On Thursday, attorneys for Brian “Bubba” Harkins in Orange County (California.) Superior Court have sued Angels and the clubhouse manager fired for the team after allegedly presenting a text message to Cole. According to reports, including one in the Los Angeles Times.
“Hey Bubba, this is Gerrit Cole, I was wondering if you could help me with this sticky situation,” Ghadre, then wrote with Astro on January 17, 2019, adding a wink emoji. “We don’t see you until May, but we have some road games in April which are in the cold season. The stuff I had last year was confiscated when it was cold. “
Harkins, who was fired in March after being reported by Engels, reported that a Major League Baseball investigation found that he was providing a banned substance to the pitcher to increase his grip on baseball, against Engels and MLB in August Filed a defamation suit. The team and the league filed a motion in November to dismiss the lawsuit. In response to the motion, which claimed that 55-year-old Harkins was being used as a “scapegoat”, his attorneys presented evidence including text.
The origin of that information has not been verified and may be in question. More than a dozen other pitchers are also mentioned – both angels and visitors – in suits such as those used by Harkins. Pitchers have used similar substances over the years, but MLB has tried to tighten the practice.
Last year, Trevor Bauer wrote in The Players Tribune that he was skeptical about how the Astro teams pitched on the pitch to improve their spin rates so dramatically.
“When I see a guy from being a good pitcher for a team and spinning the ball at 2,200 rpm, spinning the ball at 2,600 or 2,700 in Houston, I know exactly what’s happened , “Wrote Bauer.
Bauer never mentioned Cole’s name in the story. The Post’s Joel Sherman asked Cole about the issue in February, when he signed a nine-year agreement, a $ 324 million deal with the Yanks. Cole did not react to Bauer’s story, but regarding the notion that Astro was better at making a sticky product or teaching him how to use that product, Cole repeated three times, “No.”
In response to the LA Times story, Bauer wrote on Twitter, “It’s almost like it existed. Wow. As much as you know … how crazy. “
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