Rob Manfred “doesn’t realize the fight he is picking,” a player told FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal in light of the commissioner’s plan to implement rule changes against the union’s wishes in 2018. The player also suggested Manfred’s actions could lead to serious labor strife when it’s time to negotiate the next collective bargaining agreement in 2021. “Four years from now, he will see absolute wrath if he makes the moves himself,” the player said, also adding that “the union is listening to the players, and the players don’t want the changes.” Unlike Manfred, MLBPA chief Tony Clark doesn’t believe the league has pace-of-play issues. However, Rosenthal points out that the average time of game went up by 4 minutes, 28 seconds last year. At the same time, balls in play hit an all-time low and relief pitcher usage reached an all-time high. Thus, despite the union’s objections, changes are on their way, writes Rosenthal, who opines that they’re “necessary.”
More from around the majors:
- After adding Ian Desmond, Greg Holland and Mike Dunn in free agency, Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich expects the club to make a postseason push in 2017, writes Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post. “I do feel like we’re ready to take that next step,” said Bridich. “We accomplished that goal of playing meaningful games in August and September (during 2016). It didn’t work out for us in terms of postseason last year, but we accomplished that. It’s time for us go from a talented group to a good team that challenges for the playoffs and truly is a playoff team.” The Rockies haven’t won more than 75 games in a season since an 83-victory 2010 – their latest plus-.500 campaign – and are mired in a seven-year playoff drought. Colorado will have to take enormous steps to meet Bridich’s expectations this year, then, though it undoubtedly possesses some enviable talent.
- Given their underwhelming selection of rotation candidates, the Padres are open to trying a radically different approach with respect to starting pitcher usage this season, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Manager Andy Green could opt to deploy a certain starter once through the order before switching to another one, perhaps based on handedness, Cassavell explains. On why that’s not a popular strategy, Green offered: “My perspective would be it’s a little bit more counter-cultural than anything else. It hasn’t really been done before. But matchups are becoming more and more prevalent.”
- The officially retired Alex Rodriguez doesn’t have any interest in becoming a major league manager, he told Jack Curry of YES Network (Twitter link). Despite his controversial past, Rodriguez’s much-ballyhooed baseball IQ could have made him an interesting candidate down the line. The 41-year-old is currently working with his longtime team, the Yankees, as a spring training instructor – a role he seems to relish, as Billy Witz of the New York Times details. “I think my value for these kids is going to be taking them out to dinner, a three-hour dinner,” he said of mentoring the team’s young players, “and the first hour and a half recognizing that they’ll probably be pretty nervous and pretty tight, and by the second half of that dinner, they’ll start asking real substantial questions. There’s so much that’s expected here in New York, and it’s so difficult to play in New York. And I think as staff mentors, that’s the best thing we can do, is get them ready for what’s expected, because it is a handful.”
- Free agent right-hander Henderson Alvarez feels “great” and plans to throw for major league scouts in March, tweets Manolo Hernandez Douen. Alvarez, who will turn 27 next month, revealed that seven teams have checked in on him as he attempts to work his way back from two shoulder injury-plagued years. In 2015, the then-Marlin threw just 22 1/3 innings. As an Athletic last year, Alvarez didn’t throw a pitch above the Triple-A level, where he only logged 18 2/3 frames.
Great… the best labor peace in sports and both sides trying to play chicken again. It’s millionaires versus billionaires, even the most ardent fans will be pissed off because we’d see you all as jerks if a strike happens.
Don’t always blame it on millionaires vs billionaires. that’s nothing more than some crappy pc excuse that is nonsense.
I do agree tho that most of the changes are not good and myself? Who cares if Boston_NYY games take 4 plus hours? That’s how they have been forever, let ’em stand that way!
Can see some possible rules on back to back pitching changes, or maybe limit to 2 per inning, that will stop the roulette some NL teams employ which makes those games more boring on occasion, but that’s got nothing really to do with proposed changes. Only one that needs to be changed is dump pitcher’s hitting.. that’s as boring as it gets.
“Boring” is strategic. It involves using your brain…which is something that many people never learned how to do.
Think that’s strategic? Well i really don’t have that much of an issue watching some NL managers swap pitchers 3..Sometimes 4 times in an inning late in tight games, but what do you think about casual fans who have to endure 3 and sometimes 4 2-3 minute commercial breaks for what can be perceived as frivolous pitching changes from that type of fan’s perspective when the NL game is 2-2..3-3 score wise? Better said.. Low scoring?
Where’s your evidence that NL games are longer on average than AL games?
