Has Gerrit Cole been cheating?

[Fan_since_Boggs]

Come to think of it, the first time I heard anything about 'spin rates' had to do with the Astros. There was talk about Verlander having a dramatic increase in his spin rate when he went from the Tigers to Houston, and there was talk about strategic use of substances. Maybe that was where the Spider Tack Revolution (pun intended) really started. And then Cole went there.

That's another thing I learned from the video. While the Astros' hitters were cheating by stealing signs, the Astros' pitching staff was cheating by loading up on sticky stuff.

A few years ago, I remember reading an article on how the Astros do such a great job retooling pitchers and increasing their spin rates. At the time it was assumed that the Astros relied heavily on analytics and knew how to get more out of pitchers than other organizations. When we look back at this today, we now know that such claims were false and that the Astros were likely cheating more than other organizations, and the cheating led to the uptick in performance. And yes, Verlander is a really good example. In fact, Verlander is arguably the new Roger Clemons. Just as Clemons began using steroids to reverse natural decline in the "twilight of his career," Verlander's numbers improved with the Astros when he began using sticky stuff in the "twilight of his career."

After a mediocre 2017 season with the Pirates, Cole joins the Astros in 2018 and turns into a 300 million dollar pitcher.

Cole is definitely one of the bigger question marks for the Yankees going forward. If Cole turns into that 2016-2017 pitcher again without the sticky stuff, he will be another overpaid player and unwise investment for the Yankees. I am so glad the Yankees have this problem and not the Red Sox.

[notin]

That's another thing I learned from the video. While the Astros' hitters were cheating by stealing signs, the Astros' pitching staff was cheating by loading up on sticky stuff.

A few years ago, I remember reading an article on how the Astros do such a great job retooling pitchers and increasing their spin rates. At the time it was assumed that the Astros relied heavily on analytics and knew how to get more out of pitchers than other organizations. When we look back at this today, we now know that such claims were false and that the Astros were likely cheating more than other organizations, and the cheating led to the uptick in performance. And yes, Verlander is a really good example. In fact, Verlander is arguably the new Roger Clemons. Just as Clemons began using steroids to reverse natural decline in the "twilight of his career," Verlander's numbers improved with the Astros when he began using sticky stuff in the "twilight of his career."

After a mediocre 2017 season with the Pirates, Cole joins the Astros in 2018 and turns into a 300 million dollar pitcher.

Cole is definitely one of the bigger question marks for the Yankees going forward. If Cole turns into that 2016-2017 pitcher again without the sticky stuff, he will be another overpaid player and unwise investment for the Yankees. I am so glad the Yankees have this problem and not the Red Sox.

Except possibly the Cardinals, who actually hacked the Astros’ databases…

[5GoldGloves:OF,75]

That's another thing I learned from the video. While the Astros' hitters were cheating by stealing signs, the Astros' pitching staff was cheating by loading up on sticky stuff.

A few years ago, I remember reading an article on how the Astros do such a great job retooling pitchers and increasing their spin rates. At the time it was assumed that the Astros relied heavily on analytics and knew how to get more out of pitchers than other organizations. When we look back at this today, we now know that such claims were false and that the Astros were likely cheating more than other organizations, and the cheating led to the uptick in performance. And yes, Verlander is a really good example. In fact, Verlander is arguably the new Roger Clemons. Just as Clemons began using steroids to reverse natural decline in the "twilight of his career," Verlander's numbers improved with the Astros when he began using sticky stuff in the "twilight of his career."

After a mediocre 2017 season with the Pirates, Cole joins the Astros in 2018 and turns into a 300 million dollar pitcher.

Cole is definitely one of the bigger question marks for the Yankees going forward. If Cole turns into that 2016-2017 pitcher again without the sticky stuff, he will be another overpaid player and unwise investment for the Yankees. I am so glad the Yankees have this problem and not the Red Sox.

