King

Baseball Hockey (but MLB >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> NHL) Football Basketball

It's a 20 second pitch clock in between pitches. (from 2015) http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150115&content_id=106476386&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb A day at a Minor League ballpark sometimes flies by. This year, Triple-A and Double-A baseball games may go even faster. At this week's Owners Meetings in Arizona, pace-of-game has been a key item on the agenda. Negotiations with the Players' Union are ongoing, but reports indicate that a 20-second pitch clock will be used at the two upper levels of the Minor Leagues this season. The pitch clock was first implemented in affiliated ball during select games in the 2014 Arizona Fall League season. In the AFL, a violation of the 20-second clock was grounds for an automatic ball granted to the batter. The possibility of bringing the pitch clock into Minor League games was broached in a December conversation between Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Conner and Major League Baseball chief officer Joe Torre at the Winter Meetings. "It was part of the discussion," Torre told MLB.com at the time. "It's something that we'd certainly like to see more testing done with, and there is a chance that will happen. I was never a proponent of introducing the clock in baseball, but I went out [to the AFL], and I was pretty impressed. [The clock] was there, but it really wasn't intrusive in any way." Other changes tested during the AFL campaign -- such as requiring a hitter to keep one foot in the batter's box during the entirety of an at-bat and time limits on pitching changes -- reportedly will also be implemented in the Triple-A and Double-A leagues. The AFL also tested a rule whereby managers could wave an opposing hitter to first base rather than have the pitcher throw the four pitches required for an intentional walk, but Torre indicated in December that it was unlikely that this rule would go any further.

Not sure if sarcasm, but they are already doing this. http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/4/6/114598446/cuts/pace_640_t682dvun_tr3xwn61.jpg http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/5/8/152671158/cuts/Clocks_13ucwk26_9xi9394a.jpg

Sam Miller is great http://www.espn.co.uk/mlb/story/_/id/18612895/new-york-mets-pitcher-robert-gsellman-secret-exposed

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Inflated RBI totals! We must put a stop to this.

That's without Bryant, Trout, Kershaw, Harper, etc..

http://i.imgur.com/qVvdgbZ.png

Yup. When I'm looking at games to watch on MLB.TV I'm looking for extra inning games or games tied in the later innings.

Well it's a good thing they are looking at speeding up intentional walks. This will go right hand in hand!

Alec Mills to the Cubs for Donnie Dewees. I wanted Mills

lol

Not gonna lie, looking at all these different rosters for the WBC has me pretty excited for the tournament. Look at it!

It's an international baseball rule already.

Is there a baseball fan that doesn't enjoy watching a position player come into pitch?

Saw it during an American Association (independent baseball) game and I didn't hate it. I know people won't like this though. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-plans-to-test-new-extra-innings-rules-in-rookie-ball-with-joe-torres-approval-224914115.html Major League Baseball plans on testing a rule change in the lowest levels of the minor leagues this season that automatically would place a runner on second base at the start of extra innings, a distinct break from the game’s orthodoxy that nonetheless has wide-ranging support at the highest levels of the league, sources familiar with the plan told Yahoo Sports. A derivation of the rule has been used in international baseball for nearly a decade and will be implemented in the World Baseball Classic this spring. MLB’s desire to test it in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League and Arizona League this summer is part of an effort to understand its wide in-game consequences – and whether its implementation at higher levels, and even the major leagues, may be warranted. “Let’s see what it looks like,” said Joe Torre, the longtime major league manager who’s now MLB’s Chief Baseball Officer and a strong proponent of the testing. “It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time. “It’s baseball. I’m just trying to get back to that, where this is the game that people come to watch. It doesn’t mean you’re going to score. You’re just trying to play baseball.” While the specifics of the rule are not final, the current plan is to start with a runner on second base in the 10th and every inning thereafter. As baseball grapples with ways to increase action in a game with a record-low rate of balls in play, changing its extra-innings rules emerged as a solution with multiple potential benefits. In addition to the increase in action a forced runner would create, so too would a philosophical element enter the game: to bunt or not to bunt. The other advantages are not quite as Shakespearean but certainly pragmatic. Amid concern about fatigue and travel, the presumption of shorter games with the new rules could save players from the rigors of extra-innings affairs that slog into the night. Further, the taxation on young arms – especially those in the minor leagues – would be mitigated. “What really initiated it is sitting in the dugout in the 15th inning and realizing everybody is going to the plate trying to hit a home run and everyone is trying to end the game themselves,” Torre said. “I don’t know what inning is the right inning. Maybe the 11th or 12th inning. But there are a number of reasons.” [Related: Rob Manfred having ongoing talks with Indians about Chief Wahoo] The minor leagues are typically MLB’s testing ground for potential rule changes, and as commissioner Rob Manfred focuses on pace-of-play issues, the prospect of extra innings with more action is appealing. The possibility of playing under different rules in extra innings – both the NFL and NHL do so in their overtime periods – is real enough that MLB sought feedback from both its playing rules and competition committees this offseason, according to sources. Even if it is a success, it would likely take years for the major leagues to adopt the changes. The strategy of implementing rules in the minor leagues, which MLB can do without the players’ approval, is canny: Once those players graduate to the major leagues, their familiarity with them – such as a pitch clock, which currently is in place in the minors – would allow easier adoption.

What day are the cuts due for this league?

This is true.

What a stupid post.

The relief pitcher changes were discussed previously here: http://www.bluejaysmessageboard.com/threads/6505-Manfred-looking-at-relief-pitcher-limits-in-game BTS and Cyborg made a good point about limiting the amount of warmup pitches and not having commercial breaks for pitching changes.

I think it would be almost a non factor. I'd be more upset if they restricted pitching changes, Manfred seemed serious about that. "I am in favor of something like that," Manfred said. "We've spent 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 dominant 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."

You've missed the point. Who gives a s*** if he struggled to hit quality stuff in the AFL a year and a half ago (where he had a 127 wRC+). There are way more justified concerns with Tellez than that. If one of these evaluators pointed to his 2016 season and said that he struggled to hit more advanced pitching in AA I could maybe consider it. But even Longenhagen said that there was improvement as he moved up to AA from the evaluators he talked to. So he struggled to hit quality stuff in the AFL in 2015, but he mashed AA in 2016 and improved on his "ability to hit quality stuff".

It's incompetence of the highest level. Just yesterday, “Yes. He's played well,” Maurice said. “So he gets to play more, which pushes the other two guys further down the depth chart.” He has a 3.34 GAA and 895 SV% in his 7 starts since they brought him back from the grave (AHL backup). And that's just this season. He's proven over a good 7 year stretch that he isn't an NHL goaltender. Yet here we are.

lol