MLB looking at limits for relief pitchers

[FlipTheBird]

MLB revenues are expanding at a healthy rate. People are going to the ballparks. Outside of the Commissioner's office, complaints about the length of the game seem vanishingly faint to my ear. Manfred needs a hobby. Preferably one dealing with lots of bright shiny objects.

Exactly. MLB has done great, given the meteoric rise in interest in sports that were previously only popular in small niche groups in the U.S., like soccer.

Yes, I personally know some folks that complain baseball games are "too long," or "too boring." But they're often the short attention span types that can't watch ANY sport without complaining it's too long, or not enough is happening, and often have to have their computer and phone on hand for extra entertainment. You're not going to win with that crowd no matter what you do.

[Phantom]

MLB has continued to set revenue records for itself with each passing year. This is not an issue.

You are clearly not an owner. Records are great and growth is great, but they are pissed if they leave money on the table. If viewship grows 15%, but owners think it could have been higher, that's a problem. Hell, look at all the tinkering the nfl has done. Smart (and rich) people know that you kill the snake before it bites you in the ass.

[Hallas]

I don't see how this would affect the Orioles. The Orioles don't typically call relievers for matchups, because our best 4 relief pitchers could be closers for about 90% of MLB teams.

I think Manfred wants to restrict 1-batter LOOGYs.

I still think this is dumb.

Here's an idea: no warmups for relievers called in the middle of an inning! They start pitching immediately. They already got to warm up in the bullpen, so let them start pitching right away. Or they get 3 warmup pitches instead of 12. Either way, big time savings, as each pitch takes about 10 seconds to deliver.

[brianod]

Because the strategy isn't that interesting and multiple pitching changes in an inning is incredibly boring. I'd vote to limit pitching changes during innings without any hesitation.

You don't need to change the rules, you simply need to limit roster size to 24. Limiting pitching changes in an inning is a non starter for me. What happens if your last pitcher has nothing? You mandate he throws 50 pitches and hurts himself?

[brianod]

You don't need to change the rules, you simply need to limit roster size to 24. Limiting pitching changes in an inning is a non starter for me. What happens if your last pitcher has nothing? You mandate he throws 50 pitches and hurts himself?

To follow up on that point, what do you do about injuries? Are we going to require umpires to diagnose injuries? We need another pitcher. You are at your limit. My guy has a sore shoulder...

[brianod]

I don't see how this would affect the Orioles. The Orioles don't typically call relievers for matchups, because our best 4 relief pitchers could be closers for about 90% of MLB teams.

I think Manfred wants to restrict 1-batter LOOGYs.

I still think this is dumb.

Here's an idea: no warmups for relievers called in the middle of an inning! They start pitching immediately. They already got to warm up in the bullpen, so let them start pitching right away. Or they get 3 warmup pitches instead of 12. Either way, big time savings, as each pitch takes about 10 seconds to deliver.

I like this idea

[24fps]

I think Manfred is guilty of thinking too small. If the length of games is truly such a painful problem that discerning baseball fans are demanding reform now dammit!, then simply shorten games to six innings and a maximum of three pitchers per team appearing during a single game barring an in-game injury to the third pitcher or extra innings. Nine inning games can be reserved for post season play, think T20 cricket vs. test cricket.

That'll put butts in the seats alright.

[OFFNY]

I think Manfred is guilty of thinking too small. If the length of games is truly such a painful problem that discerning baseball fans are demanding reform now dammit!, then simply shorten games to six innings and a maximum of three pitchers per team appearing during a single game barring an in-game injury to the third pitcher or extra innings. Nine inning games can be reserved for post season play, think T20 cricket vs. test cricket.

That'll put butts in the seats alright.

If the pitcher hits the batter with the ball, the batter is out.

You hit 27 batters, you've got yourself a perfect game.

George Carlin, 1986

[LocoChris]

Manfred is a joke. Knows nothing about the game of baseball. How can he delegate how teams use their players?

Except jokes are supposed to be funny. Is say a train wreck is more apt.

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[Superbee83]

It's simply an era. Things come and go. This will, too. One of the great things about baseball is that is has largely been allowed to grow and change rather organically. Sure, rules get changed from time to time. But changing or creating a rule because some folks get "bored" isn't a viable reason whatsoever.

Excellent post.

I am disappointed that Manfred would even float an idea that would possibly impact in game strategy because he thinks it handcuffs offense and exposes fans to boring pitching changes.

Like Flip states, the game changes organically and this is the game that the MLB is playing right now. Good teams have strong bullpens built to protect leads late in the game.

Perhaps teams can do something unconventional when they are down by a run in the eighth inning like bunt a runner over or steal when they are facing a tough set up guy.

IMO, nothing slows down the pace of play more than replay reviews.

It is not going away, however instead of handcuffing MLB managers manfred might be better served to make the replay system better.

A quick fix would be to get rid of crew chief reviews.

It would make the manager's reviews more valuable and limit the number of watching a couple of umps stand with headsets on.

[Superbee83]

I don't see how this would affect the Orioles. The Orioles don't typically call relievers for matchups, because our best 4 relief pitchers could be closers for about 90% of MLB teams.

I think Manfred wants to restrict 1-batter LOOGYs.

I still think this is dumb.

Here's an idea: no warmups for relievers called in the middle of an inning! They start pitching immediately. They already got to warm up in the bullpen, so let them start pitching right away. Or they get 3 warmup pitches instead of 12. Either way, big time savings, as each pitch takes about 10 seconds to deliver.

I think that a pitcher needs to have some warm up pitches on a the mound when they come into a game.

Every mound has it's nuances and they need to get their feet under them.

I do agree that limiting the number of warm ups would be a good start.

I think eight pitches is an adequate number.

[BarclaySouthway]

1. Baseball's revenue is about twice as high now as the middle of the steroid era.

2. There are more important things than trying to make as much money as possible. Look no father than the ugly-ass Hilton that blocks the Bromo Tower or the demise of the 8-team ACC basketball league to see examples of this.

Baseball is evolving and on the whole the quality of baseball being played right now is the best it's ever been. Just leave it be.

[callahan09]

Though some media outlets tend to quote the full-fledged time of play as what Manfred is trying to "fix," I'm not so sure that's what he's going for. The average NFL game last 3 hours and 12 minutes, and people lap it up. I think Manfred and his crew are looking to reduce overall "downtime" during a baseball game because people have such short attention spans nowadays. They can't stick with the slower pace of baseball.

Yes, the ball's only in play for about 11 minutes during a football game, but the fans are distracted. In person, they're often drunk. At home, they're hammered with video highlights, etc., from around the league every-time there's a break in the action. And there are fewer overall commercial "breaks."

That doesn't really pass with me either in my opinion. Football probably has the second most downtime of any sport in the world after baseball. I wonder what the statistics are on percent of the time elapsed actually involved action on the field? For football it's probably very low because there are lengthy timeouts for commercial breaks, clock stoppages, and field personnel changes as possession overturns. Much like baseball. Plus a substantial amount of game clock running down actually involves the players just waiting for 39 out 40 seconds on the play clock before snapping the ball for a 3 second play.

[esmd]

More BS:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17340694/mlb-owners-see-presentation-limiting-pitching-changes-shifts

I don't like the way this is going at all. Brach and Wieters said it best; they're talking about stuff that would affect the integrity of the game.

[MDtransplant757]

More BS:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17340694/mlb-owners-see-presentation-limiting-pitching-changes-shifts

I don't like the way this is going at all. Brach and Wieters said it best; they're talking about stuff that would affect the integrity of the game.

Union will probably stop this from happening.