What sorts of issues would you like the new commissioner to address?

grimshaw

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For me, in rough order of preference:
 
1) Please please please, get rid of the unbalanced schedule or lessen it.  I realize it's easier said than done but the other 3 sports seem to have gotten it right in recent years.  Hell, I'd even take 13-15 games within the division, but seeing the same teams 19+ times a year (including pre-season and/or playoffs) is too much. 
 
Maybe west vs east coast games can open the season on the opposite coast that way to allow time for time adjustments and play 4-5 game series. Perhaps then do the exact same thing after the All-Star break or during the start of September.  I'm sure if you asked the players union if teams would prefer one long ass road trip with 5 game series for east vs west rather than make multiple trips, they would probably be more open to it.  I just don't see how it's fair that one team could never have to see Felix Hernandez or Pedro Martinez (in the past), when another gets him 4-5 times a year.
 
2)  Figure out the DH vs no DH and keep the same rule for both leagues.   
 
3) Speeding up the game is a nice idea in theory like enforcing the high strike when the offense was out of control, but I don't see it consistently being enforced.  Trimming 5-10 minutes off the clock realistically isn't going to attract 10 year olds.  Put that on the back burner until actual ratings and revenues plummet.
 
4) Rework roster expansion.  40 is too many.  I'd rather see 2 more eligible spots (25-27 a game) for the whole year, than 25-40 for one month.  Let management decide if they want to increase payroll or start arbitration clocks or not.  It will decrease wear and tear on the bullpens, and de-emphasize the need to drive up pitch counts since you'd have another break glass in case of emergency innings scarfer.  Way too many position players pitching this year.  Adam Dunn?  Plus we'd get to see Steven Wright hang out in the dugout.
 
5)  Move the joke of the Miami Marlins team to Montreal.  Still in the East.  Still in the NL.  One Canadian team is just weird.  Give it another shot, and the fans will come out in droves.
 
Agree with the concepts?  Have your own ideas?  Discuss.
 

Spacemans Bong

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I don't think you'll find a bigger fan of bringing a team to Montreal than me, but moving the Marlins to Montreal? Um, what? Have you ever heard of a lease?
 
I also don't know how you can just brush aside length of game issues when national TV ratings are plummeting, at least in part because games are a good 45 minutes longer than they used to be. 
 

grimshaw

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Spacemans Bong said:
I don't think you'll find a bigger fan of bringing a team to Montreal than me, but moving the Marlins to Montreal? Um, what? Have you ever heard of a lease?
 
I also don't know how you can just brush aside length of game issues when national TV ratings are plummeting, at least in part because games are a good 45 minutes longer than they used to be. 
 
I'm not necessarily talking about actual logistics, just what you would like to see change.  We both agree a Montreal team would be awesome though.
In terms of game length,  I think other changes could directly impact speeding up the game or generating more revenue.  The de-emphasis of driving up pitch counts.  Higher ratings from seeing different teams.  Higher attendance from seeing different teams more often.
 
I just don't see David Ortiz and his hefty pride staying in the batters box and umps being able to enforce without slowing the game down themselves.  Could you imagine Clay Buchholz getting the ball and throwing it?  What about pick-off attempts.  What about calling time outs?
 

glennhoffmania

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1. Balance the schedule
2. DH in the NL
3. Get rid of the play-in game
4. Automate balls and strikes
5. Delete the blocking the plate rule
6. Ban farewell tours
 

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grimshaw said:
For me, in rough order of preference:
 
1) Please please please, get rid of the unbalanced schedule or lessen it.  I realize it's easier said than done but the other 3 sports seem to have gotten it right in recent years.  Hell, I'd even take 13-15 games within the division, but seeing the same teams 19+ times a year (including pre-season and/or playoffs) is too much. 
 
Maybe west vs east coast games can open the season on the opposite coast that way to allow time for time adjustments and play 4-5 game series. Perhaps then do the exact same thing after the All-Star break or during the start of September.  I'm sure if you asked the players union if teams would prefer one long ass road trip with 5 game series for east vs west rather than make multiple trips, they would probably be more open to it.  I just don't see how it's fair that one team could never have to see Felix Hernandez or Pedro Martinez (in the past), when another gets him 4-5 times a year.
 
