Insider shares huge claim about sticky-stuff ejection of Mets' Edwin Diaz

During Monday's edition of his "Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney" podcast, ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney suggested that he's not shocked New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz suffered a sticky-stuff ejection in the ninth inning of what became New York's 5-2 win at the Chicago Cubs on Sunday evening.

"I heard a lot last year, when he missed the entire season with a knee injury, folks around baseball were basically saying to me, 'Look, we all know there are hundreds of pitchers using sticky stuff,' and that was one of the guys who was mentioned with a slider that sharp," Olney said about Diaz, as shared by Jimmy Hascup of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.

Olney was referencing how Diaz missed all of the 2023 season after he went down with a torn patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating a win during the World Baseball Classic. The 2022 Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award winner struggled last month before he landed on the injured list due to what was referred to as a shoulder impingement. 

Diaz surrendered no earned runs in three June appearances before Sunday's developments.

According to Danny Abriano of SNY, Diaz insisted on Sunday night he used only MLB-allowed rosin, sweat and dirt on his hand. Nevertheless, crew chief Vic Carapazza told a pool reporter after the game that "it definitely wasn’t rosin and sweat" on Diaz's hand at Wrigley Field.

"You know, that there was a feeling that he probably, at some point, was going to have to face an adjustment like so many pitchers," Olney added about Diaz. "He got off to a rocky start this year. He comes back from the injured list. He’s pitched a lot better, so we’ll see what kind of adjustment he makes as he goes forward."

"Sweat and rosin" defenses offered no help for then-Mets starter Max Scherzer or current New York relief pitcher Drew Smith last year. Similar comments likely won't prevent Diaz from receiving an automatic 10-game suspension as soon as Monday.

The 37-39 Mets ended the weekend just one game back in the battle for the NL's third wild-card playoff spot but will now have to prepare for life without Diaz through the early days of July. The Amazins open a two-game tilt versus the 52-28 New York Yankees on Tuesday evening.