USA Today’s Bob Nightengale spoke to a number of active players that voiced extreme displeasure for many of the proposed rule changes that have been mentioned in news and rumors this winter. Brandon Moss, Jonathan Lucroy, Cole Hamels, Chris Young, Peter Moylan, Jason Grilli and Jimmy Rollins were among those to weigh in, with none sounding the slightest bit enthused by the notion of changes such as pitch clocks and automatic intentional walks. Young took a level-headed approach to the topics and suggested that while commissioner Rob Manfred’s “mind is in the right place” — keeping an open mind about progressive ways to improve the game — the players need to be more involved in talks. “It can’t be just unilateral that we’re going to implement this,” Young said to Nightengale. “…The game’s a partnership between the players and the owners. We can’t just mandate that every team has a $200 million payroll. They can’t mandate that the rules are going to be changed without our consent, either. I think there are definite ways to improve the game, but let’s do this together.”
Those who have been following the proposed rule changes this winter will absolutely want to read Nightengale’s column in full, as it’s stuffed with impassioned quotes from the game’s current wave of players. Here are a few more notes from around the league…
- Former big league closer Matt Capps is set to work out for MLB clubs this coming Sunday (Feb. 26) in Marietta, Ga. The right-hander, now 33 years of age, hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2012, when he posted a 3.68 ERA with 18 strikeouts against four walks in 29 1/3 innings with Minnesota. Shoulder injuries limited his workload that season and plagued him for several years thereafter, as he attempted comebacks with the Indians and Braves. Capps spent the 2016 season in the Diamondbacks organization, and while he didn’t generate positive results in Triple-A Reno — 5.15 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 — he did manage to stay healthy, logging 50 2/3 innings. Prior to his injury troubles, Capps logged a 3.52 ERA in 439 2/3 Major League innings from 2005-12, compensating for a lack of strikeouts (career 6.5 K/9) by demonstrating stellar control (1.7 BB/9).
- The Twins claimed Ehire Adrianza off waivers from the Giants based on his defensive prowess, writes Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the 27-year-old’s glove is already drawing attention early in camp. Twins third base coach/infield coach Gene Glynn lauded Adrianza’s instincts and defensive tools, while manager Paul Molitor noted that the report he received on Adrianza was that “he’s going to be the best defensive shortstop on the field when he’s out there.” Adrianza will compete with Eduardo Escobar for a utility role, Miller notes, and his glove could seemingly give him a viable chance of making the roster. Adrianza is just a career .220/.292/.313 hitter, though Molitor offered some optimism about being able to help him improve at the dish.
- Prior to Chase Utley‘s agreement to return to the Dodgers, the Cubs briefly spoke to the veteran infielder about a bench/pinch-hitting role, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports recently tweeted. The talks never became serious, however, and a formal offer was never made to Utley’s camp. The Cubs clearly value depth, though it’s tough to imagine how Utley would receive any semblance of regular playing time with the reigning World Series champs. Javier Baez‘s emergence may have already pushed Ben Zobrist into a crowded outfield, and the team also has Tommy La Stella on the roster as an additional infield option on the bench.
I get some rules might be more drastic, but right now, this story is a huge overreaction. If intentional walks weren’t automatic, there would be a 0.1 percent chance of a mistake being made. I laughed when I seen moss’ comment. Putting pitch clocks in and stuff like that is not going to change the game that much at all.
actually if you count the two wild pitches and sac fly and base hit last year there is 2.5 percent chance of a mistake. and pitch clocks make the chance of making a mistake as a pitcher go way up. just imagine getting counted down every pitch in a place like Chicago or New York. it would be so annoying
So once in 810 games. Also I don’t think the pitch clock would affect most pitchers, if they need to they can just step off and reset the clock.
If stepping off would reset the clock, it would defeat the purpose of having the clock.
I am all for changes to speed up the game, but I think everyone is forgetting an intentional walk often builds suspense, something the game of baseball thrives on. Plus it will only save about 16 seconds per game.
