2019 Rule Change Proposals - Pitch Clock & NL DH?

[Lindsay]

MLB, led by Commissioner Rob Manfred, and the Players Association, have discussed various rules proposals and changes, including a handful of pace-of-play measures (the pitch clock idea is back, as is a batters-faced minimum) and a universal designated hitter for both National and American Leagues....

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[wolfe_man]

The one I like is the 3 batter minimum.  Away with these endless pitching changes... want to save time? Then make them throw more than 3 pitches and get an out, only to switch to a new pitcher.

[beerguy55]

DL or Not

Though NL and AL should be universal, the appropriate option is to remove the DH in the AL.   In short, it should be presented as two motions - the first, whether or not to make both leagues the same (this "should" be a no brainer)...and then, if yes, pick which one.  Make the pitchers hit again, IMO - but putting the DL in both leagues is better than the status quo.

Start Runner on 2nd

I'd like to see the results of that MiLB test - really, you need two measures:

1. By Inning - compared to years prior, were extra inning games ended in less innings...or, were a higher percentage of games ended in the 10th/11th inning than before

2. By time - eg. in 2016 extra inning games added an average of x minutes...in 2017 did that go up or down and by how much

And, more importantly, was 2017 a big enough sample size.

Pitching Roster/Rules

Forget the 3 batter minimum.  The need for this rule will go away on its own.

And, how do you maximize the number of pitchers on a roster without explicitly forbidding "non-pitchers" from pitching - ie. throwing in your LF to pitch the ninth in a 23-4 blowout.   Is Ohtani a pitcher or not?  Or only a pitcher on days he starts?  What if the game evolves to develop more Ohtani's?  Is Verlander a pitcher or not on his four rest days?

Frankly, I think the evolution of the game will change and make this moot:   I think within five years you will have a format where you have three-pitcher platoons - each pitches three innings...and each game that platoon pitches you rotate their order to give equal opportunity to get the win.   You could have twelve pitchers who rotate over four games...or, more likely, nine pitchers who rotate over three games - then you have two or three others to handle injuries...or extra innings....and, like the old days, you will just have them throw three innings no matter how good or bad (maybe you'll limit to something like 60 pitches) - the game will naturally eliminate the one batter pitcher...especially the One Batter Lefty.    You'll see things shift more and more to the guy who can throw 103 mph for 40 to 50 pitches.   It's no secret that BA/OBP/OPS/ERA all go up each time the batter gets an additional look at the pitcher.   

This will shift away from needing 12/13 pitchers on the roster, and will change how batters are selected to teams - probably less value to have a RH or LH batting specialist, as you may not know if a team will go LRL, RLL, LLR, or so on.  Or, maybe it will increase that, and, give you more options for your hitting bench, with a couple of less pitchers on the roster.

Increased Roster

If teams organically drop to 11 pitchers, you probably don't need it, but I'm not opposed to the 26 man roster - especially since, even if my prediction is right, the 11 pitcher roster is a few years away.  With a 25 man roster and 12 pitchers you effectively get a spare outfielder, a spare infielder, a spare catcher, (the bare minimum you need on any day) and then just one more (assuming a DH based system). Not a lot of breathing room, especially when you've got a player who is hurt/sore day-to-day, but not quite needed to go on the ten day DL...or if you just want to give a guy a day off.    It is another argument to abolish the DL - to help make rosters more manageable.  The NL currently has one more bench player available because they don't have a DH on the roster...ie. though both have 25 man rosters, the AL is playing 10 players, the NL 9.

Draft Penalties

How do you curb tanking?  Without creating the situation you want to avoid - which is a perennial loser.  This sounds like a baby with bathwater thing - the unintended consequence is it punishes the team that actually does want to get better.  What if a team just gets bad luck, has some injuries, has a bunch of one-run games that just fall the wrong way and in a season they expected to contend they come away with only 65 wins.  You'd have to have provisions to show trends over multiple seasons, not just one.  Maybe you make the draft order more random.  Or like NHL/NBA - invoke lotteries - the worst team has a better chance of the number one pick, but not guaranteed.   Or, maybe the winning teams get more draft picks (not necessarily higher) - eg. World Series winner gets an additional pick at the end of the first round.  Division winners get an additional pick at end of second round.  Just pulling stuff out of my ass.

Trade Deadline

I like the idea of one trade deadline.  The Aug. 31 deadline is dumb.  You're allowed 40 man rosters in September anyway - use your farm system to add players who aren't gonna be able to play in the playoffs anyway.  I think I like July 31 instead of All Star Break.  That puts it about 2/3 of the season.   NHL is about 75%.  NBA is about 2/3.  NFL is half.   Moving it to the All Star Break puts it close to halfway through the season, typically under 90 games played - I think it's too early - allow that additional 20 games or so after the break.  Unless the goal is to eliminate/reduce those deadline deals...the earlier in the season you set it, the more teams thing they still have a chance to make the playoffs, the less moves you see.

 

[scrounge]

Can't get the DH to the NL soon enough for me, enough with this useless parade of pitchers hitting. It's a waste of time, a waste of an at-bat, an unnecessary risk of injury to pitchers, an incentive to replace starting pitchers and others too early, and just an anachronism that I'm perfectly happy to see go the way of the dodo.

Sure, some purists will wail and gnash their teeth, but many of them are dying out anyway . Players grow up their entire playing lives with the DH at nearly all levels except the NL of MLB. And "that's the way it's always been!" is not a compelling argument to me - unless said person also wants to bring back a HR counting on 1 bounce, a catch being a catch on 1 bounce, the hitter asking for a low strike vs a high strike, etc.  Beside, the DH was first proposed in the 1890's, it's not just some idea that was created out of whole cloth in the 1970's.

[Thatsnotyou]

There's no valid argument for having pitchers hit anymore (double switches aren't interesting, nor difficult). It's absurd. Games grow, games evolve. Fix the game or continue to lose interest across the board.

[Aging_Arbiter]

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 5:05 PM, Thatsnotyou said:

It's absurd. Games grow, games evolve. Fix the game or continue to lose interest across the board.

..........sorry, this post made me think of NFHS