 
This comes up every single year and nobody has ever answered how you'd get east coast teams to accept those additional 10pm starts for their local broadcasts. I'd hate having the Red Sox open up with a 15 game west coast swing where I never get to see the end of the game.
 

Lars The Wanderer

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I just don't see David Ortiz and his hefty pride staying in the batters box and umps being able to enforce without slowing the game down themselves.  Could you imagine Clay Buchholz getting the ball and throwing it?  What about pick-off attempts.  What about calling time outs?
 
I just don't see David Ortiz's pride as a barrier to a rule change. I don't care who you are, get your ass in the box or get a strike called against you.
 
I don't think you can change pick-off attempts, but when there is no one on base, they need to enforce the rule about time between pitches that is already on the books. Also, catcher visits to the mound should count as an official visit.
 
I am not a fan of the DH. In my opinion they should do away with it altogether. However, I know a lot of people like it and I think the different rules for each league should probably remain.
 

glennhoffmania

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Lars The Wanderer said:
 
I am not a fan of the DH. In my opinion they should do away with it altogether. However, I know a lot of people like it and I think the different rules for each league should probably remain.
Whether you like or hate the DH, having different rules for different leagues is one of the most ridiculous thing in sports.  The championship is decided by games in which the rules change based on the location.  It's crazy.
 

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Max Power said:
 
This comes up every single year and nobody has ever answered how you'd get east coast teams to accept those additional 10pm starts for their local broadcasts. I'd hate having the Red Sox open up with a 15 game west coast swing where I never get to see the end of the game.
 
Well one way to work around this is to have the season start on a Friday, have that game start at 4pm local time, then have the Saturday and Sunday games be day games, and try to follow the same schedule the following weekend. So at least 6 of the games would be during normal east coast hours. It's not ideal but it's not like we see all of the west coast finishes as it currently stands. And the same schedule could be followed after the all star break if the west coast teams start the season on the east coast.
 
Edit: and it's really only 3 teams we are talking about in the AL - Seattle, LAAAAAAA, and Oakland. Houston and Texas aren't an issue. The NL is a bit trickier.
 

jk333

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grimshaw said:
 
I'm not necessarily talking about actual logistics, just what you would like to see change.  We both agree a Montreal team would be awesome though.
In terms of game length,  I think other changes could directly impact speeding up the game or generating more revenue.  The de-emphasis of driving up pitch counts.  Higher ratings from seeing different teams.  Higher attendance from seeing different teams more often.
 
I just don't see David Ortiz and his hefty pride staying in the batters box and umps being able to enforce without slowing the game down themselves.  Could you imagine Clay Buchholz getting the ball and throwing it?  What about pick-off attempts.  What about calling time outs?
 
Removing pitching changes from the middle of an inning would quicken the pace and create interesting strategy.
 
Speed of the game is the biggest problem facing baseball right now. The population is used to instant gratification and a game can go 2.5 or 4.5 hours. People aren't watching because the games take too long; I've seen the ratings fall, are there numbers on how often people turn games off after 2 hours or the 7th inning? A game can cruise into the 7th inning and still take 4 hours. There's nothing worse than a manager making two pitching changes to get through one inning when there aren't any runs scored. It seems to ruin the pace of the game; is there data on the time (minutes) that each inning takes? 
 
Games could be made ever quicker by adding (or enforcing) a pitch clock or making Ortiz stay in the box. But these won't be lasting changes because they would be subjectively enforced.  
 

grimshaw

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Max Power said:
 
This comes up every single year and nobody has ever answered how you'd get east coast teams to accept those additional 10pm starts for their local broadcasts. I'd hate having the Red Sox open up with a 15 game west coast swing where I never get to see the end of the game.
I do notice that occasionally,  AL west coast games would start at 9 vs visiting east coast teams rather than 10, and 10:35 games vanished a while ago.  I think they could compromise just for those few games a year that fall on weeknights.  Realistically there are only about 6 now, since there are a few get-away games and Sundays mixed in.
 
And east coast teams could return the favor to west coast teams by starting a bit later.  4 on weekends or 8 on week nights.
 

grimshaw

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Disallowing batter called time outs could help a bit too, to avoid those stare downs.  Leave it in the hands of the umps instead.
 