Baseball is the best thing ever . It takes exactly enough time to play each game. And bud seilig is gone so ecerything is right. In the world as far as i am concerned.
I’ve never heard a single constructive idea come out of a player’s mouth regarding addressing things like pace of play. The only think they do is complain that it should be a partnership, and shoot down every creative idea put out there by the Commissioner’s Office. Players just don’t want change, so they resist any change. If they don’t want these particular changes, then put some of your own ideas out there instead. The games drag on too long. The pace is too slow. That’s why football, basketball and even hockey are more popular with today’s fans.
Both Hamels and Young suggested changes within the column. Both spoke about automated strike zones as a means of accelerating play, and Hamels spoke about shortening the season as a means of retaining fan interest. (The length of the season and frequency of games seems to be one reason that the NFL has a wider mass appeal.)
And I’m not really sure where you’re inferring that the NHL is more popular among sports fans than MLB, but I’d be interested to see any data suggesting as much.
football is the slowest paced game. there is so little action with a good defense and there is like 3 min in between plays. extra points and kickoffs are ridiculous that take 10 min between action with the commercials
Yea, I fall asleep way more watching football than I do baseball.
Couldn’t agree more. Football is a snooze-fest, for most of the game.
“Kick, receive, 5 minute
commercial break, huddle, decide play, pass or run, another minute to huddle and decide play, pass or run, another 5 minute commercial break.” Lather, rinse, repeat.
It seems like there’s a 5 minute commercial break every 4 minutes.
I even fell asleep during the Super Bowl admittedly it was right before the Pats came back but it got boring in between and I was gone. Baseball has commercial break issues too (LOOGY pitchers) but the short and continual at bats are much easier to focus on than the drawn out and usually mundane NFL plays
I wish more people felt like us. I tried to follow the Rams when they came back to LA and honestly that was so boring.
Agreed. The NFL should have their OT system like college football. At the very least for the playoffs. The falcons got screwed over a coin toss. It was their own fault all they had to do was run it for maybe 2 first downs then kick a FG instead they drop back and matt Ryan has a tuck rule “fumble” and the pats tie the game.
As much as I do enjoy football (college especially), I agree with this completely.
Fine, if little bits of time can be shaved off to speed the game up without wrecking the structure of the game, go ahead. I’m worried that, as Brandon Moss said, the game may become a caricature of itself in an attempt to woo a few more fans.
The players are definitely involved in discussions on ways the game is played. They have a minimum of 1458 innings, on the field, to do it each year.
Major league players have been playing the game for years, and either know or hopefully learn what they like about the game, and in turn what they could change about it. Similar to employees engaging in conversation about what they would change about their own respective workplaces.
Hockey is not more popular than baseball by any measure possible
Unless you’re in Canada.
Which has less of a population than the entire state of California.
And Europe….
Look at youth sports, though. Baseball is absolutely tanking at that level in comparison with most other team sports because it became a pay-to-play industry. It’s crisis level in some areas. Hockey is pricey due to equipment but even outside of the traditional hockey markets it’s becoming pretty popular as a youth sport.
That will someday manifest itself at the major league level. The only place kids grow up eating breathing and sleeping baseball anymore is Latin America. Most of the other team sports are available year round anywhere now and so baseball isn’t even much of a second sport to play in the summer anymore.
I do not think the data backs you up on youth participation in baseball. It’s not the 1950s, so kids certainly choose among several sports, not just baseball. Perhaps most importantly, youth participation in football is declining due to injury concerns. This looks to be a very damaging trend for the game. Will baseball benefit? That remains to be seen. Let’s hope it does.
Hockey only gets good in the Stanley cup finals. I’ve watched I only 4 games on TV. All three blackhawk wins and last year the penguins. Exciting s*** to say the least.
It’s not the game that is broken, it’s the millennial audience that is used to instant gratification.
You speak the Truth
Really? Gotta be that guy huh?
