Pedro Martinez: Let umpires check for sticky substances, not managers

When it comes to checking for sticky substances on pitchers’ hands and baseballs, Red Sox pitching legend Pedro Martinez said he wants Major League Baseball to leave that job to umpires.

That means managers should stay in the dugout, he said.

“Nobody else can raise a red flag and say, ‘This guy’s doing that,’ ” he said. “The umpire is closer to you and watches you closer than anybody else.”

Martinez addressed the issue before he hosted an event in Boston on Thursday on behalf of his charity, the Pedro Martinez Foundation. Although he’s been out of the game for more than a decade, the three-time Cy Young winner and 2004 World Series champ has watched closely while MLB implements its new pitching rules.

MLB unilaterally banned pitchers from using any foreign substance outside of rosin on the mound and began randomly checking pitchers this week — provoking impatience and outrage from some players.

Pitchers have long concocted blends of sunscreen and rosin — along with other bizarre pitching cocktails — but the more widespread use of a sticky substance called Spider Tack and dwindling offense prompted a league-wide crackdown without input from the Player’s Association.

Martinez said he was in favor of getting the sticky stuff under control, but when and how to check a player should be left entirely up to umps.

“I think it’s right. If we have to do anything to clean up the game, I think it’s right, we should do it. But at the same time, we have to also keep it under control,” Martinez said. “We cannot go out there, and just because I feel like, ‘I don’t like Pedro Martinez or Eduardo Rodriguez, I need to check him until I frustrate him.’ ”

Martinez said alarm bells went off for him Tuesday while watching Phillies manager Joe Girardi call for checks against Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer.

“He preserves the integrity of the game, he represents the integrity of the game,” Martinez said of Scherzer.

He reiterated that he doesn’t wish to take a side in that particular blowup, but if MLB wants to go forward with these rules, it should exercise caution about how to implement checks.