Outside the Confines: A sticky situation

I hope you’re all having a good week. We’re halfway through it. In years past, we’d be having the MLB draft right now.

• The big story in baseball right now is what the pitchers have on their hands. Buster Olney reports that MLB is getting ready to crack down on foreign substances some time in the next two weeks.
• Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole was asked if he’d ever used Spider Tack and responded with “I don’t know how to answer that, to be honest.”
• Lindsey Adler answers all your questions about sticky stuff. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Emma Baccellieri notes that the current crackdown mirrors a similar crackdown on spitballs in the sixties.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt tracked down the creator of the really sticky stuff, Spider Tack. (The Athletic sub. req.) It was invented for Strongman competitions and the inventor was unaware that pitchers were using it or why they would want to.
• By the way, The Athletic has several good articles on issues surrounding foreign substances on the baseball at the moment and I can’t possibly link to all of them. But if you’re a subscriber and interested in the topic, be sure to check it out.
• Andy Marino has a new book out on the Astros cheating scandal that alleges that the team continued to steal signs through the 2019 season.
• Zach Crizer notes that as many as nine ballparks are using humidors this season and wonders if that could be one explanation for the decreased offense this year.
• MLB responded to that lawsuit over moving the All-Star Game to Denver by calling it “frivolous.” The Players Association responded to it by essentially asking why are you suing us? We don’t determine where the All-Star Game is played. Which should tell you all you need to know about this lawsuit. It’s a publicity stunt and a fundraising gimmick.
• Jon Greenberg writes that most broadcasters are itching to get back to traveling with the team (The Athletic sub. req.) and he explains what’s holding it all up.
• Giants broadcaster and San Francisco legend Duane Kuiper is temporarily stepping away from the booth as he undergoes chemotherapy. We don’t have any more information than that. But get well soon, Duane.
• Hall-of-Famer John Smoltz is looking forward to calling this summer’s game at the Field of Dreams in Iowa.
• Now on to the players. Michael Baumann writes that Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is fully living up to his earlier hype this season.
• Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford played his 1,326th game at short last night, which is a new franchise record. That includes the franchise’s time in New York. Crawford celebrated the feat by hitting two home runs in a win against the Rangers last night.
• Luke Hooper notes that Crawford is having a big season after adopting a new swing this year.
• Staying with the Giants, Dan Szymborski notes that Kevin Gausman has been the best pitcher in the National League (non-Jacob deGrom division) this year thanks to his splitter.
• Neil Paine explains why the Mets might actually be good this year (and why they might not).
• Mike Petriello looks at why the Yankees aren’t scoring many runs this season.
• Bradford Doolittle explains why your favorite team can’t be more like the Tampa Bay Rays. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Sara Sanchez has some storylines to follow for National League teams who most likely are not making the playoffs.
• Kevin Goldstein imagines what every team is telling other teams about what they want to accomplish at the trade deadline.
• The Padres are rumored to be interested in trading for Rangers slugger Joey Gallo.
• David Schoenfield takes an early crack at picking both All-Star squads. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Jeff Passan explains how a Reddit AMA thread helped get pitcher Hayden Shenefield signed by the Reds. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• One of the big scandals of Spring Training was when former Mariners president Kevin Mather admitted that they were manipulating the service time of outfielder Jarred Kelenic. The Mariners promoted Kelenic to the majors after gaining another year of control, but the team sent him back down to Triple-A after he hit just .067 and is currently in an 0 for 39 slump.
• The Rockies took high school pitcher Riley Pint with the fourth pick of the 2016 draft after his fastball was clocked at 102 mph. On Tuesday, Pint retired at the age of 23, having never made it above High-A.
• The Rangers designated outfielder Khris Davis for assignment. No one will ever hit .247 in four straight seasons again.
• Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a monster home run with an exit velocity of 116 mph last night.
• Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani crushed a 470-foot home run as well.
• You won’t believe the play made by Omaha Storm Chasers pitcher Gabe Speier on a comebacker last night.
• And finally, Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a home run last night against the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler, or at least he would have hit a home run if he had remembered to step on first base. The Dodgers noticed that he failed to step on first, appealed and it became nothing but a long out.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.