Baseball is fine how it is, if you don’t like pitching changes go watch football and it’s whopping eleven minutes of play, one hundred commercials, and three hours of guys just walking around on the field
Agreed. As George Will said, “Football combines the two worst elements of society: violence and committee meetings.”
I grew up on Themis game and being 43, not too old I can admit that the game seems way too slow fir these millennial and younger kids. I would consider a pitching 20 second clock rule that the pitcher has 20 seconds to deliver his next pitch regardless of the batter is ready or i the catcher and pitcher signs are crossed up. A ton of strategy can be gained from this.
Hey Johnsilver, how are u bringing pc into this? How does the statement of fact, that the disagreement is between the players (millionaires) and owners (billionaires), have any political leaning?
Although everyone thinks it’s so cool to bash pc nowadays, there is no way it applies to your statement here and it really just makes you sound ignorant
Exactly. Being a multi-millionaire isn’t enough, anymore. MLB players, and owners, are in a different world from the people who continue to make them rich. It really comes down to the fans. If the people continue paying outrageous money to see a GAME, MLB will just get to being more and more of a rich man’s game. If the fans all agreed on 1 particular day, this season, to not go to a game, that just might get the attention of the “haves.” Please give it a try.
The average ticket price for a baseball game is, by far, the cheapest of the four major sports. And baseball is the only one of the four without a salary cap.
So average game time went up 4 minutes 28 seconds? That’s enough time to sell how many more beers and hot dogs?
Manfred better realize that he will be hurting the pocketbooks of stadium concessions, on top of pissing off the players……and the fans.
I don’t agree with unilateral rulings in general but the players have to realize they need the fans to enjoy the game just as they do, and I understand apprehension with these rules but you can always change back, it’s not like they haven’t varied in the last and been adjusted
I hate how they keep focusing on shaving down a few minutes. A 2 hour game is not different than a 1 hour and 50 minute game. Let the game be, this coming from a millennial.
I hate strikes as much as the other guy but I’m more than ready and willing to sit through one to prevent these bigger rule changes. Applause to the players for standing up for themselves as he fans (even though yes, they are already millionaires)
What realistic rule change that’s on the table is anywhere worth the cost of a strike….??
I don’t think it’s the rules in particular that has the players pissed, it’s that the commissioner is going over their heads to do something that they don’t agree with.
Then maybe they shouldn’t have collectively bargained to give him that right.
Three months ago, no less.
thank you bell tolls. This idea that the players are being hurt unjustly is just dumb. They just bargained for this. If you don’t like it, fire stewart and get a legitimate litigator. Don’t harp on how you might strike cuz you are sad that you fkd up.
Fire Dave Stewart? He’s an agent. I think you mean Tony Clark.
Have Bluetooth communication set up between the manager, pitcher and catcher. Let the pitchers call the games.
This will speed up the game and provide MLB’s TV partners with great content.
Great! Let’s hack them.
Leave the game alone..The only rule I’ve read about that I’d be OK with is throwing no pitches or one pitch for an intentional walk.
Let’s just cut to the big problems that lead to these issues:
(1) Mound visits. All those Bos-NYY games that feature 3 catcher-pitcher conferences in a single AB. (And yes, I am picking on those two teams). You can impose the same limits on these as with coach/manager meetings.
(2) Panicky managers. I’m a Cubs fan, but the way Joe Maddon uses a bullpen kills me. Francona was no better. First base runner after the 5th and then here comes the hook, commercial break, and 50-billion pitching changes. You can’t legislate strategy, but baseball as a culture has to go back to letting starters go deep. None of these innings that have 4 different pitchers to get 3 outs. Start teaching your prospects to think 7 or 8 innings. And tell your managers to sit down and let the players play!
(3) Let’s be honest, commercial breaks suck. You don’t need a 2-3 minute break every pitching change. Yes you get $$$, but if you want to get serious about pace of play.
(4) And here’s my biggest issue: STOP WALKING! Ever since Moneyball, hitters now seem to be looking to go up and take a walk. They’re not really swinging anymore. It seems to me that hitters are really being taught to “not make an out” as opposed to finding their pitch and hacking at it. Probably also related to the uptick in strikeouts: batters wait, pitchers get ahead 2-strikes, then it’s an easier K. How many broadcasts have we all sat through where they highlighted how many pitches per AB a batter sees?
Well there are my 4 big peeves with this whole “pace of play” debate. I don’t personally have a problem with 4-hour game as long as it moves (see 1 & 2 above). But you know…
I was good with your first 3 points, but the 4th won’t happen. What is the only way to score a run, if you do not hit the ball out of the ballpark? Get on base. I’d rather have a guy have a .400 OBP than have a guy that hits .300 with a .315 OBP. Yes, walks aren’t exciting, but they are an important part of the game.
yeah 4 ruins what was otherwise a decent post.
