Rob Manfred tinkers, much to the appreciation of some and the consternation of others.
Me, I’m all in favor of tinkering with the sport of baseball. As long as the commissioner displays a willingness to quit on the tinkers that tank.
Which brings us to the three-batter minimum which will go into effect for the 2020 season. I argued for it a year ago and won’t flip-flop now. Yet we shouldn’t ignore the lack of enthusiasm, throughout the industry, surrounding its imminent implementation.
So give it a shot. Then don’t hesitate to scrap it in time for the postseason if it creates more headaches than it cures.
The impetus for, and intentions behind, this rule change couldn’t be more clear. In 2019, teams combined to use an average of 8.47 pitchers per nine-inning, regular-season contest, as per Major League Baseball, setting a new record that had previously been established in … 2018, at 8.41. Thanks a lot, openers!
The mid-inning pitching switches bring the most pain — with their accompanying commercial breaks, which can prompt fans, both in person and watching on their TVs and devices, to reassess their life priorities.
The Yankees making a pitching change in 2019.Anthony J. CausiSo eliminate those pauses in the action and all is good, right? Eh. Converse with enough baseball folks, and you’ll hear complaints like:
- Pitchers who have made a career out of getting out one guy — particularly southpaws like former Mets Oliver Perez (who has a guaranteed contract with the Indians) and Jerry Blevins (who’s on a minor league deal with the Giants) — will see their careers imperiled.
- You run the risk of injuring a pitcher who feels he has enough in the tank to go after one batter and enters an inning with two outs, only to allow his opponent to reach safely — in which case he now must keep pitching.
- It presents another reward for big-market teams like the Yankees, who can afford to pay a fleet of relievers that are proficient against hitters from both sides of the plate.
- It serves as overkill for a problem that already had been solving itself, what with the increased emphasis on versatility for all players.
- Why focus on this while avoiding the time-suck that is the current instant-replay challenge system?
Reasonable points and concerns, all of them, and The Athletic’s Cliff Corcoran did some homework for a piece that ran last week featuring this detail: Had this rule been in effect last year, it would have prevented, at most, 691 of the 16,573 pitching changes made, a paltry 4 percent.
The Players Association, moreover, didn’t sign off on this move, which can and will be unilaterally instituted by Manfred as per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.
PA executive director Tony Clark said last year, in spring training, “Changing the way the game is played is always a delicate proposition, which is why we don’t think the conversation should be focused on changing the game on the field as much as it is the things off the field that are affecting what we’re seeing on the field.” Translation: Less tinkering, more team spending!
Well, the clubs did spend more this winter, and in return for the three-batter minimum, Clark and the union obtained some favorable alterations — like a 26th player on each roster as well as some rules that should mitigate the yo-yoing of pitchers from the minors to the majors and back. The cap of 13 pitchers on a roster and the subtraction of September rosters from 40 players to 28 should help with time of game — which rose from a nine-inning average of 3:00:44 in 2018 to 3:05:35 last year.
Look, the three-batter minimum could spur some desired late-inning offense, and it won’t eliminate strategy as much as alter it. Allow it to play out some. Remember when baseball people complained about the regulating of mound visits? Hallelujah for that tweak.
If it flops, however? No shame would exist in scrapping it or, in a compromise, utilizing it in the regular season then dumping it for October, much like the NHL uses shootouts only in its regular season.
