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.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 hours ago, Sanfran327 said:

I hope the powers do not start overthinking baseball rules. This seems reactionary. To what, I don't know.

I'd like them to put together a committee to look through all the rules and ask "if we were starting over from scratch would we do this?"  Things like the balk rule... it's now about two or three pages, much of which doesn't make any sense, but a reasonable person could rewrite it in a much more sensible, logical, understandable language in about 2-3 sentences.

I think all rules, all laws, should regularly be revisited and people should seriously ask why we're doing this.  Does it make any sense?  Can we do it better?

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2019-misc.shtml
 

Looks like the median is about 3:10.     And the Red Sox take 10 minutes longer than any other AL team.     I say we eliminate them.    Who’s with me?

Maybe Boston is hell.  They have the longest games, and they play in a park designed in 1910 when people were 5' 5".  You could extrapolate out a few centuries and the average Red Sox fan will be 6' 8" and they'll have to sit in their deadball era seats for seven hours a night.  That might be worth keeping them around.

[DrungoHazewood]

6 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I wasn't just referring to the 20 seconds this move will carve off of the length of the average game.

If they make enough changes to cut off say 10 minutes, does it change anything?  What about 20 minutes?

When I'm driving to work one of my last turns is down a road that everyone else takes to the place I work.  90% of the cars turn there, so if I turn I'm stuck in a line of 12 cars going 40 mph for a few miles.

But if I go straight, I can turn another 3/4ths of a mile down the road, go down a usually empty road, and end up at the back gate.  I can go that whole 2 or 3 mile stretch at 10 mph over the speed limit with nobody in front of me.  I'll often do this despite it being longer because the pace of driving isn't inhibited by 12 cars creeping along in a line.  Freedom.

That's the effect of this rule.  I don't care if the game is only 20 seconds shorter (although every little bit helps), I no longer have to throw things at the TV because the Joe Girardi traffic jam has come out for his 5th mid-inning change of the night.  The game is free to flow along.

[Number5]

15 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'd like them to put together a committee to look through all the rules and ask "if we were starting over from scratch would we do this?"  Things like the balk rule... it's now about two or three pages, much of which doesn't make any sense, but a reasonable person could rewrite it in a much more sensible, logical, understandable language in about 2-3 sentences.

I think all rules, all laws, should regularly be revisited and people should seriously ask why we're doing this.  Does it make any sense?  Can we do it better?

I'm all for easy-to-understand rules, but I disagree with you on the balk rules.  They need to specifically spell out those things that a pitcher can't do.  If you just make it a vague rule about deceptive motions without itemizing them, you would have many, many more arguments.

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

When I'm driving to work one of my last turns is down a road that everyone else takes to the place I work.  90% of the cars turn there, so if I turn I'm stuck in a line of 12 cars going 40 mph for a few miles.

But if I go straight, I can turn another 3/4ths of a mile down the road, go down a usually empty road, and end up at the back gate.  I can go that whole 2 or 3 mile stretch at 10 mph over the speed limit with nobody in front of me.  I'll often do this despite it being longer because the pace of driving isn't inhibited by 12 cars creeping along in a line.  Freedom.

That's the effect of this rule.  I don't care if the game is only 20 seconds shorter (although every little bit helps), I no longer have to throw things at the TV because the Joe Girardi traffic jam has come out for his 5th mid-inning change of the night.  The game is free to flow along.

Fantastic analogy.    

[Number5]

Think about games in NL parks, where the pitcher bats.  You bring a guy in to shut down a rally and he gets the out.  Now there's about a 33% chance that he's one of the three batters due up -  and he must hit because he hasn't pitched to three batters yet.  Or, worse, he's like the 6th batter and you end up having bases loaded and two outs, and you can't pinch hit for him.  Double-switches may help with that issue, but cause other problems.  Not a fan.  I guess we will see what happens.

[weams]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2019-misc.shtml
 

Looks like the median is about 3:10.     And the Red Sox take 10 minutes longer than any other AL team.     I say we eliminate them.    Who’s with me?

[weams]

1 hour ago, Number5 said:

Think about games in NL parks, where the pitcher bats.  You bring a guy in to shut down a rally and he gets the out.  Now there's about a 33% chance that he's one of the three batters due up -  and he must hit because he hasn't pitched to three batters yet.  Or, worse, he's like the 6th batter and you end up having bases loaded and two outs, and you can't pinch hit for him.  Double-switches may help with that issue, but cause other problems.  Not a fan.  I guess we will see what happens.

