Former Angels clubhouse attendant Brian Harkins has named Gerrit Cole, among others, as players he supplied ball-doctoring substances to prior to his firing last March.

[TURBO]

Former Angels clubhouse attendant Brian Harkins has named Gerrit Cole, among others, as players he supplied ball-doctoring substances to prior to his firing last March.

 

Harkins filed suit against the Angels and Major League Baseball last August, alleging that he was unfairly made a scapegoat as the league cracked down on pitchers' use of ball-doctoring substances. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss Harkins' case in November and a January 21 hearing has been scheduled to determine whether it will move forward. In addition to Cole, Harkins has also identified Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber, Felix Hernandez and Adam Wainwright, among others, as players he has supplied his substance -- which is a blend of rosin and pine tar -- to. While technically against the rules, pitchers using substances to get a better grip on the ball is generally viewed as common practice and accepted throughout the league. It seems unlikely that any of the aforementioned pitchers will face any kind of discipline.

 

RELATED: Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber, Felix Hernandez, Adam Wainwright

SOURCE: ESPN.com

Jan 8, 2021, 9:03 AM ET

 

 

 

What will Chris Carpenter tell his kids about his ex-teamate? Cardinals players are the right hand of God after all...

[monty57]

Ahhh, the "unwritten rules" of baseball. One player violates the rules and gets banned, another player violates the rules and since it's "viewed as common practice and accepted throughout the league," nothing happens.

[sveumrules]

If this guy's stuff works so good how come the Angels pitchers are always so bad?

 

Imagine having Mike Trout, a top seven payroll & you still can't crack the playoffs for six seasons running.

 

Pretty embarrassing time to be an Angels fan if you ask me.

[AKCheesehead]

If I understood the article I read correctly, I actually agree with their firing him. He was the Angels' VISITING clubhouse manager, and he gave the stuff to their opponents. If he supposedly makes the best ball grip dope there is and I employ him, he'd better be only giving the stuff to my players, not my opponents so they are better against my team.

[jerichoholicninja]

Shouldn't the biggest crime here be that an Angel's employee was helping players on other teams perform better?

[jerichoholicninja]

If I understood the article I read correctly, I actually agree with their firing him. He was the Angels' VISITING clubhouse manager, and he gave the stuff to their opponents. If he supposedly makes the best ball grip dope there is and I employ him, he'd better be only giving the stuff to my players, not my opponents so they are better against my team.

 

Shouldn't the biggest crime here be that an Angel's employee was helping players on other teams perform better?

 

Jinx.

[brewcrewdue80]

Shouldn't the biggest crime here be that an Angel's employee was helping players on other teams perform better?

 

Hey if opposing pitchers are caught and suspended X amount of hames, isn't that beneficial to Angels?

Now does the magic goo produced and given come in like a pomade container where the pitchers use it throughout the whole season? Or just that gameday?

It'd be interesting if he could say what games exactly he gave the opposing pitchers and what that pitcher's performance was that day. But at same time that's like a Canseco he can find gamelogs where he picks a good game by the pitcher and says it was that game.

[JosephC]

Not sure if anyone has done anything with game logs, but I'm pretty sure Trevor Bauer pointed out some teams that had numerous pitchers with spin rates that magically increased by 10-15% from one season to the next.

 

It's been pretty obvious that this has been going on for awhile now and I have to admit that I hope it blows up in MLB's face. Seems to be a case where all teams are doing it to some extent so everyone is just willing to look the other way. If....say....27 out of 30 MLB teams are doing it then why not just change the rule and make it legal to use "grip mixtures." What would be the motivation to just ignore it and hope people don't talk about it?

 

Latest question. MLB said they couldn't suspend any Astros player in the electronic sign stealing scandal because they weren't notified that was illegal (which is ridiculous). So now with this, if several witnesses step forth and say Yankee star Gerrit Cole is a definite cheater, does MLB do anything about Gerrit Cole or does the Angels (+MLB) just fire some nobody named Brian Harkins and just move on and pretend that nothing is happening here? I know what I would put my money on. Would be hard for anyone on the planet to believe that Gerrit Cole was not aware that using a foreign substance was against the rules.

[DHonks]

this is not a big deal. In MLB all baseballs have the rubbing mud on them. I knew someone whose baseballs were voted as the best in MLB several years running. He took the slick brand new balls, rubbed them in the mud. While rubbing the balls, he'd be chewing a dip that was a little sticky, and spitting into his hands. A player may not want too much tackiness on the ball, but too little and those 98mph heaters will get close to them, and those curveballs will slip out of hands and possibly hit them.