I’ve always wanted to see a rule that says a pitcher beginning an inning must complete the inning, other than the starting pitcher. And there can only be two pitchers per inning (eliminating the 3 or 4 pitcher inning during the inning the starter comes out).
If they want to do something where there is a 3 run rule or something, and now you can pull a RP that’s fine. And an injury rule of course, but the pulled pitcher has to sit min 3-5 games or something.
This would actually increase the time of games, as an ineffective pitcher would just be stranded out there to give up hit after hit after hit. Plus, it would increase injury risk to pitchers.
If a pitcher can’t get through 1 inning without injuring himself then he should not have been out in the game in the first place.
Hell make it a 1 run rule if you like. Just get rid of 42 year old “lefty specialist” coming in, throwing two pitches, dude hitting a soft blooper for a single and the manager coming back out to change pitchers again.
Commercial breaks aren’t the problem. Commercials are just played while the pitcher warms up on the mound and the players have their quick warm-up. The alternative is to just leave the cameras on the field so everyone can watch them all warm up. That doesn’t improve pace of play.
I believe he’s saying the “quick warm up,” should be shorter. Resulting in shorter commercial breaks.
Hitters are going up looking take walks? Which hitters? Identify them because Wade Boggs retired awhile ago and strikeouts are wayyyyy up!
I agree with TMoney. There is nothing wrong with the game as it relates to the stuff like strike zone, pitching mound conferences, etc. The games are longer because of commercial breaks too, and I’m not hearing Manfred say less commercials.
The only thing I would like to see is Joe West, and any of his ilk be pushed out of baseball for good, no one goes to games to see the umpire, especially when he acts like Yosemite Sam.
True. And don’t forget Kerwin Danley, Doug Eddings, C B Buckner and the worst, Angel Hernandez.
When they’re in, they slow the game down and it all becomes about them.
I looked at it and if you reduced time between innings in half (so players got like a minute and a half to warm up) it’d take like 15 minutes off an average game. If you are playing baseball, how many tosses to a fielder and how many infield grounders do you need? Maybe give a little more time if there is a pitching/of/if change to warm up, but for innings 1-5 do we really need like 2.5 minutes for half inning breaks?
You’re correct that it would speed up the game, but the between innings period is considered a “hard break” for TV commercials. That’s guaranteed money for all involved and there is no way that MLB would want to take away from that. TV stations, teams, and MLB rely on that income.
Padres, 10 man rotation. Each game 2 starters enter one will win! New combinations of pitchers every game. You go 3 he goes 3 done turn it over to the pen. Nobody is getting milestones in their contract!
Teams wont have a clue who theyll face 2nd time through the order! I smell WS strategy!
I smell prellar is smoking crack again
LaRussa tried this in 1993 with Oakland. He abandoned it pretty quickly. A team just can’t carry enough pitchers to make this work.
What they can do is have a LH reliever,like Hand or Buchter start the game and go 1-2 innings and “then” bring in the “starter” to go 5-6.
That’s no different than the starter going 5-6 and “then” bringing in the reliever except it’s unorthodox and will mess with the opponent.
When you have 7 starters and not even one of them is good enough for another teams rotation……you gotta try something.
They probably realized that once through the lineup is all Jered Weaver is going to last, so they figured, “Heck, let’s try it with all of ’em.”
What makes the game seem too long is they play for the TV crowd and not for the fans at the stadium. Limit the commercials to the half inning and the game would speed up. Don’t think Manfred will go for that though.
The player’s concerns are moot. The Commish is going to exercise the league’s collectively-bargained rights. The rules are always going to change, the game will still go on.
Nothing is sacred, the rules have always changed
Geez, here’s another thought……..get rid of instant replay and the DH.
That should cut some time off.
getting rid of instant replay is dumb. Altering how that functions is smart.
Whatever.
No and no
Everyone’s talking about the bs the commish is doing, but not about the fact the Padres want a pitcher per 9 hitters? They trying to corner the reliever market for the deadline?
If you like baseball, then pace of play is not an issue. If you don’t like baseball, 4 minute shorter games or whatever are not going to make you suddenly like baseball. I personally don’t like to watch soccer. You could change all kinds of rules to make game go quicker and I still wouldn’t like soccer. I think the whole pace of play debate is dumb.
Same here. I personally think they just kick a ball around. I don’t care if it’s faster, I’m still not watching.
Thank you!
They’re not catching any millennials with ads basically saying, “Now 4 minutes quicker so you can get back to your fear of missing out!”