Spacemans Bong

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glennhoffmania said:
Whether you like or hate the DH, having different rules for different leagues is one of the most ridiculous thing in sports.  The championship is decided by games in which the rules change based on the location.  It's crazy.
 
Then figure out a rule for the World Series. But NL fans don't want the DH, and more of them go to ballparks than AL fans (and have done for decades). There's no reason to piss that constituency off. 
 

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grimshaw said:
I do notice that occasionally,  AL west coast games would start at 9 vs visiting east coast teams rather than 10, and 10:35 games vanished a while ago.  I think they could compromise just for those few games a year that fall on weeknights.  Realistically there are only about 6 now, since there are a few get-away games and Sundays mixed in.
 
And east coast teams could return the favor to west coast teams by starting a bit later.  4 on weekends or 8 on week nights.
 
They vanished because of all the money coming in from the TV contracts. The Dodgers aren't getting $4 billion if they're starting a bunch of games at 4pm local time. Unless you radically realign the entire sport geographically, a balanced schedule simply is not going to happen because of the TV money in the game.
 

grimshaw

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Max Power said:
 
They vanished because of all the money coming in from the TV contracts. The Dodgers aren't getting $4 billion if they're starting a bunch of games at 4pm local time. Unless you radically realign the entire sport geographically, a balanced schedule simply is not going to happen because of the TV money in the game.
How many young fans are watching games at 10am eastern time on weekends?  Wouldn't it even out with a compromise?  I'm not saying the Dodgers should start a bunch of games at 4pm.  I'm saying against the the east coast teams they play their home games at 6 local time.  Hell even a 5pm eastern time game on the weekends would probably draw more viewers combined. 
 

Doctor G

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I would like the commisioners office to review an old kinescope of a world series game from the fifties. assess the time between pitches and the time in the batters box. use this to establish a baseline on the pace of play.
If they could keep the game moving in the most important games of the year then, they can do it now.
The main problem is the intentional slowing down of the game by the players which is habitual and universal.
 
This stalling might have  originated as a form of gamesmanship of annoying your opponent.
It has evolved into an ingrained habit that annoys the spectator  only.  
 

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glennhoffmania said:
1. Balance the schedule
2. DH in the NL
3. Get rid of the play-in game
4. Automate balls and strikes
5. Delete the blocking the plate rule
6. Ban farewell tours
 
All of this, plus fix the atrocity that is the replay/challenge system. Replay itself is good, baseball's current attempt at it sucks.
 

glennhoffmania

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Spacemans Bong said:
 
Then figure out a rule for the World Series. But NL fans don't want the DH, and more of them go to ballparks than AL fans (and have done for decades). There's no reason to piss that constituency off. 
 
The DH is never going away.  The union will never agree to that.  So the question is whether uniformity is more important than clinging to a pretty meaningless NL tradition.  I think that's an easy question to answer.  I'm not trying to rehash for the millionth time why watching NL pitchers bunt with a runner on 1B and one out is stupid.  The larger issue is having the same rules throughout the league, and the only way to do that is to add a DH to the NL.
 

cromulence

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glennhoffmania said:
 
The DH is never going away.  The union will never agree to that.  So the question is whether uniformity is more important than clinging to a pretty meaningless NL tradition.  I think that's an easy question to answer.  I'm not trying to rehash for the millionth time why watching NL pitchers bunt with a runner on 1B and one out is stupid.  The larger issue is having the same rules throughout the league, and the only way to do that is to add a DH to the NL.
 
If only it were this easy. NL people fucking hate the DH and love their stupid version of baseball - way more than is rational. It will be a bloodbath trying to take it away from them. I used to think that maybe it was generational and as time went on the DH could take over, but NL people have passed this shit down to their kids. They take it beyond the DH, too. My uncle (Cubs fan) claims that in the AL they don't hit behind runners or hit and run. It's laughable.
 
Pace of play is far and away the most important thing, and it actually seems like MLB realizes it which is pretty exciting to me. I'm really hoping that they start pushing some changes through. Players will have to fucking deal with it.
 

