Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
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Hate the shift. How about a compromise. Each team gets to use it 3 times making it a real strategy with all the resultant second guessing we love. Thoughts?
I don’t like the shift, but I hate telling a manager you can’t do what you want with your team more than I hate the shift.
I guess I’m a little hypocritical though. I’d like to see a rule in place where you can only change pitchers once per inning…. if you change twice it’d be assumed the second change was for injury and he’d be ineligible for 5 games.
I get that bunting has been mostly made irrelevant because, statistically speaking, giving up an out lowers your chances of scoring in the long run. And so players don’t really practice it much.
But if players started deploying that strategy more to beat a shift, the shift would go away.
I’ve heard a lot of people and players say how it’s not easy to do that. Especially against the best pitchers in the world.
It’s because they don’t emphasize it enough growing up. If you can handle the bat you should be able to beat the shift. It’s just not a skill that is taught much anymore.
How about the Braves dealing Teheran to a contender and then going all in for deGrom?
There are plenty of things wrong with the current game and it doesn’t have anything to do with the pace of play. The shift is a symptom of biggest problem: the low expectations and standards for player performance. To call a six-inning start giving up less than 3 runs a quality start is ridiculous. An ERA of 3.00 or under is quality, not 4.50. Striking out 100 plus times is a season is poor performance. The point of the game is to reach base in order to score runs, not play HR derby. Allowing players to bat and be unable to play a position in the field is another example of low expectations. MLB players are paid handsomely and they need to fulfill their commitment with something much better than mediocre.