Manfred looking at relief pitcher limits in game

[King]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/08/18/mlb-rob-manfred-pitch-clock-reliever-limits-limiting-shifts/88960724/

 

HOUSTON - Major League Baseball, alarmed by the game’s lack of action this season is considering making the most radical changes to the game in more than a century.

 

The owners spent time Thursday discussing and reviewing how the game has changed over the years, with offenses suffocated by a record number of shifts and pitching changes, leading to longer games and less production.

 

Commissioner Rob Manfred said that baseball will consider limiting the number of pitching changes in the future, as well as curtailing the amount of shifts, and even implementing a 20-second time clock for pitchers to deliver a pitch.

“Our view of the pitch clock is that we feel it’s been effective in the minor leagues,’’ Manfred said, “we really do. I think when you look at our experience with the effort we undertook last year, and you look month-by-month in terms of where we were in terms of game time, we did really well early and kind of regressed the second half of last year, and certainly this year.

 

“Our evaluation of that is, the more we can have on the field, constant reminders so it’s in front of people’s minds, the better off we are in terms of continuing to move the game along. And I think the clock is probably the quintessential example of the reminder that keeps pace in people’s minds.

 

“And, quite frankly, the data shows that people don’t violate the 20-second. With or without a clock. It’s a reminder that moves things along.”

 

When asked if he would like to see the clock implemented perhaps as early as next season, Manfred didn’t hesitate.

 

“I would,’’ he said. “I said yes because there’s no temporal assigned to that.”

 

While pitch clocks might speed up the game, infield shifts already do - perhaps too much for Manfred's liking. Manfred said research indicated that there were 2,400 infield shifts just five years ago; this season, major league clubs are on pace for 28,000 shifts, limiting offenses.

 

“I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing,’’ Manfred said, “but it has ramifications for what people see when they buy that ticket to go to the ballpark. We just wanted to point out this whole series of changes that has occurred over time, very naturally, in the game and pose the question of whether or not we should be managing that change more aggressively.”

[Jonn]

The honeymoon is officially over for Manfred.

[KevinGregg]

how the f*** can you outlaw shifting? players can stand where ever they want.. Are they going to draw in zones for each position player to stand in and if they leave that zone before contact is made then ... what? stupidest thing i ever heard I think

[Cyborg]

Limiting shifting would be so dumb. Pitching changes and pitch clock would be fine.

[Abomination]

Yeah, I don't agree with limiting shifts. It's up to the players to adapt to it and force teams not to do it.

[Grant77]

Manfred is trying too hard to make his legacy move.

[Stangstag]

This is Amaro-level stupid

[Daniel Labude]

All of this is stupid. None of it will improve the game.

[Deadpool]

Sure, pitch clocks make sense, but how long will they actually be enforced? Remember how batters weren't supposed to get out of the box between pitches? Yeah, that lasted a whole f***ing month before being ignored completely.

[King]

Sure, pitch clocks make sense, but how long will they actually be enforced? Remember how batters weren't supposed to get out of the box between pitches? Yeah, that lasted a whole f***ing month before being ignored completely.

 

It depends. If it's used in a way where a ball is called if you don't pitch before the 20 seconds ticks down to 0, then it will be enforced as long as it's in place. If it's used just as a reminder, it will serve little to no purpose, and that's the way it sounds like it's going to be implemented by the way Manfred talks about it in the article.

 

 

“Our evaluation of that is, the more we can have on the field, constant reminders so it’s in front of people’s minds, the better off we are in terms of continuing to move the game along. And I think the clock is probably the quintessential example of the reminder that keeps pace in people’s minds.

 

“And, quite frankly, the data shows that people don’t violate the 20-second. With or without a clock. It’s a reminder that moves things along.”

[BTS]

Limiting shifts and pitching changes (pre-September anyway) would be ridiculous.

[Maahfaace]

Limiting shifts and pitching changes (pre-September anyway) would be ridiculous.

 

I really liked the idea that someone floated on here of a 25 man active roster for Sept call-up's. A team could carry 40 players but have only 25 active for any given game.

Limiting pitching changes and shifts would damage the game IMO.

[King]

I really liked the idea that someone floated on here of a 25 man active roster for Sept call-up's. A team could carry 40 players but have only 25 active for any given game.

 

I agree with this, but wouldn't teams then just put position players on the 25 man roster in for pitchers they weren't going to use anyway?

[Maahfaace]

I agree with this, but wouldn't teams then just put position players on the 25 man roster in for pitchers they weren't going to use anyway?

 

Might have to tweak it a bit so that you have to carry a certain number of pitchers, or some other form of restrictions.

[Dr Negative]

I think there's a time limit for serving in tennis, but I can't ever remember seeing it enforced.

[Abomination]

I agree with this, but wouldn't teams then just put position players on the 25 man roster in for pitchers they weren't going to use anyway?

 

You could probably require that a SP has to remain on the 25 man for 4 games after their start or something.

 

As for limiting pitching changes, I'm in favor of a pitcher having to face 3 batters (assuming no injury), or hit the end of the inning before they can be changed. Seeing innings where you have a pitching change every batter just plain sucks.

[King]

You could probably require that a SP has to remain on the 25 man for 4 games after their start or something.

 

As for limiting pitching changes, I'm in favor of a pitcher having to face 3 batters (assuming no injury), or hit the end of the inning before they can be changed. Seeing innings where you have a pitching change every batter just plain sucks.

