Interested in thoughts on this snippet from Verducci....

[glenn__davis]

1. Hitting in the major leagues is fundamentally broken

What will it take for teams to start admitting that this passive-aggressive, run-up-the-pitch-count philosophy isn't working? Apparently almost a decade of declining results isn't enough. Entering this week:

? The number of hits per game is down for the seventh straight year.

? On base percentage has been stagnant or down for the seventh straight year.

? Strikeouts are up for an eighth straight year.

? Batting average has sunk to an all-time low (.253) since the DH was instituted 40 years ago.

? Runs per game is tied with the rate from 2011 for the lowest rate since 1992.

When you go to a baseball game today you will see fewer hits on average than at any time since 1972 -- and yet the game is taking more than 20 minutes longer to play. That's more than 20 minutes of added dead time without the ball put in play.

And yet you see hitter after hitter giving pitchers strike one and taking 2-0 and 3-1 fastballs. It's like a major corporation with seven straight years of operating at a financial loss insisting that nothing is wrong.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130521/second-quarter-matt-harvey-miguel-cabrera-interleague-play/?sct=uk_t11_a4

I think it's a pretty simplistic look at things and there are a lot of other factors at work, but I have long believed that sometimes teams go a little overboard with trying to ratchet the pitch count up, and that in doing so all they do is get themselves in unfavorable situations. But I have no real proof of that.

[CA-ORIOLE]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130521/second-quarter-matt-harvey-miguel-cabrera-interleague-play/?sct=uk_t11_a4

I think it's a pretty simplistic look at things and there are a lot of other factors at work, but I have long believed that sometimes teams go a little overboard with trying to ratchet the pitch count up, and that in doing so all they do is get themselves in unfavorable situations. But I have no real proof of that.

Yep. There was a thread on this not that long ago. I think the main issue was that Verducci didn't have much in the way off analytics on his side (and I actually tend to agree with him).

[SoBo]

No more horse steroids allowed by MLB.