I’m not even a millennial but I can’t help but notice the amount of undeserved crap they get. Why aren’t baby boomers treated like crap for the state of the world right now? They have much more influence than the current youngest generation. Plus I see just as many boomers and gen xers that are glued to their phones and need everything instantly, the kids didn’t invent that, they’re just growing up in our world so it becomes commonplace. If you’re looking to blame someone, blame the generation that’s currently making the decisions (for a lot of things).
I’d hope for better from someone so knowledgeable Joey, blaming kids is a cop out. It’s also ironic that you would write that using the most famous instant gratification tools of our time, a phone or pc, to get on the the greatest instant gratification device ever, the internet.
AMERICANS are used to instant gratification, all of us, regardless of generation!
Uh, I’m not sure if I’m a millennial or not but you have a wildly overactive sense of optimism if you’re not terrified about the prospect of the world being run by my generation and the one behind me.
Uh, I’m not sure how you got optimism, let alone “wildly overactive”, optimism from my comment.
All I was saying is that I don’t think blaming millennials was fair in this case. Didn’t say anything good about ’em…but something age has taught me is that every generation says the same negative things about younger generations. It’s really kind of a cliché at this point.
-Bluetooth communication instead of guys tugging on their ears 3 times. (Was really happy to see Joe Girardi pitch this idea today) No more mound visits as a result.
-Warm up in the bullpen. Reliever gets 3 pitches on the mound, not 8.
-Automated strike zone. No more arguing about calls. No more pouty faces adjusting their batting gloves for 45 seconds because they didn’t like a call.
-No pitch clock as much as I like the impetus behind it. Baseball is literally dubbed “the game without a clock”. No clocks. Use it in the minors to build habits in the pitchers.
I like your ideas accept I am not a fan of automated strike zones bc the umpire union would never agree to it anyway and it would just cause those problems
Why not? There still needs to be an ump behind the plate to say what the results are, and it actually creates an additional umpiring job for the person who has to relay the results to the guy behind the plate.
You wouldn’t need an umpire for that. You could just have a green and red light system that is visible to everyone. Green for “strike,” red for “ball.” For the record, I’m against a system like that, however. I just think the home plate umpire is a part of baseball that makes it great.
I am really hoping that two things never change about baseball. Keep the umpires no matter what and keep clocks out of the game
I’m as old school as they come and I’m fine with pitch clocks. All the time between pitches is boring. It’s just pitchers self-indulging in fake strategic thinking. And a larger strike zone would help, too. Just call it like the rule book says.
We already have clocks in baseball. The big visible one in center field that counts down between every inning and governs when the next pitch must be thrown. The invisible one that starts running in the home plate umpire’s head every time a catcher visits the mound and governs when that conference is over. I’m not saying we need more clocks in baseball, only that it’s too late to say we should not have any.
Maybe to a degree but you are majorly overemphasizing the impact of those things.
I am simply pointing out that they exist, without any emphasis of any kind.
Relief pitchers (and PA members) would flatly reject the 3-warm up pitch idea on account of player safety.
There have to be other ways to shave 4 minutes a game.
Good ideas. Allow me to add less time between innings. Teams care so much about pitch counts why does the pitcher need warmup pitches?
You mean that time where the stations broadcasting the game make money ? You notice that nobody in a position of power or ever suggests that change.
They want to shorten the actual gameplay but I hope nobody thinks that the broadcasts are going to get shorter. They’d get the game down to an hour and broadcasts would still have four hours of Joe Buck’s mandible moving around.
“It can’t be just unilateral that we’re going to implement this,” (Chris) Young said to Nightengale. “…The game’s a partnership between the players and the owners. We can’t just mandate that every team has a $200 million payroll.”
I didn’t realize that $200MM payrolls for each MLB team was on the table in regards to these latest rule changes. If they were, the players from top to bottom would be likely be a whole lot richer than they already are while many of the clubs might be in red ink. That being said, I’m all for some sort of salary cap in MLB with both a ceiling and floor. In exchange, the players ought to be given a carrot in the form of more jobs, through increased roster sizes (27) and franchise expansion (2). If this could be accomplished in time for the next CBA it would be a real boon for MLB, unlike the current rules being discussed.
