MLB Officially Announces Rule Changes

[Enjoy Terror]

11 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Sorry if I came across that way.   But none of the rule changes say anything about pitchers playing the field, batting, running, etc.   It's not a problem they are trying to fix.   

Not sure if you read the rules, but they did say some things about that.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rule-changes-for-2020-season

Two-way player designation -- A "two-way player" -- someone who both hits and pitches -- is now an official designation. That lets them stay on the roster as a position player and pitch in games without counting toward their team's 13-pitcher pitcher limit. If you designate someone a two-way player, they have to stay that way through the end of the year.

 

This is literally the Shohei Ohtani rule, though the MLB won't admit it. This is to clarify his position on the Angels roster. They even made a rule exception to include him under objective requirements by saying that Ohtani's 2018 stats count toward his eligibility as a two-way player.

The only other pitcher this would even slightly affect is Michael Lorenzen, but there's no chance the Reds carry Lorenzen as an outfielder instead of reliever. 

[SteveA]

Just now, Enjoy Terror said:

Not sure if you read the rules, but they did say some things about that.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rule-changes-for-2020-season

Two-way player designation -- A "two-way player" -- someone who both hits and pitches -- is now an official designation. That lets them stay on the roster as a position player and pitch in games without counting toward their team's 13-pitcher pitcher limit. If you designate someone a two-way player, they have to stay that way through the end of the year.

 

This is literally the Shohei Ohtani rule, though the MLB won't admit it. This is to clarify his position on the Angels roster. They even made a rule exception to include him under objective requirements by saying that Ohtani's 2018 stats count toward his eligibility as a two-way player.

The only other pitcher this would even slightly affect is Michael Lorenzen, but there's no chance the Reds carry Lorenzen as an outfielder instead of reliever. 

It could also eventually affect Brandon McKay of Tampa, who did both in the minors.   I think there was another young player last year that was doing both or was being considered to do botth.

What I don't get is how does someone like McKay earn the designation in the first place.   I guess you have to have him on your roster as a pitcher, even if he is really both or even if he's a 70% position player / 30% pitcher.   Because that's the only way you can use him in non-emergency situations.   Then once he gets 20 starts at a position/DH, you can make him a 2 way player and he won't count against your 13 pitcher limit anymore.

Yep, I realized the 2018 clause was specifically for Ohtani.

[SteveA]

2 minutes ago, Enjoy Terror said:

Not sure if you read the rules, but they did say some things about that.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rule-changes-for-2020-season

Two-way player designation -- A "two-way player" -- someone who both hits and pitches -- is now an official designation. That lets them stay on the roster as a position player and pitch in games without counting toward their team's 13-pitcher pitcher limit. If you designate someone a two-way player, they have to stay that way through the end of the year.

 

This is literally the Shohei Ohtani rule, though the MLB won't admit it. This is to clarify his position on the Angels roster. They even made a rule exception to include him under objective requirements by saying that Ohtani's 2018 stats count toward his eligibility as a two-way player.

The only other pitcher this would even slightly affect is Michael Lorenzen, but there's no chance the Reds carry Lorenzen as an outfielder instead of reliever. 

There is still no restriction whatsoever about pitchers pinch running, playing the field, pinch hitting, etc.   You don't have to be a 2 way player to do that.   You can still pinch run Max Scherzer as the Nats did a few times last year, and an AL team can still do the same.  

[GuidoSarducci]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

 I would honestly be surprised if we don't see this kind of gamesmanship. One of the reasons I hate this rule.

They should have nipped it in the bud by saying the pitcher that exits the game due to injury before fufilling the requirement has to go on 10-day IL, or maybe 2 games for the postseason.

[mdbdotcom]

25 minutes ago, SteveA said:

They want to stop the trend of ever-increasing bullpens and smaller benches, which kind of reached ridiculousness on the O's in recent years when we sometimes had 13 pitchers and 12 hitters, which  means a backup C, a backup IF, and a backup OF was our whole bench.

Hence the 13 pitcher limit on a 26 man roster.

And the 3 batter rule will force you to have fewer super specialists who only pitch to one LH or RH batter, instead maybe you'll go with one guy who is OK against both sides rather than a LOOGY and a ROOGY.

They also added a rule that pitchers have to stay on the DL for at least 15 days, or stay in the minors when optioned for at least 15 days, before coming back up.   It was 10 for eveyrone last year, and is still 10 for position players.   That's to stop the Norfolk shuttle type shenanigans that Buck and Duquette used to do where we'd be shuttling pitchers up and down so no only would we have an 8 man pen in the majors, but if one got tired he would go down and we could bring someone fresh up so it was almost like having 9 or 10 relievers, and the guy that went down could be back up 10 days later.

And they wanted to limit the use of emergency pitchers like Wilkerson to blowouts (7+ runs down or more) or extra innings to save arms.   So now you can't use a position player in a non-blowout in regulation.

So they added all these new rules that, for the first time ever, differentiate between Ps and position players.   Before this there were no rules governing what pitchers or position players could do.   They were all just players.   But now we have these rules that split them into two categories:   Ps have a longer DL, PPs can't pitch except in emergency situations, etc.   Limit on the # of Ps on the roster.  Now that these rules exist, they want to come up with a way to handle guys who LEGITIMATELY are both a P and a PP like Ohtani, not just a Wilkerson type.     So they came up a way that if someone legitimately does both (at least 20 innings as a P and at least 20 starts as a non-P with 3 plate appearances), they can be designated a 2 way player.   They won't count against the pitcher limit because they perform a legitimate position player/DH function.   But they still have a 15 day DL and 15 days in the minors because they are also Ps.   And the rule about PPs only pitching in blowouts/extra innigns doesn't apply to them.

So, Ps can play like PPs, but PPs can't P unless it's an emergency. 

Sounds like they need more restrooms.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, GuidoSarducci said:

They should have nipped it in the bud by saying the pitcher that exits the game due to injury before fufilling the requirement has to go on 10-day IL, or maybe 2 games for the postseason.

It's kind of amazing that they didn't say this up front. 

[LA2]

It's interesting that MLB.com has given the rule changes such little coverage. They're the 15th story down in "News" under such hot items as the Trenton Thunders' bat dog and diaper duty at spring training. Must have considered it too cerebral for the normal site visitor.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

11 hours ago, LA2 said:

It's interesting that MLB.com has given the rule changes such little coverage. They're the 15th story down in "News" under such hot items as the Trenton Thunders' bat dog and diaper duty at spring training. Must have considered it too cerebral for the normal site visitor.

 

They probably think that:

a) pretty much nobody cares and

b) the people who do care are their 78-year-old core fanbase who're still smartin' from the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. They ain't putting up with no more shenanigans.  When that punk kid LaRussa started using Jesse Orosco for one batter at a time that was the devil's handiwork, but gol darn it if they're gonna let somebody tell a red-blooded 'merican manager he has to use the pitcher for three batters.  It's our God-given constitutional right to do dumb things.

[Win Column]

I know that it's not quite so much a novelty as it was in years past, but I still find it odd that they'd specifically litigate when position players may pitch.