MLB will be going to a three-batter minimum rule in 2020 that should make it especially difficult for lefties who struggle versus righties to find work.

[Tony-OH]

2 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Isn't part of the reason for the rule that we're all unbalanced now?  Every team uses eight pitchers a game, and there aren't any pinch hitters anymore.  Maybe with this rule, and maybe a few more, we can actually get back to a point where all the strategy in the sport isn't centered on matchup pitching.  Remember when Earl used to pinch hit five times a game?  Now there aren't five guys on your bench to pinch hit with!

But that's a managerial and roster management decision that every team faces. The rule has nothing to do with imbalances but because baseball somehow thinks this will shave two minutes off a game which is not going to help get young fans.

Maybe stop starting your playoff and World Series games at 8PM during the week?

Regardless, this is completely goofy. 

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Enjoy Terror said:

Ideally: "Eliminating the LOOGY will reduce bullpen calls and speed up the game!"

Reality: "Our reliever has loaded the bases because we couldn't remove him from the game, and our mop up reliever (who also doesn't have his stuff) will now put six runs on the board against us! We've now wasted an extra half hour watching terrible pitchers!"

This is a good point. So a guy comes out and clearly doesn't have his stuff, but you are forced to watch him pitch to two more batters when the offensive team just pinch hit for better match ups? So they score a bunch more runs and the game just goes longer. 

This rule is so asinine it's not even funny.

[mdbdotcom]

6 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Isn't part of the reason for the rule that we're all unbalanced now?  Every team uses eight pitchers a game, and there aren't any pinch hitters anymore.  Maybe with this rule, and maybe a few more, we can actually get back to a point where all the strategy in the sport isn't centered on matchup pitching.  Remember when Earl used to pinch hit five times a game?  Now there aren't five guys on your bench to pinch hit with!

I remember a game in Seattle when Earl pinch-hit Jose Morales for Benny Ayala, even though they were both right-handed hitting designated hitters. But one was a fastball hitter and the other was a slider hitter. Earl made the move late in the game and Morales hit a home run, which became the game-winning run. 

As for being unbalanced now, there have always been more relief pitchers than pinch hitters. I just think that if the offense knows who is going to be pitching for the next three batters, the defense should know who the second and third batters are going to be.

[DrungoHazewood]

7 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Managing your bullpen full of assets is definitely strategy. Do you use your lefty now who hold on to him? Has he pitched three straight days? On the other side, do you pinch hit for your starter because of the matchup now or do you let him face a bad matchup and use your pinch hitter in a higher leverage situation later.

I just think it's goofy to start telling mangers how long they have to pitch someone. 

Another alternative would be to limit teams to nine or 10 pitchers on the roster.  Then we can let the manager come to the conclusion that using five of them for one or two batters is a poor choice.

The mid-inning pitching change is baseball's answer to five timeouts and 11 fouls at the end of every basketball game.  Stop messing around and just play the game.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Tx Oriole said:

Why can’t they just leave the game alone? It’s been a fun game for over 100 years. When they tweak the game they take chances on messing the game up. IMO 

My feeling is, if a rule change doesn’t work out, they can always change it back.    They’ve changed the definition of the strike zone a half a dozen times.    They screw around with the ball continuously.   It’s not like the game hasn’t had rule changes, written and unwritten.   I personally like this rule, but if it causes major unintended consequences they can always reverse course.  

[atomic]

I have been asking for this rule for years.  I wonder if they have read some of my posts.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

As for being unbalanced now, there have always been more relief pitchers than pinch hitters.

When I was a kid the Orioles would often carry nine pitchers, five of whom were nominally relievers but some would start sometimes.  That leaves seven bench players who could pinch hit or do other things more interesting than facing a single lefty once or twice a week (complete with commercial breaks!).

[DrungoHazewood]

Just now, atomic said:

I have been asking for this rule for years.  I wonder if they have read some of my posts.

Don't say that too loud, they'll probably change it back.

[atomic]

13 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

But that's a managerial and roster management decision that every team faces. The rule has nothing to do with imbalances but because baseball somehow thinks this will shave two minutes off a game which is not going to help get young fans.

Maybe stop starting your playoff and World Series games at 8PM during the week?

Regardless, this is completely goofy. 

It will help me watch the games.  When there are two pitching changes in an inning I turn the game off.  

[mdbdotcom]

1 minute ago, DrungoHazewood said:

When I was a kid the Orioles would often carry nine pitchers, five of whom were nominally relievers but some would start sometimes.  That leaves seven bench players who could pinch hit or do other things more interesting than facing a single lefty once or twice a week (complete with commercial breaks!).

MATH

[atomic]

30 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

If you can't remove the pitcher until he's faced three hitters, than the offense shouldn't be able to pinch hit for the second and third hitters he has to face. At least that would provide some balance.

Batting changes don't take extra time.  

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

When I was a kid the Orioles would often carry nine pitchers, five of whom were nominally relievers but some would start sometimes.  That leaves seven bench players who could pinch hit or do other things more interesting than facing a single lefty once or twice a week (complete with commercial breaks!).

Shame that isn't the best way to win games.

[atomic]

3 hours ago, Philip said:

Every time I think of Mad Fred, and that is a typo that I’m going to leave in, I wonder if he’s deliberately trying to ruin the game. He has no sense of The “game of chess” aspect of this game. He has no response for a successful strategy except forbidding that strategy.

 Some of the things he’s done can be legitimately debated(although I personally dislike everything) but some things are just without reason or benefit. 

There will be more strategy not less. There will be more pinch hitting if you have less pitching changes you need less pitchers on the roster.  Pinch hitting for guys entails taking guys out on defense and putting other players in their place.  You might have worse defense and then in a couple of innings the player comes up to bat again and then you could have another pitching change.

The way the game is now there are hardly any pinch hitting in the American League. 

[atomic]

4 hours ago, Redskins Rick said:

I think this is ludicrous.

While I do not like the one batter specialist, I dislike even more, MLB dictating how the game will be played.

 

 

MLB has always dictated how the game is played.   They have a DH in the American League.  You get 3 outs an inning, 9 innings a game.  You can''t use aluminum bats.  

Do you want them to go back to not making foul balls strikes?  Raise the mound back up?  Eliminate the DH.  Allow the spit ball again?

All the other sports work to improve their game.  Basketball implemented  a shot clock,  Football changed the rules so you can't contact  receivers after 5 yards, Hockey eliminated the two line pass rule.  I guess you could have the sport die out because it becomes unwatchable and never have any rule changes to prevent managers from destroying the game. 

[Philip]

Apples oranges. I don’t need to refute anything you said individually, but it doesn’t apply.

Any rule change that doesn’t accomplish a specific goal is worse than meaningless.  If the goal is to shorten the game, to what end? What is the advantage of a shorter game? Boring and short is no better than boring and long. And this change would not meaningfully shorten the game, anyway. It would, however, negatively impact strategy available to the managers, especially in the National League. It eliminates Loogy/Roogy pitchers, pinch-running or pinch hitting specialists, or specialists of any kind, because roster spots must go to more versatile players.

It does not improve the chess game. It doesn’t shorten the game. It’s just a waste of time.

We’ve gotten used to Managers challenges, Umpire reviews, crew chief reviews. But just because we get used to them doesn’t mean they’re good. No one denies that they actually made the games longer and increased dead time. I hate them. I hate robot umps (Although not as much as the umpires union)