Btw-I’m also thrilled that many of the players are in favor of automated strike zones as a means of accelerating play. This would also be a tremendous boost to the sport while also eliminating the games greatest judgement call. No other professional sport could compare to MLB in terms of impartial officiating if this proposal was adopted.
If they really want to change the strike zone, they’re going to have to go automated. Most of these umpires have been there forever, they all have their own zones and I highly doubt they will change them now. Personally, I don’t really care either way. I almost just wish they’d get on with it sooner rather than later because I’m tired of hearing about it.
Also, in my opinion, the only way the game is gonna speed up is if they find a way to deal with matchup pitching. It didn’t use to be 5 pitchers rolling out in a half inning to get 2 outs. Has to be a rule that can find a happy medium.
Are carter and matt capps related
Nope
Why speed up baseball?
Why speed up life?
I love four hour long games.
LEAVE THE GAME ALONE!
I love 2 1/2 hour games too, because it usually means good P&D. I think he wants to shorten the game so they can sell more advertising. We’ll still be sitting there for 3 hours.
No, he wants to shorten the game to attract more fans. I’m sorry, but eliminated the IBB along with a couple of other things is not going to change a fan’s perspective about baseball. It won’t change how a casual fan feels about the game, nor will it make people who hate baseball to like baseball.
It should be to apply the DH rule to the NL
No. That is what differentiates the two leagues. Keep the DH in the AL and keep it out of the NL.
The DH slows games by making it easier to make pitching changes.
Make the season 154 games long, very few players play more than 150-155 games a year, and bring back Sunday’s double headers making them 7 inning long, expand the rosters to 26-27 players and limit pitching changes and shifts in an inning. casual fans will not care the game is 3 hours long as long as there are 15 runs scored a game, also players will have more off days,
Maybe the players should try offering their own realistic suggestions (automated strike zones are not even possible right now) instead of whining so much. I do like the suggestion of a shorter season though.
Automated stoke zones actually are possible and have already been used in the minor leagues. They televised a game a couple years ago with Eric Byrnes doing play by play to promote it.
It worked great and cut the time of the game considerably.
Just think of all the time wasted by players and coaches when they argue strike calls or step off the mound/ out of the box to show their displeasure, none of that nonsense happens with an automated strike zone. Plus there’s no debate about whether or not a pitch was a strike, we’d always know definitively
Imagine an 10 pitch at bat with the pitch clock, you may see foul balls so frequently
Eliminate Velcro batting gloves and you shave 10 minutes off a game.
I’m picturing Nomar Garciaparra right now! Great comment!
Does Manfred not understand that what really slows the game down is having runners on base? The pitcher holds the ball so the runner can’t time him, throws to first to keep the runner on, ans so on. A smaller strike zone would mean more walks (really exciting), more hits, and less double plays (booo!). High scoring games usually go over 3 hours, whereas low scoring games can often be finished in 2 1/2 hours.
Russell Martin spoke about things like automating the strike zone, pitch clocks, catcher visits, and so on eliminating m,any of the catching skills he’s spent a lifetime learning. He said that often he and the pitcher need to stretch things out in order to give a reliever time to get ready, so things like pitch clocks and automatic walks, may end up costing more injuries.
My own take is that pitchers work at their own pace because that’s what is most effective for them, but pitchers like Mark Buehrle have shown the value for working quickly. I see automatic walks as adding to a pitcher’s already heavy workload, because if they need to buy time to get a reliever ready, he will need to throw 4 full effort pitches to pitch around a batter. In this case, you can bet he will take all the time he needs.