OttoC

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This is a good article breaking down time of games by Amalie Benjamin of the Globe from back in June of last year: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/06/08/why-baseball-games-take-long/wikaeRMGatBDGDefpbFE1H/story.html
 
One thing that I found a hoot was a statement by David Ortiz that followed this comment by Benjamin: "There is no consensus on culpability. Pitchers blame batters. Batters blame pitchers." Ortiz is quoted as saying, "I remember I was playing defense behind Daisuke once, and I almost told [then-manager Terry Francona] to get me out of the game because I was worn out by the third inning."
 
Something needs to be done about the length of time of games but there are constraints imposed by television contracts by networks. Nationally broadcast games are allowed more time between innings for advertising than local broadcasts. I am not certain thses are the current times but what I found was 2:05 versus 2:45 minutes, This adds from 33:20-35:25 minutes to an 8-1/2 to 9 inning game (44:00-46:45 national broadcast).
 
Some other things mentioned in the article were the length of time mid-inning pitching changes took, coupled with the fact that the average number of pitchers used per game has gone up quite a bit and that more pitches are being thrown.
 
There are rules already in the book that would help speed things up...if they were enforced and in some cases, enforced differently. For example, Papelbon was fined several times with the penalty starting at $1500 and escalating apparently by $500 dollars for subsequent violations. What's $20,000 to someone making $$9-$12 million per year?
 
Stop playing the music and maybe the batters will get in the box instead of waiting for their song to finish. Call strikes if the batters steps out of the box (or balls of the pitcher delays). If the Velcro straps don't hold tight, staple them (my idea).
 
The Commissioner of Baseball has the power to act unilaterally, in the best interests of baseball. Tell him to do it and if the players and umpires are not happy, tell them to find work where they will be happy.
 
As for the DH, do away with inter-league play (please). You want to make the All-Star Game meaningful? The winning league gets to choose whether the DH will be used in the World Series. Suddenly abolishing the DH would put the AL at a disadvantage for a few years because they'd have pitchers who have never batted (or perhaps not since high school).
 

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Which major sports league has a balanced schedule?  I'm pretty sure the Bruins play the Canadians more times than the Capitals do, that the Celtics play the Knicks more times than the Cavaliers do, and that the Patriots play the Jets more times than the Broncos do.
 

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1. Make the DH rule uniform. It's insane to have two completely different styles/rules in one league.
2. Try to balance the schedule. Just because you are in a region doesn't mean you should not play other teams as often. Airplanes are a good thing.
3. Umpire accountability. Post ball/strike grades, demote umps who miss more than a certain percentage. Ratings can be used to judge who works home plate - and have a dedicated home plate umpire an entire series.   
4. Contract the New York Yankees.   
5. Once a batter steps into the box, he can't leave. If he steps out for a reason other than a foul or a Joba-style bug infestation the second the batter steps out they get a strike called.
6. Bring back bullpen carts - it'll save time off the game!
 

Lose Remerswaal

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More long travel is only going to piss off Adrian Gonzalez.  And cause the Sox to play a whole lot more 10:05PM games.
 
Umping at home is hard.  The reason they rotate is so they get a couple days where they can ump 2B and 3B.  I'm all for accountability, though
 

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grimshaw said:
How many young fans are watching games at 10am eastern time on weekends?  Wouldn't it even out with a compromise?  I'm not saying the Dodgers should start a bunch of games at 4pm.  I'm saying against the the east coast teams they play their home games at 6 local time.  Hell even a 5pm eastern time game on the weekends would probably draw more viewers combined. 
 
But you're also saying west coast teams should play the east coast teams more times on the road. Those games also start at 4pm. It's just not going to fly when the majority of the money in the game comes from TV contracts.
 

glennhoffmania

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Lose Remerswaal said:
Which major sports league has a balanced schedule?  I'm pretty sure the Bruins play the Canadians more times than the Capitals do, that the Celtics play the Knicks more times than the Cavaliers do, and that the Patriots play the Jets more times than the Broncos do.
 
Baseball plays twice as many games as any other league so there's more of an opportunity to balance it.  If you still want teams to play divisional opponents more often than other teams that's fine.  But to play almost half of your games against 4 teams out of 29 is way too unbalanced.
 

canderson

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Lose Remerswaal said:
More long travel is only going to piss off Adrian Gonzalez.  And cause the Sox to play a whole lot more 10:05PM games.
 