 

Then you can fix other ways to speed up pitching changes that have already been mentioned in this thread. Have a bullpen golf cart drive the pitchers from the bullpen to the mound instead of the slow jog. Limit warmup pitches to 1 or 2. Among other things.

[BlueJayWay]

Limiting shifting is dumb and in my opinion not needed. Pitch clock would probably be something you wouldn't notice after a while.

[closetjaysfan]

Better time fix would be addressing coaches coming on field to delay so the team can have a look at a replay and whether or not to challenge. IMO you should get an extra challenge but they can only be initiated by players on the field.

[intentional wok]

You could probably require that a SP has to remain on the 25 man for 4 games after their start or something.

 

As for limiting pitching changes, I'm in favor of a pitcher having to face 3 batters (assuming no injury), or hit the end of the inning before they can be changed. Seeing innings where you have a pitching change every batter just plain sucks.

 

It's boring but I think it's just a natural part of the game. Locking in a pitcher is unfair if the opposing manager can still pinch hit. Of course they could outlaw pinch hitting too, but then I'd ask how many rule changes do we need to go through for the sake of cutting off a few minutes of down time?

 

There's changing rules to make the game better (like replay) and changing rules to make the game faster. If we really want to make the game faster without tampering with commercial breaks or actually enforcing the pitch time and batter's box rules, then we have to be prepared to degrade the actual strategy and intrigue of the game.

[devo]

Coaches should have to decide whether or not to challenge a call on the field based on what they see from the dugout and the advice of their players.

 

No calling up to a guy watching a replay before deciding.

[KingKat]

Have a bullpen golf cart drive the pitchers from the bullpen to the mound instead of the slow jog.

 

Please no. Bullpen golf carts look so derpy. I mean c'mon these are athletes. They can do the slow jog. I doubt the time saved is all that significant.

[intentional wok]

Please no. Bullpen golf carts look so derpy. I mean c'mon these are athletes. They can do the slow jog. I doubt the time saved is all that significant.

 

Agreed. The time saved from a pitching change is pretty insignificant too if the league just enforced the timekeeping rules already in place.

[King]

Please no. Bullpen golf carts look so derpy. I mean c'mon these are athletes. They can do the slow jog. I doubt the time saved is all that significant.

 

Why? They have it in Vancouver and the few games I've watched on TV it works well and fast. I have no problems with the length of games myself but if they were to make changes I would rather they do things like this to trim time down than change the game itself, which was the whole point of my post in the first place.

[KingKat]

Why? They have it in Vancouver and the few games I've watched on TV it works well and fast. I have no problems with the length of games myself but if they were to make changes I would rather they do things like this to trim time down than change the game itself, which was the whole point of my post in the first place.

 

The golf cart brings back memories of the era of cavernous astroturf dumps. Seems like those were always the places that used them. I suppose since you didn't live through that era, it wouldn't have any negative connotations for you.

[FrozenRopes]

It doesn't make sense. The game adapts and changes. Look at the infield shifts being played today. Catcher gear. Bats. Gloves

[jaysblue]

Pitch clock works fine. There should be a time limit for when a pitcher delivers a pitch. It's not that bad, as I'm sure most pitchers don't take more than 20 seconds between pitches, though there are some Steve Trachsel's out there that take way too long.

 

Abolishing defensive shifts and the amount of pitching changes is stupid. What happens if a pitcher gets hurt or is way above their pitch count as a reliever? Maybe make it where when pitching changes take place, there are only 2-3 warmup pitches and thats it.

[Jonn]

Pitch clock is reasonable. But when you talk about altering the strategy of the game it just takes a huge aspect of intelligence out of the sport. Baseball doesn't have a clock for a reason. Is that what they are going to do next? You can only have so much time to hit in an inning.

 

It's stupid. You know what would speed up the game. Getting rid of idiot umpires. There inability to make correct calls and ego slows down the game.

[IBTrini]

Holy f***. Why?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/17118662/mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-says-looking-possible-limits-use-relief-pitchers-games

 

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged that MLB is looking at possibly limiting the use of relief pitchers in games.

 

Manfred was a guest Thursday on ESPN's Mike & Mike where he was presented nine suggestions from fans for improving baseball. One suggestion was some sort of restriction on the use of relief pitching in an inning or game.

 

"I am in favor of something like that," Manfred said. "We (MLB) spend a ton of time on this issue in the last few months."

 

"You know the problem with relief pitchers is that they're so good. I've got nothing against relief pitchers but they do two things to the game; the pitching changes themselves slow the game down and our relief pitchers have become so dominate at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game. So relief pitchers is a topic that is under active consideration. We're talking about that a lot internally."

 

This year, the average time of a game is 3 hours, 4 minutes. By comparison, in 2005 games averaged 2 hours, 49 minutes.

Part of the difference in game time being longer must be attributed to the instant replays. It is really ridiculous for players to stay on the field while managers check with their video team to see whether they should ask for a review of a play. The umps then have to go to the side, put on their head-phones and contact NY for their input - that sucks up a lot of time especially when it seems to be happening way too often.

 

It actually defeats the purpose of only have a limited number of challenges. I am all for getting plays right but instant replay was never meant to be used this way. Leave the RPing as it is or limit the number that can come in an inning. A lot of time is used up with multiple pitching changes in a single inning.

[Boxcar]

Please no. Bullpen golf carts look so derpy. I mean c'mon these are athletes. They can do the slow jog. I doubt the time saved is all that significant.

 

How about this?

 

http://img.pandawhale.com/116555-kenny-powers-riding-a-donkey-g-KG9p.gif