I have not heard one proposal that makes sense on rules changes. Pace of play is a made up problem that doesn’t exist. Not one fan is lost because games taking too long or moving too slow. Automatic strike zones and blue tooth and automatic walks all take human aspect out of game. Signs getting crossed up, figured out by other teams, bad calls, mistakes on intentional walks, dragging it out to let pitcher warm up are all part of the game. If they really want to bring people to game, lower ticket prices, and focus on youth leagues and development and outreach.
Best comment so far. Pace of play issues are a joke. Baseball is flush with cash. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Preach!
I was reading these comments and thinking, “how is shaving 4 minutes off of a 3-4 hour game going to change anything for people that weren’t fans or were on the fence?”
The only thing it does is piss off the already loyal fans that are fans because they love what the game is now, 4 minutes won’t effect that. But whatever they do to get those minutes may affect how loyal fans perceive the game…it’s not worth it!
I think you’re being complacent. Dig deeper of attendance and viewership demographics and you can see reasons for concern.
The problem isn’t losing fans, it’s getting young people interested in the game. In a time where you can consume entertainment in so many different ways baseball has too much down time to hold kids attention that long. They don’t want to sit through 30 commercials because there are four pitching changes in a half inning. That’s why soccer is becoming very popular to watch among youth, they play 45 minutes non stop, half time, then play 45 more with a few minutes tacked on. It’s non stop action.
If baseball can’t draw new fans it will be in trouble in the future. I see it like the environment, we have to take care of it now so our kids and their kids and so on will be able to enjoy it in the future
One rule change that should not be an issue is intentional walks. For the player it’s 4 less throws per game, more if you IW more than once. While not saving a ton of time it will make it feel the game moving along. And in my 40 years I only recall one time the pitcher missed the catcher. And the players are being babies here
Well you haven’t watched much baseball over the 40 years if you’ve seen this only happen one time. Go on YouTube and check out a near 3 minute video of IBB gone wrong, all of them within the last couple of years.
Harry Chiti of the Cubs famously (famously at the time, anyways) saw an intentional ball come too close to the plate, and whacked it to the RF corner and chugged out a triple.
Miguel Cabrera (when he was with the Marlins) hit an IBB pitch for a game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning of a game, Had the IBB rule been implemented then, it could’ve cost the Marlins a win.
I once drove a golf ball 350 yards. Statistically improbable things can happen. You don’t design an entire game around them, though.
If pace of play is the focus of changes, then the first (and only IMO) issue to address is bringing in a relief pitcher for only one batter. This takes out the competitive strategy of match ups, which I like, but that seems to be the primary factor slowing games down to me. I don’t think teams want to lose that so they start talking about shaving seconds off with a pitch clock throughout the game. That just places an unnecessary stressor on starters and ignores the real problem. Baseball has already started to address the issue of batters stepping out of the box so much which is way more annoying than taking an extra five seconds to make a pitch.
Strong agree, make all relievers throw to at least 2, and preferably 3 hitters. More Andrew Millers, less Loogy’s.
Pitching changes due to pinch hitting for pitchers makes NL baseball particularly excruciating to watch at times.
So we have an epidemic of pitchers seriously hurting themselves, but sure, lets make them pitch faster! That won’t be a problem, right? Speeding up an unnatural motion won’t lead to rushing and mistakes in the motion AT ALL, this is totally going to not mean more TJ’s for everyone, riiiiiight??????
Little bit of an overreaction here. Nobody is saying make them pitch immediately after they get the ball back. In the minors there is a 20 second limit which usually is more than enough time that Most MLB pitchers take to start delivering a pitch. (This is 20 seconds once they Set to throw a pitch. Not 20 seconds to throw the pitch).
There are some pitchers who are way too slow. Pedro Baez is probably the worst. You can take vacations in between his pitches.
That 20 second limit is most likely adding to the causes of the TJ epidemic though, the TJ thing trickles all the way down to little league, and at every level it gets exacerbated further by things like college/high school coaches not using pitch counts or making young arms mix too many fastballs and offspeed, to time limits in the minors. An MLB pitchers arm does not start on their MLB debut, TJ is the cumulation of years of wear and tear.
