Mets’ Edwin Diaz Faces 10-Game Suspension for Sticky Fingers
Edwin Diaz says he did nothing wrong. But the New York Mets closer is facing a 10-game suspension by Major League Baseball for an illegal foreign substance on his hands.
Diaz was tossed from Sunday night’s 5-2 Mets victory over the Chicago Cubs, before he ever threw a pitch in the top of the ninth inning.
According to reports, Crew Chief Vic Carapazza claims Diaz’s hand was “extremely sticky.“
” Discolored … it definitely wasn’t rosin and sweat. We’ve checked thousands of these. I know what that feeling is. This was very sticky.”
Diaz pleaded with reporters later that all he had on his hand was rosin, sweat, and dirt from the mound.
“I put my hand in the dirt a little bit so I can have some grip on the ball. … I was really surprised because I didn’t have anything on my hand, glove or belt. They always check everything,” Diaz said.
The Mets did not make a big fuss about it. In fact, New York asked Drew Smith and Jake Diekman to close the Mets fourth series victory out on Sunday night in Chicago.
NOTHING NEW FOR METS
Sticky fingers is nothing new for the Mets. Last year both Drew Smith and former Met Max Scherzer were ejected for illegal substances on their hands. Scherzer was infamously ejected by crew chief Phil Cuzzi in a game against the Dodgers in April 2023 where started screaming at the umpires that he only had rosin on his hands.
SIGNIFICANT VICTORY
The Diaz ejection and likely suspension put a bit of a damper on what has been a torrent run by the Mets of late.
The victory over the Cubs not only assured a fourth series victory, and moved the Mets to 10-3 in their last 13 games, but it guaranteed a head-to-head tiebreaker for the Mets over Chicago.
Currently, the Mets sit in the middle of a large wild card race in the National League with about 10 teams all vying for three spots in the playoffs later this year. The Mets are currently a game out of the sixth seed.