There’s “more momentum” growing towards the designated hitter rule being adopted by the National League, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak tells reporters, including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The issue has been more heavily discussed in front offices and ownership levels within “the past year…I’m not suggesting you’re going to see a change but I definitely think the momentum (has changed),” Mozeliak said, noting that he doubts the DH would be implemented by 2017 in concert with the new collective bargaining agreement. ESPN’s Buster Olney also explores the issue in his latest subscription-only column, noting that adding the DH to the NL could increase offense and cut down on pitcher injuries. While there are some pros, however, Olney personally hates the idea of losing the extra layer of strategy and roster management that comes with having a pitcher in the lineup. Here’s some more from around baseball…
- Also from Olney’s column, he gives his take on the Chris Davis and Ian Kennedy signings. He calls the Davis contract a “win-win” for both the slugger and the Orioles, as Davis still found a huge guarantee and the O’s got a much-needed big bat. As for Kennedy, the signing makes sense for several reasons for K.C., including that the Royals moved to add attainable pitching now since next year’s free agent pitching crop is so thin.
- Brandon Moss and Matt Adams both have something to prove after down years in 2015, as Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at how the two Cardinals sluggers are looking to rebound and bring some much-needed pop to the Cards’ lineup. There was some thought that Moss could even be non-tendered given his poor season and big arbitration price tag (he and the Cards avoided arb with a one-year, $8.25MM deal) but Mozeliak tells Hummel that the team feels confident that Moss will be healthier now that he’s more recovered from hip surgery.
- The Blue Jays have eight players who will be free agents after the 2016 season, including such major names as Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Cecil, Drew Storen and R.A. Dickey. Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star opines that the club needs to re-sign at least some of these players (and/or Josh Donaldson) to extensions to demonstrate that ownership is committed to winning and to win back fans disappointed by the Jays’ offseason moves. The extra revenue generated by Toronto’s playoff run hasn’t been reflected by any raise in payroll, leading Griffin to wonder if the divide between ex-GM Alex Anthopoulos and the Rogers Communications ownership group perhaps stemmed from Anthopoulos’ desire to go for it in 2016 while Rogers was “more fixated on the [U.S./Canadian dollar] exchange rate and the bottom line.”
- In a recent appearance on the MLB Network, Baseball America’s Ben Badler (video link available) discusses the Cuban market, including the most recent high-profile signings, some big new talents like Randy Arozarena and Lazaro Armenteros and the current state of Cuban baseball.
- Several young stars are cited by Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper as he proposes five trades that could solve needs for the involved teams and create playing time for some blocked prospects. The two most eye-popping of Cooper’s suggestions are trades that would see the Mets deal Steven Matz and Luis Carpio to the Red Sox for Yoan Moncada, and an all-NL Central trade that would see the Pirates send outfielders Austin Meadows and Willy Garcia to the Reds for lefty Cody Reed.
Why not just DH for anyone who can’t hit? Why does it have to stop at just the pitcher? Why not let a player who plays excellent defense play the field and be hit for then? Honestly, the logic behind a DH is terrible and makes the game less interesting.
The DH can be for anyone. It doesn’t have to be for just a pitcher. They just want the pitcher to focus on pitching so they have someone hit for them. There are many reasons why a team with a DH should not allow their pitcher to hit. But the DH position can be used to hit for any any position in the AL currently.
“The league has no DH rule”.
The league has a DH rule, check that.
Griffin’s Bell media position on how Jay fans aren’t going to support the product based on a “disappointing off-season” is a joke. Fans of every team don’t care about anything other than winning and the Jays are positioned to do so in 2016 with a ridiculous offense, a very solid defense and average pitching.
Sure they could use a starter but this squad is still better than the one that opened last season and it was their offense in August that scored 170 runs that was the deciding factor in them winning the division. The bullpen was a bigger reason for their lack of success in the first half of 2015 and that’s also been largely improved upon.
Griffin writes for the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest independent newspaper.
Would you happen to be employed by Rogers?
As a day one fan, this offseason has turned me off. The Jays raked in monster money in the second half of last year, increased season ticket sales by 8,000, increased seat prices by up to one third, but could not afford to spend an extra 20 million over last year to field a championship team when they should be in a win now mode.
Rogers family trust you can take your enormous profits and shove them.
As one of the 8,000 new season ticket holders. I understand your point. The typical 10-15 thousand fan turnouts for April weekday games against, say the White Sox, will not happen this year.
On the other hand, TV ratings need to be sustainable to translate into advertising dollars. AA took shortcuts to build a winner last year on his way out the door, at this year’s expense.
While people may diss Shapiro and Atkins for their “lowly” Cleveland pedigree, I for one was really impressed by the Indians last year. They gave the Yankees all they could handle and then some during the stretch drive. A Cleveland style team and prospects with a Toronto level budget to sustain it, would be something to behold.
AA had his chance and really didn’t deliver. I’m giving the new guys the benefit of the doubt here.
Considering the Canadian dollar has fallen by about 17% in the last year against the US dollar, they are already paying over CD$20 million more for their payroll. So yes, the exchange rate has become an issue, even if Richard Griffin or others act like it shouldn’t be important. Money is money, whether it’s $20 million going to a player or $20 million being lost to currency fluctuations. Rogers is paying more in their currency for their payroll than any other team in baseball except the Yankees and Dodgers and in Canadian dollars, their payroll is already more than double what it was just 4 years ago. Criticizing them for not spending even more is fairly ignorant.
Any prudent business organization with large costs in $Us and large revenues in $cdn would have had the opportunity to lock in exchange rates on future costs at a time when the $cdn was historically high through the use of forwards and options contracts. To my knowledge Rogers has not disclosed whether they did so or if they did, whether they did so at the Jays level or further up in their corporate organization. If they did then the fluctuation of the currency would make little or no difference.
And if that’s the case they can’t hide behind the weak Canadian dollar as an excuse to not back the team so that it can compete.
Well, if the comment by Griffin is based on something tangible and isn’t just blowing smoke, then it appears that Rogers is not hedged against the CAD dropping in any way, not even at the Blue Jays’ level. That wouldn’t really be a big surprise; aside from the Jays, I doubt they have much USD expenses, and the Jays are only a very tiny part of their operations. Rogers is living with it, given that they aren’t slashing the Jays’ payroll, but it’s too much to expect them to actually increase the payroll even further on top of that. If anyone had said 4 years ago that the Jays would have a CAD$190 million payroll by 2016, people would’ve thought they were crazy. Rogers is spending a lot of money on the team.
The problem as far as I see it is that we don’t know whether Rogers or Jays hedged when they had the chance. If they didn’t , too bad. If they did they are blowing smoke. Jays would get a lot of $us revenue from revenue streams shared by all teams so that helps to some extent.
I found the entire premise to be disgusting.
The team goes for it and completely discards the budget to take a shot last year while maintaining a very powerful team for this year and some spoiled brat fan is complaining that fans are going to ignore the team because they didn’t spend even more money?
I get it from a 10 year old but not from someone who supposedly understands the concept of budgets, money or even time.
AA deliberately underspent his budget in the first half of last year in order to have some room to add at the trade deadline, which he did.
And that is why they had so many rookies on the team at the beginning of last year
Also Braves fan who wants things to stay as they are. No DH in NL. But it’s become all about money….the American way. So owners (the 1%) will eventually get their way thinking they are protecting an overpaid pitcher from injury. I understand all the pros and cons about the lack of offense and relievers throwing 97mph but we have overpaid hitters striking out 200 times a year not producing offense, hitters who won’t try to hit the other way or can’t when the IF shift is on, speedsters unable to bunt for a hit. The game has transformed into more one dimensional players which has also decreased offense. Adding the DH to the NL is not the best answer to that issue.
It’s not the owners pushing, it’s the players association. They like that a DH gets paid more than the 25th player on a NL roster. The owners are looking at it as a concession in the upcoming contract, or the next. It will cost them more, but might allow their stars to play when not 100%. It has less to do with keeping pitchers healthy,and more about money.
Meadows and Garcia for Reed? Really? That is, undeniably, a ridiculous proposition.
Meadows is a five-tooler who will open the season in AA at age 20 and be in AA by the end of the season. He’s not going anywhere…and is most likely Cutch’s replacement by opening day 2018…at the latest.
…oops…should have said he’ll be in AAA by the end of the season…he could probably not embarrass himself against ML pitching now and, when the Super 2 deadline passes next season, he’ll be more than qualified to step into the bigs.
As the Reds I would jump all over that trade….which probably means you’re right and it’s a bit lopsided.
However, Reed was lights out last season at AA and his stock has really soared in the past 6 months. He’s gone from a throw in on the Cueto trade to having a legitimate shot at breaking camp with the big league club
You beat me to the punch. Pirates have young pitching If they should dump 1 great OF prospect and one really good OF prospect for one pitcher that they already have several young great to very good pitching prospects, why deplete the coming OF prospects that they will need when Cutch and Marte are FA in a couple of years. If the Pirates want to be like the Cards, they hold the OF prospects and trade Cutch and Marte instead of dumping huge money on them when they have quality replacements ready. That is what the Cards do and they receive a better return trading ML roster guys instead of the prospects. See the OF that they will have this year.
Someone please tell JJ Hoover to never propose a trade again. I didn’t even look at his other 3 because those 2 are so absolutely ridiculous and would never happen, not even in a video game.
The other three were just as horrible. He had the Rockies acquiring SS Bregman and another SS from the Astros for 3B McMahon and yet another SS (not Rodgers or Story). Which would apparently give the Rockies a different SS of every year of the future. Not only that,but the Astros have a 3B in Moran that is almost in the exact same place developmentally. I get both teams moving players that are blocked, but why acquire players that would equally as blocked?
As a Reds fan our pitchers in the past have hit better than at least 2 position players for the past 2 years so this will destroy our offensive game plan. Haha when you deploy about 3 mendoza’s a dh won’t help much in the Nasty!
The Pirates number 2 and 12 prospects for a number 7 Reds Prospect?… uh what?
Yeah you can never have enough pitching but the Pirates are coming close. in ’16/17/18 They look to have Glasnow, Tailion, Kingham and Kuhl all who look like they will be good enough for the rotation, Add on Brault and Tarply… At least two of those should be decent rotation worth arms coming from the minors. Add on Liriano and Niese who have some control yet…… No, the cost is too high for Reed.
McCutchen will probably walk after his contract and the pirates cannot give up their top replacements for him. (assuming marte or polanco can slide to center) They need to keep one or two of their top OF prospects either to field the 4th outfielder role or to take over for Cutch. (hopefully cutch stays but we know how that goes.)
Harold Ramirez for Reed straight up is about as far as I would go
Now if you are talking an MLB ready or an established MLB pitcher… then we can talk about Meadows but talk is probably about as far as it will go
Reed has a legitimate shot at making the rotation out of spring training even though he spent last season at AA. His stuff was that good
The Cody Reed linked isn’t the correct one which does make a huge difference 🙂
But in the pirates system, He wouldn’t see time next year.. at least not until june/july.
The pirates already have 2 top 50 pitchers who ‘should’come up around then filling what ever hole they have in the rotation and then 2 more pitchers who should make an impact late 16 or 17. (all baring injury or major setbacks of course)
Meadows is to high of a price for him let alone two top 15 organizational prospects, just on pirates needs. A healthy established MLB Starter though for Meadows as center pieces to a trade.. then okay maybe we could at least talk about it.
If you take a position player who is a bench player and don’t let them take batting practice and hit them once a week they are not going to do very well. It’s only makes sense to get rid of the DH, pitchers don’t even hit in the minors.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to let pitchers hit in the minors?
Sounds like a fun way to injure some top pitching prospects.
I meant add DH in NL.
Of coarse Rogers is in it for the money opposed to helping the team win. They are a greedy company, look at our cell phone bills. Outlandish. The fat get fatter here in Canada, that’s why players tend to stay away from this great team.
The NL isn’t really strategy any more every decision is made by numbers outside of Bochy, who is about the only guy who still manages by his gut,. 90 percent of the time the Starter is gone after 100 pitches. These NL managers are not special compared to their AL counterparts. It is probably harder to manage in the AL with limited bullpen in this day and age, and managing DH at bats is another strategy largely ignored in the AL as it helps keep the team rested.
well. see whats where the DH falls apart. Generally the AL doesn’t need to Pinch Hit as often because most of their position players can hit. If any thing the AL should have fewer position players and more Bull pen.. yeah doesn’t always work out that way..
You almost never see double switches in the AL where in the NL it happens all the time.
In the AL you don’t try to stretch your pitcher 2 more outs or one more inning because he is due up 2nd the next inning so you an pinch hit for him.. AL managers can swap out pitchers when ever they feel .it is time.
Yeah, it isn’t crazy hard to do, but to me it is way more fun to think about these things during the game.
If you don’t want your pitchers getting hurt while hitting, teach them to hit and make them take BP seriously. Pitchers are such babies these days and that’s being polite.
Yeah because hitting and pitching are just so easy, everyone can do both!
smh
Pitchers are professional athletes that were probably the best hitters on every team they played with until they were drafted. Why does everyone think they now have the durability of a 4 year old girl having a tea party?
Because they train the parts of their bodies that help them pitch more than the parts of the body that hitters use. Hitting a baseball is entirely different mechanics to pitching and a person physically can’t do both well. Also hitting a baseball is insanely difficult and requires years and years of practice, it’s nearly impossible to learn both just from a time perspective.
It’s amazing that people were able to do it for over 100 years before you came along and decided it was impossible. But apparenty everything from the past was wrong and the latest generation knows everything. I really can’t wait until 20 years from now when your kids think you are an idiot too.
If pitchers had been able to hit, there never would have been a DH rule. It is that hundred years of pitchers not being able to hit that brought the rule about.
He’s an idiot yet you can’t even think this through… The game was largely different 100 years ago and has evolved considerably in that time, especially pitching. If MLB wanted pitchers to hit like they did 100 years ago, they would find a way to coach pitchers in that way. But they don’t. MLB wants its pitchers to focus on pitching. The DH should exist in both leagues. Maximizing production in every spot should be the aim of both the game on the field as well as in the front office.
My kid is 3.. i’m pretty sure she thinks i’m an idiot.. she’s probably right 😉
Matz is an untouchable for the mets. And why would they trade one of their aces for someone not mlb ready. Mets whether they show it or not are in a win now mood, needing to win before Harvey jumps at free agency in like three years….hence, why the mets did not deal with Cubs for any of their young players. I wouldn’t like it, but if it was matz for betts or Bradley jr then maybe that’s a possible look, but this one? I don’t think so
Besides that, the Mets have D.Herrera as the 2B of the future.
When the National League is the only league on the planet that doesn’t use a DH…it’s time for it to go.
Plus it creates more jobs, and better baseball. The best single games of the last 40 years have been mostly AL ones. They flow better, the NL is stop and start with bringing in pitchers and pitchers hitting 99% of the time killing off rallys, people are literally fetishizing that 1% of the time where the pitcher doesn’t make an out or does something with the bat.
I also don’t know why MLB just doesn’t make the DH optional for both leagues, if the handful of pitchers who really do think they are good enough with the bat want to hit, then whoever their team is can use the current NL rules for that game – this seems like the most sensible thing. Will anyone use it? Probably not, unless the manager wants to give up a free out, but it would silence the old school people who still yearn for how the game was played 50 years ago.
Some people prefer the game to keep the extra strategy needed in the NL and think the AL game is too bland.
Did anyone who watched the KC/OAK wild card game in 2014 think it was “bland”? No, it was the best single game in a long time. Most of the iconic games over the last 40 years have been AL ones.
This is baseball: “see ball, hit ball” – go watch football if you want strategy.
Game 6 of 2011 World Series was better and I am from Kansas
High scoring games do not always equate to better games. Watching Bumgarner hit is one of the most entertaining at bats you’ll ever see.
Agree
It doesn’t create better baseball. It creates easier to manage baseball. I sometimes wonder why AL teams even need a manager anyway? A pitching coach can decide on relievers just as easily, probably moreso. Just because you think something is right, doesn’t mean everyone has to. If you don’t like NL games, then just watch AL games and leave the rest of us alone with real baseball.
so you rather watch a pitcher who hits below ..200 strike out or bunt, you NL people are hard to understand….
There is nothing easy about managing a major league team. Allowing a pitcher to hit creates a waste of time and money from the business side of the game. Production should be maximized in every position possible, and the DH is one of the key ways to do that.
I agree. To me, having a pitcher hit is a wasted out unless it’s a sac fly.
The National League and the Central league are the two major baseball leagues that do not offer their players a handicap.
Why do fans wish to see professional athletes given a handicap? Do you go to cycling races and demand the racers put training wheels on? Do you go to bowling tournaments and demand they use bumpers? Why do you wish to see athletes, who claim to be good athletes, using a handicap in order to make the game easier? The point of professional athletics is to see people perform at the highest level. It isn’t to see them perform at the second to highest level, or third to highest, or fifth to highest.