I get what you’re saying, but Baez is an extreme example. Based off that though, I’d prefer MLB clock everyone and based off whatever Baez’s average time is, amd tell everyone who is at that time to make changes, not make a blanket law for guys who actually do need the time to make the perfect (yet unnatural) motion of a pitch.
most likely adding to the case of the TJ epidemic? Do yo have any proof or evidence, at all, of this? If you do, I’m sure MLB franchises would pay you to see it. I’m gonna assume you are just making stuff up and pulling this out of absolutely no where though, since you provide exactly 0 evidence to support your wild claim.
Surely, throwing every pitch with max effort has nothing to do with the surge in TJ surgeries. You can’t be serious. Besides, pitchers have been working slower and slower for years, but the rate of TJ surgery has risen during that same time. I don’t see how the evidence vaguely supports what you say.
Here’s what they can speed up. Instant Replay
Instead of not having one but Two umpires go over to someone carrying something that looks like a boombox with the 2 umps wearing headphones Listening in (that’s all they can do. They can’t communicate back with the umpires), we should get an additional umpire or other scorer that makes these decisions and can Immediately tell the umpire the correct call. Most times at home we find out what the correct call is before the umpires even start jogging over to the device that looks like a boom box!
Also, enough with managers chatting with umpires for a minute while the bench coach or whoever it is gets reviewed. Decide Immediately whether or not you want to challenge. Get 2 or 3 challenges a game, and if you want to challenge, throw a flag or go immediately to the umpire.
I am a fan of instant replay but I am not a fan of how MLB handles it. I read it took 2-3 minutes for a Replay to be reviewed (I believe the timer started when the umps first put on the headsets). That doesn’t include time wasted by managers chatting, umpires jogging over, etc., which probably adds another 2 minutes or so.
This is a good 4-5 minutes wasted that all can be solved in just 1-2 minutes
Replays have a level of tension that keeps fans in the game though, pitching changes do not. Best move is to get rid of loogy’s or making the NL use the DH.
Getting rid of Loogy’s is removing a strategic element of the game. They shouldn’t change how a manager wants to use his pitchers, whether it’s 1 pitching change in an inning or 4 pitching changes an in inning (looking at you Girardi and Bochy).
What they should limit is the amount of warm up pitches a reliever who comes in to the game. Make it about 2 or 3 pitches max. I’m aware the mound on the field and mound in the pen aren’t the same, but all of these pitchers (except rookies) have been on the mounds before and know how to throw from the regular mound.
If on average in an MLB game there are 4 Mid Inning pitching changes, that equtes to 32 warmup pitches. A warmup pitch is about 10 seconds. That’s 320 seconds which is 5+ minutes. If you limit it to 2-3 warmup pitches instead of 8, you’re looking at 8-12 pitches or 80-120 seconds,, which is 1-2 minutes most.
Call it silly, but it seems Manfred is doing things to save baseball time by Seconds, not Minutes. This and fixing replay are 2 very simple things he can do to save nearly 10 minutes of baseball.
And as far as the NL getting the DH, that may happen, but it’s not happening anytime soon. And for NL fans, I’m sorry, but the DH is going to stay, so you better hope they don’t add it to the NL. I like it the way it is. Separate in each league.
“Getting rid of Loogy’s is removing a strategic element of the game.”
