OMG No more wasting time on intentional walks.
- Thread starter Duck_walk
- Start date
It's going to be a yuge help. Yuuuuuuge I tell ya.
Now if they would just do something about all the pitching changes.
Now if they would just do something about all the pitching changes.
I'm all for this, but they have to tackle pitching changes if they want to make the games faster.
Pitching changes are just like time outs in basketball. Just when the action and tension get going good there's a break to kill it. Both need to be reduced for the sake of the games.
They need to either limit pitching changes during an inning or penalize them for making more than one. Thanks Tony.
The real brutal situation is when a guy faces only one batter. Make it so a reliever has to face at least 2 guys is a decent starting point
I like giving the new guy three pitches. The mound dimensions are identical at that level and they are all warmed up already anyways. Or put entering pitchers on a clock
I'm with Tim McCarver on mound visits by catchers. Well not totally with him, he wants to eliminate them completely, but they most certainly should be limited in some way.
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Can't do it because commercials pay the bills, but put a 2 minute clock on between innings and then start granting balls to the batter
How about make them take the field after the last out is made by their team. A lot of pitchers hang around in the dugout well after the last out, especially if they were on base that inning. Make them get their glove and take the field for their warmups. If they are too hot to get out of the dugout they probably don't need more than couple of warmup pitches.
The whole "pace of play" thing is a joke. It's not the pitching changes or the intentional walk or mound visits that make games so long. It's advertising. Sure, those things exacerbate it by providing more opportunities, but it's TV ads that really draw things out. And those things aren't going away anytime soon. That being said, I'm 100% fine with the new rule on intentional walks and agree with it.
Gotta pay the bills. That's why we get to see every game on TV. So those aren't going away. What you can do is...
- Automate the strike zone.
- Raise the mound back up.
- Limit mound visits...both by C/IF and mangager/coach. Yeah, I'm looking at you Yadi.
- Actually enforce the stepping out of the box rule...ie, no more Skip Schumaker re-velcros every pitch.
And the crux of it all is the last thing you said. The only thing I fully agree with there is #4. I don't see how a hitter should be allowed to step out of the box for 30 seconds at a time after every pitch if they want.
But why remove them? It's a nuance of the game that helps make baseball great to me.
Seriously? How does that make the game great to you? Classic example of micromanaging to me. Especially with Yadi. It's way annoying to me.
(4.) How much wasted time would be eliminated by outlawing batting gloves ? It seems that every team has several players in their lineup that have to step out of the box after every pitch and readjust them. ( I know that this will never happen.)
The dynamic between pitcher and catcher is inherently a great thing to me in the sport. How they can "get" each other and develop that relationship. And I like watching the strategy and chess match of it all. A perfectly timed mound visit that alters an inning that was potentially headed off the rails is a beautiful thing.
It's just like a timeout in basketball...disrupt momentum, settle a player that's wound up... etc.
Agreed...but...Basketball doesn't get unlimited TO's.
I get what you're saying, and agree slightly. But I like the struggle of a guy about to lose it, fighting to keep it without Yadi, Matheny, and Lili all making visits in the same inning.
To you, me, and the other baseball nerds on here? No. To the fans that MLB is losing or never getting(casual fan and yutes)? Yes, or at least I think so. I'll readily admit, I dvr almost every game, let it get an hour ahead and then fire it up. But I'm still watching.
The pace of the game is fine for 3/4 of the season. Where you run into 4+ hour games is the silly 40 man rosters in Sept. Giving managers 12 relievers to change pitchers every batter making baseball unwatchable. At that time of the year your competing with college football and the NFL people simply get disinterested. Also enforce the keeping the hitter in the box rule ALL season. I don't need to watch you loosen each batting glove every pitch..
Even before September, I would love to see them limit the number of pitchers a team can carry. More hitters on your bench and fewer pitching changes would result.
There are times during the season when an outfielder gets injured and the cardinals have called up an extra reliever. Drives me bonkers.
I will always like it but you can't tell me you enjoy watching 8+ pitchers per game. It's agonizing.
Most of the rule changes in our lifetimes have been good, to my eye. College hoops is better with a lower shot clock. Hockey is more open without the red line. NBA is safer without the fighting and more enjoyable with the defensive 3 seconds call (although I could do with fewer 3s.) Etc.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think most of the rule changes relate to fixing problems that have arisen over time - for example, hockey limiting the size of goalie equipment when they started wearing ridiculously large padding. Baseball has evolved to where relievers are used more often for fewer batters. I don't see a problem with addressing that.
