MLB and Union talk major rule changes

[Redskins Rick]

3 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Where?  Since 2000 there are five pitchers (min 100 PAs) with a career OPS better than Mark Belanger.  Brandon Backe and Brian Bohanan barely cleared the 100 PA minimum.  Mike Hampton got most of his ABs in pre-humidor Colorado, and Dontrelle Willis and Carlos Zambrano had .650ish OPSes and 10:1 K:BB ratios.  You can round off the number of good hitting pitchers who'd qualify as good at any other position to zero.

The DH exists mainly because pitchers hitting are several orders of magnitude worse than any other position hitting. On a scale where 100 is average the 10 positions are something like 112, 109, 107, 102, 100, 99, 97, 92, 89, 28.

Brumgarner leads active pitchers with 17 Home Runs hit.

And in my best Drungo voice:

Quote

The first pitcher to officially hit a home run was Jack Manning, who accomplished the feat on August 3, 1876.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

6 minutes ago, Beef Supreme said:

I like the set-up as it is currently so that fans who like the DH can enjoy the game as well as fans who like to have pitchers hitting.

Vive la difference!

Could you imagne the crying from the NL purists if they eliminated Stephen Strasburg OPSing .391?  It would be like you took away Christmas and their birthday.  Let them have a #9 hitter who makes Chris Davis look like Wee Willie Keeler, just so long as that doesn't infect the AL.

[atomic]

11 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

 I think that the three batter rule is okay.  But I'd rather they just reduce the number of pitchers allowed on the roster (over a number of years) to eight or nine.  You'd have to structure the rule to avoid cheating, and not allow sending guys down to AAA every three days.  But if you could stay to the spirit of the rule you'd both eliminate LOOGYs, and force starters to go longer.  Might bring back the four-man rotation.  And it would stunt the trend towards 100% max effort pitching, possibly reducing injuries.

 You'd probably have to unjuice the ball at the same time.

I remember reading Earl Weavers book in the day and he was saying that having 8 pitchers on the roster was better than 9 as the extra pitcher would only help you in a loss but having extra hitters would help you in games you have a chance to win.  Boy has the game changed. 

[DrungoHazewood]

4 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

And in my best Drungo voice:

The first pitcher to officially hit a home run was Jack Manning, who accomplished the feat on August 3, 1876.

That was the first NL pitcher.  There's some dispute about whether to call the 1871-75 National Association a major league, but if you do multiple pitchers homered in that league. And if you don't use the "major league" qualifier I'm sure pitchers hit homers in 1840s and before, including Jim Creighton who died after rupturing an internal organ while completing a mighty home run swing in (IIRC) 1861.

[atomic]

9 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Could you imagne the crying from the NL purists if they eliminated Stephen Strasburg OPSing .391?  It would be like you took away Christmas and their birthday.  Let them have a #9 hitter who makes Chris Davis look like Wee Willie Keeler, just so long as that doesn't infect the AL.

At least with Strasburg he contributes with his pitching. I am not sure in what area Davis contributes. I would gladly take Strasburg and his .391 OPS.  And he hit .206 in 2016.   And he had 8 sacrifice bunts in 52 plate appearances last year so unlike Chris he can bunt. 

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, DrungoHazewood said:

That was the first NL pitcher.  There's some dispute about whether to call the 1871-75 National Association a major league, but if you do multiple pitchers homered in that league. And if you don't use the "major league" qualifier I'm sure pitchers hit homers in 1840s and before, including Jim Creighton who died after rupturing an internal organ while completing a mighty home run swing in (IIRC) 1861.

Amazing how much baseball history you know.

Salute

[DrungoHazewood]

13 minutes ago, Number5 said:

This is more easily resolved by eliminating interleague play.  The novelty of that has worn off, anyway.  Why not go back to having fair and balanced schedules?

I'm a fan of re-aligning into regional leagues of 8-12 teams each.  You play almost all or even all of the schedule in your regional league.  You never play a regular season game more than one time zone away, and the whole league plays exactly the same schedule.  You go back to the playoffs and All Star game being your chance to see the guys in the other leagues.

[El Gordo]

I'd like to the the DH optional in inter league play. Adding an extra roster spot to teams with the poorest records Say 2 to the bottom 10, 1 the the middle 10 , top 10 stays the same. Robo Plate Ump. Minimum payroll.

[Beef Supreme]

I would not be surprised if the league's goal is to implement a two-batter minimum for pitchers. They may have started the negotiation by listing a three-batter minimum so it looks like they are compromising in good faith.

I would support a two-batter minimum for pitchers. At least that is how I feel about it at this time.

[DrungoHazewood]

4 minutes ago, atomic said:

At least with Strasburg he contributes with his pitching. I am not sure in what area Davis contributes. I would gladly take Strasburg and his .391 OPS.  And he hit .206 in 2016.   And he had 8 sacrifice bunts in 52 plate appearances last year so unlike Chris he can bunt. 

Last year the average MLB pitcher hit .119 with a .293 OPS.  They were as far from Chris Davis as Chris Davis was from Mike Moustakas.

[Number5]

1 minute ago, Beef Supreme said:

I would not be surprised if the league's goal is to implement a two-batter minimum for pitchers. They may have started the negotiation by listing a three-batter minimum so it looks like they are compromising in good faith.

I would support a two-batter minimum for pitchers. At least that is how I feel about it at this time.

Would you also eliminate two pinch-hitters in a row?

[DrungoHazewood]

Also, the main impact of a 26-man roster with no other changes would be that most teams would carry 14 pitchers.

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Last year the average MLB pitcher hit .119 with a .293 OPS.  They were as far from Chris Davis as Chris Davis was from Mike Moustakas.

Wow and I pulled .118 out of my tail in an earlier post.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

Just now, Number5 said:

Would you also eliminate two pinch-hitters in a row?

I wouldn't, because offensive substitutes don't interrupt the flow of the game.  Every in-inning pitching change is the equivalent of a three- or four-minute timeout.

[Aglets]

17 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

That was the first NL pitcher.  There's some dispute about whether to call the 1871-75 National Association a major league, but if you do multiple pitchers homered in that league. And if you don't use the "major league" qualifier I'm sure pitchers hit homers in 1840s and before, including Jim Creighton who died after rupturing an internal organ while completing a mighty home run swing in (IIRC) 1861.

1862.

I expect an apology soon.  

Thanks for the tip, he has a pretty interesting Wikipedia page.  They apparently didn't even call balls and strikes back in those days?   Seems unfathomable now.