The fallout from the Max Scherzer suspension is, to borrow a new phrase in the baseball vernacular, sticky-sticky.
Enforcement of how much is too much when it comes to sticky fingers remains a matter of umpire opinion. Umpire James Hoye let Yankees pitcher Domingo German off the hook April 15 because his hand was “tacky.” Four days later umpire Phil Cuzzi warned Scherzer after the second inning about a “slightly sticky, tacky” hand, then warned him in the third inning about a “sticky” glove and finally ran him before the fourth inning for a hand “far more sticky than anything that we felt.”
MLB officials are satisfied with how the situation was handled and have no plans to amend the protocols of enforcing the ban on sticky substances, according to multiple league officials. Some players are confounded by the level of tackiness that is allowable.