Getting rid of loogy’s is removing a flawed baseball player who can’t do his job in a full time capacity. Fans don’t care about this aspect of the game, who honestly goes “ooooh cant wait for the loogy! yes here he comes, ok pitching change yay heres 5-10 minutes of messing around, and here he goes, and he got a groundout! Now another pitching change”. Nope, most fans are going “zzzzzzzzzz……”
I mean maybe there are fans like that out there, but I honestly don’t get where this whole strategic baseball even comes from, baseball isn’t about strategy, its see ball hit ball. It’s a simple game we keep making more convoluted. I personally hate this bogus “strategy” side of the game, hit and runs, bunting etc. How about just letting the pitcher pitch and the hitter hit and the fielder field?
wait so you want to remove a flawed player who can’t do his job full time, but you think the NL needs to add the DH? How many players that DH are flawed players who can’t do the job of a position player full time?
edit: I see kayrall beat me to it
Generally speaking, including from an historical perspective, there is no greater “flaw” among players in MLB than the inability of most pitchers to hit a baseball with any degree of regularity. If a pitcher shows such an ability, then perhaps the rules applying to the DH could be modified to allow them to bat more frequently without it also being a handicap to their team at some other point in the game.
Removing a strategic element that wasn’t part of the game 30 years ago…
@JAF I wish I could downvote this more than once. So you suggest that aspects that have added strategy to the game should be prioritized in removal instead of something (the time it takes for umpires to walk over and listen to the boombox as MB so eloquently put it) that the players have absolutely no athletic control over?
In addition to your follow up comment to MB, you say “a flawed baseball player who can’t do his job in a full time capacity”. This is exactly the type of definition I would apply to DH except at least relief pitchers are necessary to the game.
Pitch clock is stupid
Players are employees and while the union negotiates work conditions, rules of the game should not be amongst those items under negotiation. That said getting input from players is a great idea as long as they understand MLB ultimately makes the decisions. Some of the recent ideas are just silly such as the minor leagues starting extra innings with a man on second. an intentional walk forces a pitcher to toss the ball four times and when added to warm ups does in the long run impact a pitcher’s availability eventually.
Sorry, I’m going to call BS on the idea that intentional walk pitches have any measurable effect on a pitcher’s availability.
Have we heard what exactly the “signal from the dugout” for IBB will be? Is it going to be standard league wide, or will each manager get tome come up with their own. If the latter, somebody really needs to bring Ozzie Guillen back into the fold.
I suggest they hire John Cleese to teach them the Ministry of Funny Walks routine as the signal for an IBB.
Would love to see Mike Scioscia or Clint Hurdle do the high-kicking strut.
There was a night several years ago where the Red Sox and Yankees were on ESPN, and when the Twins game started an hour later, they were in the top of the third inning. When the Twins game ended, they were in the bottom of the fourth.
The problem isn’t that baseball is slow, the problem is they spent so long slowing it down to package it into a new kind of multimedia event, and now they’re trying to pick up time by chipping away at the core of the game itself.
Yes, this whole thing of games getting longer comes specifically from Yankees, and then Red Sox tv stations adding in too many commercial breaks, and the managers of those teams overdoing pitching changes.
Correction: adrianza wasn’t claimed off waivers from the giants, he was claimed from the brewers who claimed him from the giants and dfa’d him
What can happen during an intentional walk? Ask Jason Kipnis.
He’s scored twice on wild pitches during them.
Once we get robo-umps, you can bet that we’re going to start arbitrarily tinkering with the exact size of the strike zone one year to the next as a bunch of pencilneck marketing majors decide exactly how much offense is going to generate the most fan interest.
If the players wanted to do something, they could play faster. If they added a rule that if a batter is stalling, he can get beaned without taking a base, that would speed up the game. If pitchers play slow, just give the batter a walk. As in, this at bat is taking too long, so the pitcher automatically loses.
These are silly ideas, but it’s also silly to suggest that players have any interest in improving pace of play. With that being obvious, the Commissioner is completely in his rights to unilaterally enhance the viewing experience.
Enhance suggests improvement. I think that the viewing experience could be improved by slowing down pace of play to really flesh out the drama…..
Troll
Get rid of all replay! You fools are ruining our beautiful game! They played this game for a hundred years before all this crap! Leave it alone!
Were they playing 4 hour games 100 years ago? If anything, that’s what Manfred is working towards.
The cubs have great chemistry Utley would be bad for their clubhouse. He’s a dirty player and broke that dudes leg two years ago on purpose.