New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz was ejected before throwing a pitch on Sunday after officials determined he had an illegal sticky substance on his hand, and on Monday MLB handed down a 10-game suspension.
Díaz has the right to appeal the discipline.
The Mets had brought in Díaz to protect a 5–2 lead in the bottom of the ninth, but second base umpire Brian Walsh was not happy with what he saw during the routine hand check when a reliever came into a game. After a tense back-and-forth with Díaz and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, crew chief Vic Carapazza ejected the pitcher.
From one close-up angle it was clear that something was on Díaz’s hand.
After the match, Díaz insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“I always use the same thing,” said Díaz, via ESPN. “I’m rubbing resin, swearing, and I’m putting my hand on the sand a little bit because I need some grip on the ball. So that’s what I was explaining to them. But they said it was too much stick. I understood it, but at the end of the day I was using resin, sweating and putting my hand on the ground.”
Carapazza, however, did not believe that argument.
“It was definitely not resin and sweat,” Carapazza said after the match. via Jesse Rogers of ESPN. ‘We checked thousands of them. I know what that feeling is. This was very sticky.”
Díaz’s ejection forced Mendoza to bring in reliever Drew Smith to cover the ninth inning. Smith got the first two outs before allowing a single to Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson. Mendoza then brought in Jake Diekman, who ended the game with a strikeout of Patrick Wisdom. The final was held at 5-2.
It may have been Díaz’s first exclusion this season, but it isn’t the first time things have gone badly after coming into the game. The $102 million man has a 4.70 ERA this season, with four saves in 11 chances, and has seen himself both demoted from the featured role and on the injured list with a shoulder injury.
Since returning from the IL, Díaz had gone three straight scoreless for the first time since April 4, but he now faces another step backward.
This is Díaz’s first season after missing the entire 2023 season with a torn patellar tendon suffered in the World Baseball Classic. He only has one season left on his Mets contract after this one, with a salary of $21.5 million, but he has player options for 2025 and 2026 of $18.5 million each.
