MLB Network insider blasts suspension of Mets' Max Scherzer

Baseball insider Jon Heyman of MLB Network and the New York Post has blasted the league over the 10-game suspension of New York Mets ace Max Scherzer.

"In this case, I don’t like to impune somebody’s integrity over a judgment call, particularly when we’re talking about an umpire," Heyman said during the latest edition of the "Big Time Baseball" podcast, as shared by Ryan Gilbert of Audacy. 

Heyman noted for the Post on Thursday that Phil Cuzzi is "the only umpire who’s caught anyone" over the past three years violating MLB rules related to the use of foreign substances during games. 

"Now maybe Phil Cuzzi’s the one doing it right and everybody else is doing it wrong, but it’s a little weird that all three pitchers who’ve been 'busted' were by Phil Cuzzi," Heyman said during the podcast. "There are 100 other umpires. Why does nobody else ever catch anybody? It’s a weird thing." 

Scherzer insisted before and after he was ejected from Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers that the substance on his hand was a mixture of sweat and league-approved rosin. However, umpires later claimed that Scherzer's hand "was far stickier than anything that we felt certainly today and anything this year." 

Heyman made it known he didn't care for that explanation. 

"Stickiest, stickier, to me that’s not proof," Heyman added. "I need proof. I watch 'Forensic Files,' they got to prove something. To me, they didn’t really have the goods on him and it’s unfortunate to me." 

Per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Scherzer explained Thursday why he isn't appealing the suspension and instead began the ban later that evening. 

"I went through the appeal process," he said. "Looked at what that appeal process was going to look like. I thought I was going to get in front of a neutral arbitrator, but I wasn't. It was going to be through MLB. Given that process, I wasn't going to come out on top."