Get ready for the MLB to release an "investigative" report calling the Astros' pitching coach at the time the "mastermind"... even as reporters publish quotes from Houston front office employees admitting to a system-wide formula they developed using analytics (I won't name the scapegoat coach, but that still won't stop ignorant, biased fans from calling him "lying cheater" the rest of his life).

[Fan_since_Boggs]

Cole was booed off the mound at Yankees stadium after his poor performance against the Mets:

Gerrit Cole ran out of steam earlier than expected, tagged for four runs and six hits before being lifted with one out in the fourth. The ace heard boos from an announced crowd of 42,714.

I wonder if Cole has ever been booed by a home crowd? Yankees fans are pretty informed, they know about the 300 million dollar contract and the sticky stuff issue. This could get ugly for Cole. His ERA was over 4.00 for the month of June and he is getting off to an inauspicious start in July.

Also, Yankees fans & commentators are taking aim at Cole on social media:
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/gerri...outing-vs-mets

The thing about Gerrit Cole is that he sucks when he can’t cheat. Which is a shame when you consider that he’s still owed $252 million over the next seven years, all of which are seasons that he’ll be over the age of 30.

I don't get to see Gerrit Cole much, but if he's worth $324 million, Jacob deGrom must be worth $648 million.

Jacob deGrom this season: 9 ER. Gerrit Cole in his last two starts: 9 ER

Gerrit Cole seems to be a disaster without illegal substances

Gerrit Cole before and after the new sticky rule enforcement:
Before 2.31 ERA
After 6.46 ERA
Before .198 BA against
After .288 BA against

[Fan_since_Boggs]

Good stuff:

Bobby, @BuStA607: What’s your opinion on Gerrit Cole struggling since the crack down on Spider Tack? Do you think his success since leaving Pittsburgh is from cheating?

Starkey: I have many thoughts on this topic, Dr. Bob.

1 — Cole basically admitted to cheating when he did not answer a direct question posed to him less than a month ago: Have you used Spider Tack while pitching? Spider Tack is a super sticky paste. It is an illegal, and highly effective, way for pitchers to make the ball spin faster and become exponentially more difficult to square up.

2 — If you’re part of the “What’s-the-big-deal-they’ve-been-doing-this-forever” crowd, I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise. I’ll let recently retired MLB reliever Jerry Blevins do that.

Blevins had a stellar career in which he went 30-13 with a 3.54 earned-run average and 508 strikeouts in 495 innings. His tweet, as the crackdown approached: “Pitchers used sunscreen & rosin every day (myself included) for control of the baseball. Other pitchers used foreign substances to enhance the spin rate. The old, ‘give an inch, take a mile.’ It went too far. This is why we can’t have nice things.”

3 — Cole was a very good pitcher for much of his time here. He was a legit Cy Young candidate in 2015, when he went 19-8. But he was by no means a dominant strikeout pitcher. Not once in his Pirates career did he record more strikeouts than innings pitched.

4 — Almost the minute he left for Houston, Cole not only became a dominant strikeout pitcher but one of the most dominant strikeout pitchers of all time. His 326 strikeouts two years ago were the most of the 21st century by anyone not named Randy Johnson. The only modern-day pitchers who ever recorded more were Johnson, Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax.

5 — Any rational being would look at that transformation and wonder, how did it happen? It reminds me in some ways of the Barry Bonds story. Bonds was great when he was in Pittsburgh — a better position player than Cole was a pitcher — but he wasn’t 73-home-run great. Something very strange happened with Bonds. Something very strange happened with Cole.

6 — Now look: Cole’s numbers before and after MLB’s recent crackdown on pitcher substances is just a little eye-opening.

BEFORE: 2.31 ERA, .198 opponent batting average, .554 opponent OPS

AFTER: 6.46, .274, .884.

Small sample size, for sure, but if you’re asking me if I think his success since leaving Pittsburgh was from cheating — and you very literally asked me that — I’m leaning hard toward yes.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/202107060086