Yankees' Domingo German handed 10-game sticky-substance suspension by MLB

TORONTO – Whether it was rosin, as Domingo German claimed, or something illegal, as the umpires here did, the pitcher received a 10-game suspension Wednesday, the announcement made by Major League Baseball about 40 minutes before the Yankees played the Blue Jays in the third game of a four-game series at Rogers Centre.  

“Yeah, it’s going to be difficult because I’m not going to be able to compete and help the team, so for sure it’s not going to be easy,” German, who was ejected on his way to the mound for the bottom of the fourth inning after a routine check of his glove and hands, said through his interpreter late Tuesday night. “But at the same time, I understand as a professional I have to stay ready, keep working out, keep doing my routines I do between starts so that I’m ready for my next start. I have to be mentally strong and stay ready for my team when the time comes.”

German's second sticky situation this season creates a problem for the Yankees, not the least of which is, per league rules when it comes to a pitcher getting suspended for such a violation, the club is not allowed to replace him on the roster.

“Not ideal,” Aaron Boone put it of the situation German put his club in.

Though far from ripping his player – Boone hasn’t done that in five-plus years in the dugout – the manager didn’t really hide his displeasure either.

“Ultimately, that’s Domingo’s responsibility to make sure we’re in a better position there,” Boone said. “I think they’ve all experienced this enough and what it is to be a pitcher, what the differences are. The reality is, we should all have a very good idea about what the line is. Apparently, Domingo crossed it tonight.”

German, who retired the first nine hitters he faced Tuesday, was ejected by crew chief James Hoye in what would be a 6-3 victory.  

The righthander, who twice was told to clean his hands in an April 15 game against the Twins at the Stadium by a Hoye-led crew but was allowed to stay in the game, insisted after Tuesday night’s game “it was definitely just rosin,” on his hands, adding: “I don’t need any extra help to grab a baseball.”

Hoye told a pool reporter it was “definitely not rosin,” and explained how the rest of his crew – D.J. Reyburn, John Libka and Clint Vondrak – determined German had to be tossed (Reyburn did the initial check between innings).

“His hand was clearly shiny on the palm and his fingertips, and it was extremely sticky,” Hoye said. “So [Reyburn] called me over and said, 'Hey, take a look at this.' And the instant I looked at his hand, it was extremely shiny, and extremely sticky. It's the stickiest hand I've ever felt, and same with D.J. And so at that point, we brought over (Libka and Vondrak) to verify all four of us had the same opinion. We all had the same opinion: shiny, extremely sticky and it's the worst hand we've ever felt during a game.”

After being told of those comments, German still insisted he was using the legal combination of sweat and rosin.

“I don’t need any extra help to grab a baseball,” he said.

German said he would like “clear direction” of what is too sticky and what isn’t.

“I don't want this to happen again,” he said. “I followed the instructions. I'm not using it enough, now I use it too much, and there was a problem because it was too much on my hand. So, summer is coming, we're going to be sweating a lot out there. You need the grip, right? But you also want clear direction from them [the umpires] to see what's appropriate and what's too much.”

Tuesday, clearly, was too much, regardless of substance.