Umping at home is hard.  The reason they rotate is so they get a couple days where they can ump 2B and 3B.  I'm all for accountability, though
I agree. I think having a dedicated strike/ball/foul ump and have others - maybe the replay guy - do anything after that itself. The concentration level is an issue, granted.
 
So, robots!
 

trekfan55

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Echo everyone on the DH rule.  Like some have said, the DH will not go away at this point.
 
I know NL fans may worship the old "pitcher batting" rule, but there can no longer be a situation where two teams play under entirely different rules and strategies (plus now there is at least one interleague game everyday).  Also, there being interlaegue now, the non DH in the NL puts the AL at a distinct disadvantage when they play in NL parks.  Sorry, time to uniform both leagues.
 

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Re: the DH, at the very least I would like to see the rules reversed so that during interleague play and the WS the DH plays in the NL park, while the pitcher hits in the AL park. In a perfect world the DH is added to the NL, but absent that happening, I think it would be an improvement.
 

grimshaw

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Max Power said:
 
But you're also saying west coast teams should play the east coast teams more times on the road. Those games also start at 4pm. It's just not going to fly when the majority of the money in the game comes from TV contracts.
Basically I'd like to see something like this in the one big road trip of the year.  Early in the season too where it isn't as cold and games aren't likely to be rained out.  I realize 5 game series are not gonna happen, but I'd like to at least see 8 games vs each west coast team.
Monday vs Seattle 9pm
Tuesday vs Seattle 10pm
Wednesday vs Seattle 9pm
Thursday vs Seattle 4pm
Friday vs Oakland 10pm
Saturday vs Oakland 7pm
Sunday vs Oakland 4pm
Monday off
Tuesday vs Oakland 9pm
Wednesday vs Oakland 10pm
Thursday vs Anaheim 9pm
Friday vs Anaheim 9 pm
Saturday vs Anaheim 7pm
Sunday vs Anaheim 4pm
 

grimshaw

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trekfan55 said:
Echo everyone on the DH rule.  Like some have said, the DH will not go away at this point.
 
I know NL fans may worship the old "pitcher batting" rule, but there can no longer be a situation where two teams play under entirely different rules and strategies (plus now there is at least one interleague game everyday).  Also, there being interlaegue now, the non DH in the NL puts the AL at a distinct disadvantage when they play in NL parks.  Sorry, time to uniform both leagues.
I hate the DH too, but what I dislike most about the different rules, is that AL teams pitchers don't work are banned from working on offense at all aside from bp.  Can anyone remember an NL pitcher getting hurt when hitting or running over the past few years?  Joe Kelly stole 3rd last start and didn't tear an ACL.
 

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tims4wins said:
Re: the DH, at the very least I would like to see the rules reversed so that during interleague play and the WS the DH plays in the NL park, while the pitcher hits in the AL park. In a perfect world the DH is added to the NL, but absent that happening, I think it would be an improvement.
 
How would this help?  I honestly don't see the difference since half of the games would still be played under different rules than a team is used to.
 

Yaz4Ever

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1. No to balancing the schedule - teams should play more games against divisional opponents
2. Get rid of the DH (as soon as Papi retires, like that day)
3. Get rid of interleague games
4. Hold umpires responsible for their performance, but do NOT automate it.  The leagues should review Questac (or whatever) vs. called balls and strikes and umpires should be held to a certain standard.  If they are consistently poor in their pitch calling, they should be demoted/fired.  Otherwise, I enjoy the human element.
5.  Get rid of instant replays other than fair or foul for home runs.
6. Delete the blocking the plate rule.  As much as I dislike Ken Harrelson, he was correct in his assessment.
7. Reinstate Pete Rose
8.  Revamp current HOF elections so that morons like La Batard are never allowed to besmirch it again.  I don't have all the answers, but if Tim Raines, for example, does not make it in (as he should have long ago), the entire system is stained.
9.  Invoke the Good of the Game clause and move Stanton to Boston while sending Craig Breslow to Miami.
 

glennhoffmania

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Yaz4Ever said:
Does it really matter?
 
Probably not.  Based on your opinions on the DH, balanced schedule, and replay the whole post is tainted anyway.
 

