New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole has become a figure in a Southern California legal drama involving a former Los Angeles Angels visiting clubhouse attendant.
Brian "Bubba'' Harkins was fired last March for providing MLB pitchers with a foreign substance designed to improve their grip on baseballs in cool and dry weather.
According to a Los Angeles Times report, a Jan. 17, 2019 text allegedly sent by Cole, then of the Houston Astros, to Harkins was submitted into Orange County Superior Court by Harkins' lawyer as evidence in Harkins' defamation suit against the Angels and MLB.
"Hey Bubba, it's Gerrit Cole, I was wondering if you could help me out with this sticky situation,'' the text begins, followed by a winking emoji.
"We don't see you until May, but we have some road games in April that are in cold weather places. The stuff I had last year seizes up when it gets cold.''
Harkins' mixture of pine tar and rosin was also used by several current and former Angels pitchers as well as visiting stars such as Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Corey Kluber according to the complaint.
CALDERA:Are the New York Yankees going to let the NY Mets outshine them offseason?
Trevor Bauer's take
Commenting on the matter via his Twitter account, free agent pitcher Trevor Bauer – who previously expressed suspicions about spin rates on certain staffs – linked L.A. Times writer Mike DiGiovanna's report to a tweet.
"It's almost like it didn't exist. Wow. The more you know…how crazy,'' Bauer wrote, adding two yawning emojis.
Bauer included his own tweet from May 1, 2018, asking cheekily: "If only there was just a really quick way to increase spin rate. Like what if you could trade for a player knowing that you could bump up his spin rate a couple hundred rpm overnight… imagine the steals you could get on the trade market! If only that existed…''
Specifically, Bauer was suspicious of increased spin rates by Astros pitchers, suggesting use of a sticky substance; Cole and Verlander were on the 2018 Astros staff, both acquired by Houston via trades.
In a February 2020 article he authored for The Players' Tribune, Bauer guessed that "70 percent of the pitchers in the league use some sort of technically illegal substance on the ball.''
LOOKING AHEAD:Here's what the New York Yankees have on the radar to start off the new year
Getting an edge
On a cool, April 2014 night at Boston, then-Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was famously busted for having smeared pine tar on his neck to get a better grip on the ball, resulting in an MLB suspension.
That caused a lot of outrage, but the debate within the game is more nuanced.
In cold and dry conditions, a batter's safety is at risk if a pitcher has trouble with his grip on the baseball, so the subtle use of a tack is often overlooked.
Harkins, 55, was dismissed by the Angels last March, coinciding with an MLB investigation related to pitchers' use of foreign substances on the ball.
According to the L.A. Times, Harkins' attorney claimed that his client is being made a scapegoat in MLB's efforts to purge the game of such substances.
Yankees add Jhoulys Chacin
On Friday, the Yankees reportedly agreed with veteran right-hander Jhoulys Chacin, 33, on a one-year contract with an invite to big-league camp.
Chacin becomes yet another depth piece to a staff that has plenty of question marks behind Cole in its rotation. Masahiro Tanaka's status as a free agent leaves the current Yankees without a clear No. 2 starter.
In 2020, Chacin appeared in just one game for the 2020 Atlanta Braves.
Over parts of 12 MLB seasons for seven clubs, Chacin has posted a 78-87 record with a 4.04 ERA.
Chacin went 15-8 with a 3.50 ERA for the 2018 Milwaukee Brewers, leading the NL with 35 starts.
Via his Twitter account, the Venezuelan-born Chacin posted a picture showing he had just become a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Pete Caldera is the Yankees beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Yankees analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.
Email: caldera@northjersey.com Twitter: @pcaldera