Passan: MLB Must Act Now on Pitching Injuries

[Malike]

20 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I think the issue will always be that throwing 89 with an okay slider means Rich Dauer hits .256 with 8 homers, and throwing 100 with a wipeout sweeper means Rich Dauer hits .221 with 4 homers. Pitchers will almost always take .221 with 4 homers because hurt means you're rehabbing, bad means you're selling insurance.

Yeah, I just thought it was an interesting take and one that I hadn't considered. It's all about speed and power in the MLB (like most sports) and I honestly don't know if a dead ball would even mitigate pitchers getting hurt because they know they aren't getting burned by a guy who had 4 homers in 1986 but 34 in 1991 with a 93MPH fastball. (Bad example, I know).

[24fps]

3 hours ago, Malike said:

Was listening to someone on the radio, can't quite recall who it was who suggested deadening the ball to like the late 80's level. Guys like Judge would still hit HR's but 5'8" 2B would probably not be hitting 35 HR's a year. He posited it could help pitchers from having to think they need to throw 100 and would open the door for contact hitters who don't have big power to be valuable in the game. I'm sure it wouldn't be the sexy option, chicks dig the long ball.

Chicks dig the long ball and so does Rob Manfred and the MLB brain trust, judging by the ban on sticky stuff, the postage stamp sized strike zone and a few other things.  I'm skeptical that anything that decreases offense will even reach the discussion stage even though the problem is a very real one IMO.