Awesome Fossum

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My big ones, not in order of importance:
 
  • Keep investing, growing and tinkering with the WBC. Qualification in October/November, Pool Play in the Spring, Final Four at the All-Star Break. Try to build to it being an annual event and replacing All-Star Weekend entirely.
  • An international Series between the WS champs and Asia's champion, probably played in Hawaii
  • Do whatever needs to be done to get the NCAA to switch to wood bats (and while I'm talking to them, strongly encourage expanding the NCAA season to include the fall and/or summer as has been proposed). 
  • The pace of the game has to be quickened. Pitch times, deny batters from stepping out of the box, shorter commercial breaks, whatever it takes.
  • I would have to think it through before I could defend it intelligently, but loosen the relationships between minor league clubs and the majors to allow a minor league team's primary objective be to win baseball games and championships.
 

OttoC

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A number of years back (pre-internet days) I did a study of batting by Red Sox pitchers. and they had some good hitting pitchers over the years. In only one season (1904, I think), was the collective batting average of their pitchers over .200 and after that peak, it went down, year-by-year, reaching the low .180s. The last Red Sox pitcher to have at least 100 at bats in a season was Mel Parnell back in 1949; the last pitcher to do so was Fernando Valenzuela in 1986 and Steve Carlton was the only other pitcher to do it in the '80s (twice).
 
While there are the occasional pitchers who can hit, they are few and far between and you get others like Bob Buhl who struck out 45.4% of the time and had a lifetime SLG of .091. The DH in both leagues will be just fine.
 

Lars The Wanderer

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I don't think anyone is arguing that pitchers can hit. Of course they are crap hitters. I believe the point is that the decision of when to remove your pitcher when trailing is an essential (and interesting) part of the game and the rules as originally written were with that in mind.
 
I don't expect to win a DH argument on an AL board, but I often see the NL position misrepresented. Anyway, the original post was only tangentially related to the DH so I'll leave it at that. :love:
 
Back to the subject at hand. I like Hawk Harrelson's idea of making the catchers wear skirts!
 

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I'm really tired of complaints about length of games. Changes are minuscule. Who cares? A batter has every right to get comfortable at the plate, particularly when a hard object is being thrown 90 mph at them. If a pitcher takes too long to deliver, the batter should step out and re-calibrate. Same with pitchers...if they need to re-focus on what they're doing, so be it. My life isn't so important that an extra 14 minutes wasted/day is going to ruin it. Hell, DVR the freakin' games and speed up between pitches if all you want is the action.
 
1. Standardize the DH rule as stated by everyone above (I prefer no DH)
2. Re-configure the roster setup...allow expanded rosters in April, not in September
3. Schedule double-headers. Shorten the season calendar to avoid the worst of non-baseball weather.
4. Institute profit-sharing based on media market sizes (penalizing teams that monopolize large markets and benefiting teams stuck in small markets). Mandate that revenue sharing must be spent on baseball ops.
5. Get rid of on-screen pitch tracking. Limit it to pitch replays only.
6. Ban mascots and diamond vision video games.
7. Ban artificial turf (which would require immediately demolishing the Trop)
8. Ban artificial noise makers, racist foam rubber hatchets, thundersticks and hankies.
9. Allow pot to be smoked in stadiums. Baseball's best viewed when high.
 

Statman

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grimshaw said:
I do notice that occasionally,  AL west coast games would start at 9 vs visiting east coast teams rather than 10, and 10:35 games vanished a while ago.  I think they could compromise just for those few games a year that fall on weeknights.  Realistically there are only about 6 now, since there are a few get-away games and Sundays mixed in.
 
And east coast teams could return the favor to west coast teams by starting a bit later.  4 on weekends or 8 on week nights.
 
Starting games at 6:00 p.m. local time is simply not going to work in cities like Los Angeles where half of the Dodgers fans arrive by the 3rd innining because traffic is so bad.  An earlier start time would not only affect the attendance, but TV ratings as well because this isn't the 1950s anymore and people don't get off work exactly at 5:00 p.m.
 

glennhoffmania

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Another thing I think they should do, but obviously never will, is reduce the number of games per season.  There's no need to start at the end of March and play until the end of Sept.  They're playing in freezing weather in the spring and the fall, plus the playoffs go until Halloween. Cut 12 games and a week off of each end of the season.
 

cromulence

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geoduck no quahog said:
I'm really tired of complaints about length of games. Changes are minuscule. Who cares? A batter has every right to get comfortable at the plate, particularly when a hard object is being thrown 90 mph at them. If a pitcher takes too long to deliver, the batter should step out and re-calibrate. Same with pitchers...if they need to re-focus on what they're doing, so be it. My life isn't so important that an extra 14 minutes wasted/day is going to ruin it. Hell, DVR the freakin' games and speed up between pitches if all you want is the action.
 
