Rules Changes

[VICIOUS]

Sometimes I think they want to save 3 minutes in order to get one more commercial in.

[Pheasants]

The strike zone change could be a far worse problem for the Orioles than most teams.  Britton lives off the low strike.  The teams with power closers won't be affected nearly as much.

[OFFNY]

o

 

If the pitcher hits the batter with the ball, the batter's out.

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

You get 2 really good, accurate pitchers out there, you could be out of that ballpark in 15 minutes ....... you could be home, watching football, where you would see some SERIOUS, God-Damned injuries.

 

 

 

 

 

[LA2]

12 hours ago, Satyr3206 said:

At this rate lets do away with the season and let FanGraphs, or one of the predictions dictate the season. That would save what? 6 or 7 months.

As long as they still have the playoffs and World Series!

[Spy Fox]

Apparently MLB and the MLBPA have approved the change to intentional walks for the 2017 season.

I don't like it. 

[FlipTheBird]

2 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

Apparently MLB and the MLBPA have approved the change to intentional walks for the 2017 season.

I don't like it. 

I think it's kind of trivial, to be honest. So I can't really get fired up either way. It will save seconds, at best, over the course of the average game. And all it costs is the 1/1000 chance a pitcher messes it up. Which only happens once every few seasons.

[Spy Fox]

42 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

I think it's kind of trivial, to be honest. So I can't really get fired up either way. It will save seconds, at best, over the course of the average game. And all it costs is the 1/1000 chance a pitcher messes it up. Which only happens once every few seasons.

I agree that it's mostly trivial, but I think it happens more than once every few seasons. The Miguel-Cabrera-type messups when the batter actually hits the ball may be only once every few seasons, but this video has a decent sample size of wild pitches on intentional walks that happened in impactful situations, all within the past few years.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

I agree that it's mostly trivial, but I think it happens more than once every few seasons. The Miguel-Cabrera-type messups when the batter actually hits the ball may be only once every few seasons, but this video has a decent sample size of wild pitches on intentional walks that happened in impactful situations, all within the past few years.

And the always fun pitcher gives an IBB then can't find the strike zone.  Oops, that went from a runner on second to bases loaded quickly.

[Frobby]

I'm fine with this change, but it's not like intentional walks are that frequent.   Teams only average about one intentional walk a week.   So the impact here is minimal.   

[UpstateNYfan]

Pretty meaningless. Just PR to show they know it's a problem. It does lower pitch count so the magical 100 pitch limit might come later. If they wanted to do something serious it would have to involve the pitcher/batter matchups in the later innings. I don't know if there is an easy solution to it, but it could create more offense if managers had some limits, especially in September when rosters expand and every team has 18 pitchers on their roster. I do imagine in a couple years they will have a more of a not so sudden death rule after a couple of innings of play. Saves pitchers and fans that can't buy alcohol after the 7th inning.

[weams]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I'm fine with this change, but it's not like intentional walks are that frequent.   Teams only average about one intentional walk a week.   So the impact here is minimal.   

And the speed of game element, completely inconsequential. Stay in the box. Pitch clock, call for a review within 15 seconds,  limit reviews to 35 seconds or the play stands. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 hour ago, weams said:

And the speed of game element, completely inconsequential. Stay in the box. Pitch clock, call for a review within 15 seconds,  limit reviews to 35 seconds or the play stands. 

To me that is the biggest opportunity to make a change.  You take one high and tight, OK you get a bit to collect yourself.  Other than that, stay in the box and quit adjusting your gloves.

[weams]

22 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

To me that is the biggest opportunity to make a change.  You take one high and tight, OK you get a bit to collect yourself.  Other than that, stay in the box and quit adjusting your gloves.

Yaaaas.

[Fla_O'sfan]

On the Dan Patrick show today, they added up the intentional walks in 2016 and multiplied by the average time they took and divided by number of games and discovered that rule change will save 24 seconds per game. Big deal.

[Spy Fox]

The reason I'm annoyed by this change isn't because I'll particularly miss intentional walks, but because it seems like another example of MLB taking a good idea (increasing pace of play) and then implementing it in an awkward and sort of nonsensical way. Same with how they handled replay. There are so many other ways to increase pace of play that don't affect gameplay at all that I find it irritating for them to implement something that does affect gameplay, even in extremely rare cases. 

As others have mentioned, better enforcement on a pitch clock, a more efficient replay system, and keeping batters in the box seem to me like the best areas of focus. And I hope they don't put limits on pitching changes but I would have no problem with greater restrictions on mound visits.