3 victory..

Said Tanaka about his debut: “I feel honored that I’m getting this sort of attention. For me, it’s just going up on the mound and trying to get outs.”

H/T: +USA TODAY Sports +Larry Brown Sports 

Derek Jeter Announces He Will Retire after 2014 Season

NEW YORK (AP) -- To Derek Jeter, it was just another day to get ready for spring training.

On a minor league field at the New York Yankees complex in Florida, he took batting practice, fielded grounders and chatted with teammates. And then he drove away in his Mercedes, offering no hint that the countdown to his retirement had already begun.

Hours later, Jeter alerted the sports world: This will be his final season.

"I know it in my heart. The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball," Jeter posted Wednesday in a long letter on his Facebook page.

"I have gotten the very most out of my life playing baseball, and I have absolutely no regrets," the shortstop wrote.

While it was no secret the team captain was getting close to the end of his brilliant career as he neared 40 -- especially after injuries wrecked him last season -- Jeter's announcement caught many by surprise.

In fact, some people wondered whether his account had been hacked. But it was quickly confirmed that one of the greatest players in the history of baseball's most storied franchise was serious.

A 13-time All-Star shortstop who led the Yankees to five World Series championships, Jeter was the last link to the powerful Yankees teams that won three consecutive crowns from 1998-2000. Longtime teammates Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte retired after last year.

"Derek Jeter is Mr. Yankee of his era," Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said. "He was the face of one of the greatest teams ever."

Jeter was limited to 17 games last season while trying to recover from a broken left ankle sustained during the 2012 playoffs. He hit only .190 with one homer and seven RBI.

"Last year was a tough one for me. As I suffered through a bunch of injuries, I realized that some of the things that always came easily to me and were always fun had started to become a struggle," Jeter wrote. "The one thing I always said to myself was that when baseball started to feel more like a job, it would be time to move forward."

"So really it was months ago when I realized that this season would likely be my last. As I came to this conclusion and shared it with my friends and family, they all told me to hold off saying anything until I was absolutely 100 percent sure," he wrote.

"And the thing is, I could not be more sure," he wrote.

His agent, Casey Close, said Jeter wanted to declare his intentions before the Yankees start spring training later this week so that his future status wouldn't be a distraction.








AROUND THE HORN

Leading off: Ken Rosenthal
Batting second: Jon Paul Morosi
Batting third: Rob Neyer
Cleanup hitter: Ex-major leaguer Gabe Kapler
Key dates: Don't miss a thing in 2014
FOXiest fans: Go ahead ... take a gander

The Yankees open camp for pitchers and catchers on Friday. Jeter has said he's healthy and ready to go -- at 39, his next birthday is in June.

"Derek called me this morning to tell me that he planned to retire following the season," Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said.

Said Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, a former Jeter teammate: "I'm excited for him. It's kind of nice to see him go out on his own terms."

Jeter is the Yankees' career hits leader with 3,316. He's ninth on the all-time list; a 200-hit season would put him in fifth place.

Jeter is a lifetime .312 hitter in 19 seasons, with 256 home runs and 1,261 RBI. He has scored 1,876 runs, stolen 348 bases and is a five-time Gold Glove winner.

Added up, his numbers put him among the greats in Yankees history, with fans often invoking the names of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle when mentioning Jeter's legacy.

But No. 2 is defined by so much more than his numbers. His backhanded flip in the playoffs, his diving catch into the stands, his speech to close old Yankee Stadium and his home run for career hit No. 3,000.

An October presence for so many years -- Jeter is a career .321 hitter in seven World Series -- he also became Mr. November in 2001. His winning, 10th-inning homer came shortly after midnight in a Game 4 that began on Halloween.

Jeter was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1996, the season the Yankees won their first World Series since 1978 and re-established themselves as a major force. He was the MVP of the 2000 World Series.

"He made me a better player and a better person," longtime teammate Jorge Posada said. "I'm so proud of our friendship and I love him like a brother. Derek was a true champion."

Commissioner Bud Selig said during his tenure, "Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter."

A staple for so long in the Yankees' lineup, Jeter missed the first 91 games last year. He felt pain in his right quadriceps when he returned July 11 and again went on the disabled list.

Jeter came back for three games but strained his right calf. In early September, he was done for the year.

The Yankees will open the 2014 regular season on April 1 in Houston. Their final game is scheduled to be at Fenway Park, against the longtime rival Boston Red Sox.

New York's final regular-season home game is set for Sept. 25 against Baltimore. After Jeter's announcement, StubHub said the ticket demand zoomed to make that night the highest-selling game of the 2014 season. Before Wednesday, it wasn't among the top 50 in sales.

Rivera said a year in advance that he would retire, and was saluted everywhere he played last season. Jeter is sure to get a similar farewell tour.

"I wish everybody does it like that," Rivera told ESPN radio. "I think that would be the right thing for him to do."

Jeter wrote that he wants to pursue business and other interests "in addition to focusing more on my personal life and starting a family of my own."

"And I want the ability to move at my own pace, see the world and finally have a summer vacation," he said.

"But before that, I want to soak in every moment of every day this year, so I can remember it for the rest of my life. And most importantly, I want to help the Yankees reach our goal of winning another championship," he said.

Here's the full statement from his offical Facebook fan page: