Is DeflateGate Scandal Causing MLB To Reconsider Foreign Substance Use By Pitchers?
BOSTON (CBS) - Two Major League Baseball pitchers have been suspended in the past week for using foreign substances on their arms.
Will Smith of the Milwaukee Brewers and Brian Matusz of the Baltimore Orioles both received eight-game suspensions for doctoring the baseball, and new attention is starting to be paid to the "integrity of the game."
"Who knows? Maybe this is an outgrowth of the DeflateGate thing, where each sport starts to closely examine what they allow in terms of the ball being used," McAdam told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Zolak & Bertrand.
RELATED: MLB Beefs Up Ball Security Following DeflateGate
Red Sox manager John Farrell, and others, have made it clear that Major League Baseball should allow some use of foreign substances on pitchers. Proponents insist that sunscreen, rosin, pine tar and other substances help pitchers get a better grip on the ball, which in turn can help keep the batters safe.
"I thought Farrell had a great idea the other day: identify some substance, whether it's a combination of rosin and sunscreen or whatever it is, and allow a certain amount of that to be used, and nothing else. Where we're at now there is a giant amount of hypocrisy. 'Well, we'll let you do it as long as we don't see you doing it,'" McAdam said.
"It's sort of been the don't-rub-our-face-in-it thing. Michael Pineda has it slathered all over his neck, and John Farrell was reluctant to [call him out] because he knows everybody does it," said McAdam. "There should be some sort of universal agreement of what you can and can't do. Let's make it clear cut, and none of this wink-wink, nudge-nudge thing."
What do you think is the solution to this problem?
Listen below to the full conversation: