New commissioner Rob Manfred has really turned some heads in his first offseason as the commissioner of Major League Baseball.
First, in an interview with ESPN, Manfred said that he would consider eliminating defensive shifts to inject some more offense into baseball. To be fair, Manfred didn’t say this WAS going to happen, just that he was considering it. In a league that is struggling to produce offense in the non-steroid era, and with pitchers as dominate as ever, I can understand why he wants more runs and more offense. Last year, according to Sports Illustrated, the 8.14 runs scored per game was the lowest amount since 1981.
Taking away a part of the strategy of the game is not a way to do it.
The Pirates are one of the many teams who have started realigning their defense to counter the strengths of the current hitter that is up. Over the past few seasons, sluggers like Prince Fielder and Brian McCann have seen their offensive numbers go down, thanks in large part to the shift, even though shifting has been around forever in the sport.
For a more in-depth look at shifts in baseball, especially how the Pirates used it in 2013, read this SABR Analytics Research Award article by James Santelli, which he published for Pirates Prospects in July of 2013.
Literally, how can the league order a manager to put his players in certain spots?
Easy, they can’t.
So that’s one change, right? Well, at the minor-league level this year, the pitching clock will be implemented across the board in Double-A and Triple-A play.
No, really.
Pace of play has been a concern throughout baseball, and Manfred addressed the issue in an interview with ESPN:
“Pace of play is an issue that’s driven by our society today. Our society is a very fast-paced society. Attention spans are shorter. I think that it’s very important to us at least symbolically to say we understand that you want this to move as quickly as possible and we’re going to continue to modernize the game without harming its traditions in a way that makes it more enjoyable and more attune to the society that we live in.”
So, what’s being used is a 20-second pitch clock. That means there will be another graphic on the screen at all times, counting down to see if a pitcher gets the pitch off in time. If they don’t, it’s a ball. (There’s already a rule in play that the pitcher has 12 seconds to deliver the ball to home plate, but I digress).
Games could literally be decided on whether or not a pitcher beats the clock. And, as we’ve seen with the coaches challenges last year, this has a good chance of delaying the game, too.
Managers will find a way to stall, and pitchers can still hold the ball for as long as they want, which can force the hitter to call for time. Calling for time or throwing the ball to a base for a pick-off attempt will start the clock over again.
So much for the pure-flowing game of baseball, eh?
We know the pitch clock is for sure happening at the minor-league level, and it could be implemented at the major-league level by 2016, depending on how it goes this year.
But, instead of the pitch clocks and exploring the idea of eliminating defensive shifts, I have two changes that the league really DOES need to make to improve the product.
The first change the league needs to make is when the rosters can expand to 40 from 25.
Now, to be fair, most of the teams don’t bring up all of their guys in September, but to say the talent pool changes across the league would be an understatement.
I’m OK with allowing the minor league guys to get experience at the big-league level, but why does it have to be in September when the divisions are on the line?
Why not have the guys come up for the first month of the season and get their experience then? Sure, I get it, they aren’t as polished or don’t the experience that they would have at the end of the season, with all of the minor league experience they have gained. But, they will take that experience at the top level and use it throughout their season.
All games count the same, I got it. But anyone who says September games mean as much as April games are trolling just to troll. If my team is one game out of a playoff spot, and I’m going up against Clayton Kershaw the final week of the season, while the team I’m right behind is going up against a Jimmy Barthmaier, I’m upset.
The current structure, however, is a joke. It’s the same sport, with two different leagues — comparable to conferences in other sports — using two different sets of rules.
When put like that, how much sense does it really make?
It would be like the Eastern Conference in the NHL playing with wider nets, benefiting the Penguins, while teams in the Western Conference play with the standard nets, hurting teams like the Blackhawks. Extreme example, I get it. What about having the two-line pass in one conference, while the other one doesn’t have it?
In the NBA, it’s equivalent to having the three-point line at different lengths, with one team shooting from the NBA length, while the other shoots from the collegiate length.
Or — last one, I promise — in the NFL, teams in the NFC only have to get one foot inbounds, while teams playing in the AFC have to put both down.
It makes absolutely zero sense.
The dream I have is eliminating the DH, and yes, that means I want to watch pitchers go up there and try to hit (or like Francisco Liriano and Bartolo Colon, just stand there) like everyone else does.
The way that it is set up right now, no matter which team plays at home, they have the advantage due to their rules.
“It’s a definite advantage for the American League when you’re in their park and it’s a definite advantage for us when they’re in our park. You take one of their players off their field. They have to re-manufacture their lineup,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said in a 2013 interview with Pittsburgh Sporting News. “How that plays out, it plays out. To me, the home field team has the advantage.”
Hurdle also said the constructed lineups would be different, which currently has the American League going out and buying talent to fill in their lineup.
His words, not mine.
“That’s predicated on the fact that American League teams, most of them, go out and buy or have developed their own designated hitter,” Hurdle said. “We’re taking a position player or a catcher like Tony Sanchez, out hottest hitter in Triple-A, and giving them the chance to get off the field.”
And it’s true. The eventual change over to a universal DH will change the way that teams approach free agency and also the way that they draft and develop talent. More and more players who can do nothing but hit like David Ortiz will be drafted for that reason and that reason alone.
At least someone is in agreement with me, though.
“I think it’s fair the way it is with us hitting. It’s been part of the game for so long to have the pitchers go up there and defend themselves,” Pirates pitcher Jeff Locke told me. “The American League kind of has that out where you have a guy that can sit full-time and just hit. I’d like to see it be universal to have the pitcher hit.”
Keep dreaming, Jeff. I will, too.