The DH makes it impossible for players to reach their maximum potential, because they are never playing baseball. They are playing the handicapped dhball. Just like a bowler who only bowls with bumpers can never become a great bowler, a baseball team that uses a DH can never become a great baseball team.
Why do this minority of fans wish so much to see professional players with a handicap? It makes no sense to me. Handicaps go against the core of athletics and violate both the moral and ethical code of all athletes everywhere.
You’re contradicting yourself. The DH allows managers to use certain players that can hit but can’t field in such a way that utilizes their strengths. Eliminating the DH forces managers and players to weaken their game to where you have to put said player’s poor defense on the field. And then you do get that second or third highest level. The DH does nothing to inhibit players’ abilities to maximize their potential. Their own talent, health, and work ethic are the determining factors.
If the DH existed in the 1960’s, we might have seen Mickey Mantle actually take a shot at Babe Ruth’s HR record…
No, I did not contradict myself.
The challenge of baseball is finding 9 players whose skills balance enough to win the game.
If you are using 10 players, you are playing with a handicap. Handicaps have no place in professional athletics. Professional players do not require hand holding in order to perform on the field.
If you wish for your pitcher to provide more offense, nobody is stopping you from using a first basemen or an outfielder to pitch on the mound. However, in doing so, you will likely lose value in your defensive ability.
That is the challenge of the game.
If a player cannot provide enough defense to justify their offense, or enough offense ot justify their defense, then they are not a major league calibre player. Playing with a handicap is not an acceptable solution for a professional sport. This isn’t little league.
No team is entitled to increased offense. Any idea you have about “such and such player is a better batter therefore he should bat more often” is utterly invalid and has no place in this discussion.
Also on top of DH I would like to see a DR, Designated Runner rule, one single player fulfills this role and can Pinch Run for a player and that player is not subbed out of the game and continue his AB’s, if MLB really wants speed and excitement this would be a god send and make players like Terrance Gore an integral part of the game. The A’s experimented with the pure Pinch Runner in the 70s with Herb Washington and Larry Lintz, before realizing in the 80s its just too circumstantial, and they should just find good athletes who could also play baseball. This would bring big time athletes back to the game who may not be able to hit or field.
Which would in turn bring back the chance of the major athlete finding baseball early enough to actually develop baseball skills.
NO DH! I would rather they get rid of the DH in the AL. I think it waters down the game.
Agreed, and the 2nd wild card while there at it..
Somewhere Billy Hamilton is smiling at your post…
While there probably are a few NL fans who want the DH, sure would’ve helped the pirates offense last season for sure… but over all I think interest in the game will decline from NL fans.
Whats next.. designated fielders? Mendoza would love that!
IMO: Ball players need to be ball players, Pitchers hit, Hitters play defense.
Nolan Ryan’s .110 batting average has any affect on how you view him? Pitchers Pitch and Hitters hit.
Never said they had to be good.. an honest effort is all i ask.
Ryan also has 67 Sacrifices. along with his 90 some hits in ~950 plate appearances during his 13 year career in the NL
Greninke has a slash line of .225/.269/.333 with 5 HRs over 315 at bats since coming over to the NL
and of course one of the biggest examples of pitchers hitting Babe Ruth .308 .413 .568 with 48 HRs over the 5 years he was a primarily a pitcher
Well this isn’t little league joe you don’t get an A for effort people are spending good money on games and watching a pitcher strikeout is not getting your moneys worth. You left that out Nolan Ryan struck out 371 times in 957 PA, I hate to break it to you but .225/.269/.333 is not good.
tell that to mendoza. He was a poor hitting position player that had to hit. Do you want to have a DH for players like him?
No of course not. being a poor hitter is not excuse for not being able to play the game.
You are right this isnt’, I’m not going to hand out participation trophies (my cash) to players and teams who won’t play the game.
You’re right, this isn’t little league. Players don’t get to have handicaps. We don’t use pitching machines, and we don’t let one player bat in place of another.
This is the majors, man up. No handicaps. If you want a handicap, go back to little league.
If you want more offense I. Your lineup, nobody is stopping you from using a better hitter on the mound. You can have your first basemen pitch.
NO DH!! It adds more strategy a manager has to think ahead and manage. No room for a guy that doesn’t even own a glove Join a softball beer league
Padres have 4 catchers. Anybody need one?
Can they DH?
no they cannot hit, they are fielders.. don’t you know (sarcasm of course)