No. If he ends an half inning he has fulfilled his obligation. 

[Number5]

15 minutes ago, weams said:

No. If he ends an half inning he has fulfilled his obligation. 

Oh, I didn't know that.  Well that is much better.

[Sanfran327]

3 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'd like them to put together a committee to look through all the rules and ask "if we were starting over from scratch would we do this?"  Things like the balk rule... it's now about two or three pages, much of which doesn't make any sense, but a reasonable person could rewrite it in a much more sensible, logical, understandable language in about 2-3 sentences.

I think all rules, all laws, should regularly be revisited and people should seriously ask why we're doing this.  Does it make any sense?  Can we do it better?

Agree 100%. But I don't think that logic is being applied to the notion that a pitcher has to face a minimum of 3 batters. Just play and manage baseball as usual. 

Maybe actually enforcing the pitch clock would be a good place to start.

[DrungoHazewood]

16 hours ago, Number5 said:

I'm all for easy-to-understand rules, but I disagree with you on the balk rules.  They need to specifically spell out those things that a pitcher can't do.  If you just make it a vague rule about deceptive motions without itemizing them, you would have many, many more arguments.

I think you can be very specific and very simple.  It's a balk if you stop your pitching motion towards the plate to throw to a base to attempt to catch a runner.  The end.  None of that other stuff about pitching without facing the batter, or dropping the ball, or whatever.

[Il BuonO]

4 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I think you can be very specific and very simple.  It's a balk if you stop your pitching motion towards the plate to throw to a base to attempt to catch a runner.  The end.  None of that other stuff about pitching without facing the batter, or dropping the ball, or whatever.

This

[Redskins Rick]

19 hours ago, Frobby said:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2019-misc.shtml
 

Looks like the median is about 3:10.     And the Red Sox take 10 minutes longer than any other AL team.     I say we eliminate them.    Who’s with me?

Take the Yankees out too.

Contradiction, and for the good of the game.

I vote heck yeah.

[weams]

https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/11/15/baseball-rule-changes?utm_campaign=si-mlb&utm_medium=social&xid=socialflow_twitter_si&utm_source=twitter.com

Quote

New Rule: A pitcher must either face at least three batters or pitch to the end of the half-inning.

How Much It Will Matter: Yes, this has been labeled the “three-batter minimum.” No, it’s actually not that big of a deal. The “or pitch to the end of the half-inning” does a lot of work in this rule. As Mike Petriello spelled out over at MLB.com back when this rule was announced, most short relief appearances—two or fewer batters—are set up to end a half-inning. Those aren’t affected by this. There are short relief appearances that don’t go to the end of a half-inning, but they’re far less common, and getting rid of those is more likely to be felt as “cutting down on time-consuming mid-inning pitching moves” versus “removing brilliant strategy.” As for what this means for the LOOGY? Don’t worry—they were dying, anyway. (The LOOGYs themselves, of course, feel differently.)

What To Watch Out For: This, on its own, probably would not create a dramatic shift in ‘pen construction. But throw it in with rosters’ new limits on pitchers… September expanded rosters that provide less relief than ever… the existing trends toward super relievers… it’s really hard for a specialist out there, such that they still are, and this rule only makes it even harder.

***

 

 

[Number5]

4 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I think you can be very specific and very simple.  It's a balk if you stop your pitching motion towards the plate to throw to a base to attempt to catch a runner.  The end.  None of that other stuff about pitching without facing the batter, or dropping the ball, or whatever.

There are reasons for all of them.  A lefty stepping more than 45 degrees and throwing to first is very unfair.  Coming set while straddling the rubber is unfair.  Taking the ball out of the glove without pitching it while on the rubber is unfair.  Simulating a pitching motion and/or flinching  is unfair.  The runners have to be able to know when it is safe to run or take their secondary leads.  Players, coaches and umpires all understand these rules and agree with why they are in place.  From other posts you've made, you seem to like the running game, yet you are advocating allowing deceptive pitching moves that will virtually eliminate the stolen base.  I have no doubt that such rule changes aren't being considered.  In fact, the only balk rule change they've done recently was to add another balk rule that I happen to disagree with.  They made putting two legal moves together - the fake to third and the throw to first - a balk.  Both moves are legal, but now you can't do them in conjunction with each other.  As if that was somehow a major cause of the length of play.  Now that's a balk rule I would be in favor of abolishing.