I just don't get this. No one is saying games need to be played at lightning pace and be over in 2 hours, and of course batters should be allowed to "get comfortable". But why do you want to watch batters stepping out between every pitch and going for strolls when they hit a foul ball? The same goes for pitchers. Everyone knows that some work more quickly and some more slowly (think Steve Trachsel), so we can agree that they impact the pace/length of the game. Games are more fun to watch when there's a discernible rhythm and you don't have to wait around for the next pitch to come. Why not enforce the rules and speed up the players who have become excessively and unnecessarily slow? 
 

OttoC

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With the problem of further dilution of talent, this probably is not the ideal solution but I would like to see expansion to four 8-team leagues, which would allow cutting back to the old 154-game schedule.
 

Yaz4Ever

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OttoC said:
With the problem of further dilution of talent, this probably is not the ideal solution but I would like to see expansion to four 8-team leagues, which would allow cutting back to the old 154-game schedule.
I wonder if the Player's Association would give in on the DH (something they'd fight for tooth and nail right now if it was attempted to be taken away) if MLB offered to add two new teams via expansion.
 
Right now, it would affect who exactly?
 
Oritiz (Bos)
Carter (Hou)
Martinez (Det)
Morales (Sea)
Dunn (Chi)
Beltran (NYY)
 
Other than those goes, don't most teams go with a DH by committee or am I forgetting anyone important?  Of those, Victor could certainly find a place in the field if he had to, Beltran as well.  The other guys are most likely DH-only caliber players.
 
If MLB wanted to do away with the DH, they'd be creating a true hardship in terms of future employment for Papi, Carter, Morales, and Dunn.  Of the six guys above, how many will still be playing even 3 years from now?
 
Just saying, now might be a good time to approach this issue with seriousness.
 
 
 
Also, I love the idea of moving to a 154 game schedule (as OttoC mentions above) by dropping the first and last week of the season from the schedule (as ghoff proposed upthread).
 
 
As far as speeding up the game, I'm somewhat of an outlier I guess.  I simply don't see the need.  I love all the nuance we see on the field.  If the game HAD to be sped up, I'd suggest shortening time between half innings, which TV would IMMEDIATELY fight as it would mean less revenue for them.
 

curly2

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geoduck no quahog said:
I'm really tired of complaints about length of games. Changes are minuscule. Who cares? A batter has every right to get comfortable at the plate, particularly when a hard object is being thrown 90 mph at them. If a pitcher takes too long to deliver, the batter should step out and re-calibrate. Same with pitchers...if they need to re-focus on what they're doing, so be it. My life isn't so important that an extra 14 minutes wasted/day is going to ruin it. Hell, DVR the freakin' games and speed up between pitches if all you want is the action.
 
But MLB doesn't need to worry about people like you and me. We're diehards, and we're not going anywhere. They have to make sure they have plenty of fans in 50 and 100 years. Picking up the pace a little could help in that regard.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

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I like a lot of the ideas above. I'd like to see the implementation of a 20 second (the exact time could be debated) pitch clock which would include a 5 second red zone at the end where the pitcher could deliver the ball whether the batter was in the box or not. If the pitcher fails to begin his windup by the time the 20 seconds expire, the batter is awarded a ball.
 

OttoC

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Yaz4Ever said:
... If the game HAD to be sped up, I'd suggest shortening time between half innings, which TV would IMMEDIATELY fight as it would mean less revenue for them.
 
I think they are contractually obligated to allow a specific amount of time between innings so any change could not be made until the network contracts come up for renewal. I cannot see of way that the networks would agree to a lesser time without reducing the amount of money they pay and I don't think the owners would be too happy if their income were reduced. Also, if the renewal time fir the networks is staggered, I don't think one would be happy to agree to a lesser time than the others are getting. The question is whether local stations would be willing to accept a reduction in their revenues.