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.

[interloper]

@Frobby no one is biting on your quiz, so let's hear them answers!

[Redskins Rick]

11 minutes ago, weams said:

You are kidding me. That is all cable fees. And currently Nationals interest. No one said they were playing any card. But look they can't seel commercials. They advertise themselves.

I need to find the article, they are the 3rd most profitable cable mlb outfit, behind WGN and The company that provides the Yankee broadcasts.

[Frobby]

10 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

I think this is something we see mostly in football.

You dont realize how much "dead" time there is, unless you are at a game, and notice the TV official on the sidelines signaling when the broadcast is away for commercial breaks.

There was a study done a few years ago.   There’s only about 11 minutes of action in a pro football game, compared to about an hour of commercials.   Baseball’s marginally better, with 18 minutes of action.   

https://qz.com/150577/an-average-nfl-game-more-than-100-commercials-and-just-11-minutes-of-play/

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/theres-about-18-minutes-of-action-in-your-average-mlb-game/

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, Frobby said:

There was a study done a few years ago.   There’s only about 11 minutes of action in a pro football game, compared to about an hour of commercials.   Baseball’s marginally better, with 18 minutes of action.   

https://qz.com/150577/an-average-nfl-game-more-than-100-commercials-and-just-11-minutes-of-play/

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/theres-about-18-minutes-of-action-in-your-average-mlb-game/

thanks, I didnt that baseball didnt have dead time, but, never understood the football had so much dead time, until I was at a game a few years ago.

and I dont think baseball has an official that stops the play, in fact, seams to me, i remember coming back from break and the pitcher had already warmed up and the game had been playing.

[Redskins Rick]

21 minutes ago, weams said:

Baseball games start whether the commercials are done or not. 

I think you are correct for regular season games.

But, the more I think about this, I thought they used an official to signal breaks during playoff games????????

Sitting in the camera booth next to the home team dugout?

[weams]

Just now, Redskins Rick said:

I think you are correct for regular season games.

But, the more I think about this, I thought they used an official to signal breaks during playoff games????????

Sitting in the camera booth next to the home team dugout?

Probably. I remember getting cued when to cheer and waive at our games. 

[turtlebowl]

I am torn on this rule but the bigger picture here may not just be correcting the time of the game but also the evolving use of bullpens in general.  We are quickly getting to the point to where starters are just glorified relief pitchers and it becomes a game of bullpen pitchers and match-ups.  This trend if it continues will end up hurting pitchers values in the long run. The union may support this rule change because if the game goes back towards its more traditional roots that #4 starter that can eat innings has a lot more value than a loogy or one inning relievers that the game is trending to.  It wasn't that long ago that a solid number 3 or 4 pitcher was signing big contracts but now those guys are almost getting weeded out of the game in favor of the 1 inning guy that can bring gas every couple of days. 

The game to me is about starting pitchers and watching them make adjustments the second and 3rd time through a lineup.  These specialty pitchers coming in starting the 5th or 6th inning every game just ruin the second have of the game for me.  This rule doesn't directly stop that but maybe it indirectly effects the growing trend of starters losing their importance in the game.   

[interloper]

Now that Girardi has a job again, honestly this rule change is coming at the perfect time. 

[Redskins Rick]

we really want to speed the game up.

1 pitch.

Strike or foul, you are out.

Ball, you get awarded first base.

No stealing, and no toss[es] to any infield base allowed.

 

[$Greatness$]

Just wish they would leave my baseball alone. If that's the strats the team and Manager wanna use, so be it. Already got that hippy shift that everyone loves doing now.

And the DH should stay AL exclusive. Don't @ me! 

[MongoBoy]

13 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

we really want to speed the game up.

1 pitch.

Strike or foul, you are out.

Ball, you get awarded first base.

No stealing, and no toss[es] to any infield base allowed.

 

Yessssss.  If these guys are really professionals, and make billions of drachmas a year, I think 1 pitch should be more than enough per at bat.  Not sure how many people want to constantly see a player up there spitting and crotch adjusting after every pitch.

 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

So, I wasted an hour of my life figuring out how many times in 2019 the O’s used a pitcher in a way that would be prohibited under the new “3 batter” rule.    Remember, using a pitcher for 1-2 batters is OK so long as the inning ends and the pitcher is replaced between innings.    
 

So, I thought I’d entertain guesses as to:

1.    How many times the O’s used a pitcher in a way that would violate the new rule.

2.    Which pitcher got used this way the most often, and how many times?

3.   How many different pitchers got used this way?

I’ll hold the polls open until 10 a.m. in case anyone wants to guess.    And no fair looking it up, though I expect nobody else here is crazy enough to go to the time and trouble to do that.  

 

2 hours ago, Enjoy Terror said:

1. 87 times

2. Dick Bleier

3. 6

 

2 hours ago, interloper said:

1. 12

2. Yacabonis

3. 4

Not too many guessers, eh?    The O’s removed a reliever who faced less than 3 batters in the middle of an inning 14 times last year.    The pitcher most often used this way was Paul Fry (6 times), followed by Tanner Scott (3), Miguel Castro (2), and one each for Jimmy Yacabonis, Sean Armstrong and Tim Eshelman.   So, a total of six pitchers.

I don’t consider the 2019 Orioles as necessarily representative of what’s typical in MLB.   The O’s played relatively few close games compared to most teams, and to a large degree Hyde was in the mode of testing his pitchers’ capabilities rather than just maximizing the chance of winning each game.   I suspect if I looked at one of the recent contending O’s teams, I’d find they used this tactic far more often than the 2019 O’s.   However, I do think this sample of one suggests that maybe the tactic isn’t used as often as some assume.   

[Number5]

20 hours ago, esmd said:

Agreed.  You want to get teams to stop shifting, tell the players to learn to go the other way.  Or bunt.  Then they'll stop shifting.

 

If he'd just pay me what he's spending to make me stop robbing him, I'd stop robbing him.

[DrungoHazewood]

6 hours ago, esmd said:

Yeah I get it, there are rules.  But this one is unnecessary, ham handed, and is "fixing" a problem that doesn't exist, and will cause other issues.  I mean, why not just make it that you can only pinch hit once per game?  Or no more openers, the starting pitching must pitch at least 5 innings?  Just because there are already rules in place, that doesn't justify stupidity like this.

There's no problem with pinch hitting.  It doesn't delay the game unnecessarily. It doesn't lead to wildly different usage patterns.  It doesn't cause injuries.  It doesn't directly result in nine strikeouts per team per game.  Having 13 pitchers used in ever-shorter outings does all of that.  And it's not as extreme as rules banning openers or forcing a starter to go five.

If you don't like this rule do you have other suggestions on how to change course, and pull back from more and more pitchers throwing harder and harder leading to less and less action and more and more strikeouts?  Or do you just like the all Ks and homers version of baseball?  If you do that's fine, I just have a preference for more action in the field and on the bases.

[esmd]

We'll just have to agree to disagree.  I think it's very extreme.  I get as annoyed with the Joe Girardi 5 pitch change innings as anyone else (lawd I couldn't stand him for that), but this is taking it to far to the other side of the pendulum.  It's a game-altering precedent unlike anything we've seen in recent memory.