And yes, soccer is excruciatingly boring. It’s always funny to me how soccer fans get so excited and freak out about a play, but when u look at the tv no ones anywhere near scoring and it’s like, what’s so exciting exactly? Oh! And then it ends in a tie and they’re happy…wtf?
It’s not about total time limit it’s about crispness and action, agree with similar disdain for soccer
If they wanted to speed up the game they could start with the pitching change. Relief pitcher warms up in the bullpen – then comes to the mound and throws more warmup pitches ( I think they are allowed 8 not sure). How about when the guy comes in from the bullpen he gets no additional throws – has to face the batter right away. I think this would give a slight advantage to batter so will make most managers hesitate before pulling plug on starter and will save a few minutes per pitching change. If you save 2 minutes per change and each team changes piitchers 3x a game you just lopped off 12 min – not a bad start
Bullpen mounds are significantly different than the mound on the field.
then make them the same – not a big obstacle
Um, yeah, because bullpen configurations would have to be widened, and a lot of stadiums – most – don’t have room to do that. Bullpens accommodate two pitchers throwing at once.
“absolute wrath”? seriously?
agree that some of the speed up the game ideas are stupid, but what a ridiculous response from a player.
this player may not realize that the fans who pay his salary may not get any particular enjoyment watching him take 20 seconds adjusting his helmet and batting gloves between every pitch.
The fallacy is that those 4-5 minutes are costing the game FANS. Simple solution for this that the players won’t complain about. LOWER THE TICKET PRICES. That will bring in more fans than any shortening of play will.
Baseball already has the lowest ticket prices of the 4 major sports. By far.
Does anyone seriously think if average game times went from say three hours to 2:45, which would be rather significant, that it will suddenly draw new fans to the game? I don’t see it. I live near St. Louis and we are a small market but every home game is sellout or near sellout. Cards just got huge tv contract cause games on tv get good ratings. Cards are making huge profits. Seems like everything’s fine with fans to me.
I bet that at the end of dinner that ARod asks those guys to split the check 🙂
“Much-ballyhooed”? That’s a new one.
How about the take a lead from basketball and market the biggest superstars. The issue here is a lot of so called rules are time gimmicks. Don’t change the integrity of the game. Sure you want to change number of mound visits go ahead. You want to change number of pitching changes or min number of batters face that’s ok with me does away with a little of the specialization. Just don’t change the integrity of the game to get cheap offense.
Every home stadium should be fitted with a replay booth. Put an extra ump and automatically review scoring plays. Stop reviewing ticky tack plays that are against the spirit of the game, did he come off a base he had stolen for a micro second. Limit the time by having already reviewed the play.
There are many ways to speed up the game but that’s not the issue. The issue is action. And some of that responsibility needs to be place on owners and the pay scale. For a while until this offseason we saw a lot of guys get paid more for just dropping head without concern for King. There’s nothing less exciting than seeing terrible defensive guys who can’t make adjustments K’ing 200 times. Heck give me the walks because watching pitchers and hitters battle is actually fun. You want to increase the action that’s on organizations to make it less appealing to K. You want to come out of your shoes the first two strikes be me guest, but if you can’t make an adjustment then you’re pro playing career should be short unless you have another carry skill, like gg defensive skill or wreaking havic on the bases.
I’ve never been at a game and thought it was too long. On TV, that’s another issue. Same game, but you are more aware of the down time. To me there is a simple solution. Return the strike zone to “the letters to the knees.” This adds 1 1/2 square feet to the strike zone. As an ex umpire, this is easy to see. Every uniform has a team name. The modern zone where the high end of the zone is defined as “the midpoint between the shoulders and the waist” becomes “the belt” because that’s what the ump can see. Each pitch takes an average of 30 seconds. Pitchers will throw more strikes. Batters will be less likely to wait for a walk and swing at more pitches. Every 10 pitches you save is 5 minutes!
Good proposal. Pace of play would increase, action would be highlighted, casual fans would not have to be “educated” about the strategy of the game… I don’t see a downside to it other than less walks (which is the most boring part of the game). Pace of play would be faster than NFL.
For a 4 minute increase in game times to matter, pace-of-play would have to have been an issue in the first place. It isn’t. Never was. The problem here is that we’ve allowed a commissioner to take over that values marketing over the tradition of the game. This is about creating a “more exciting” media package, and marketing to the “casual fan,” rather than worrying about the traditional fan. Most people who love baseball do so because of it’s tradition and history, not because of the slam dunk, prime time, superstar-driven joke that the NBA has become. If he thinks the wrath of the players is going to be a problem, wait until he sees the wrath of the fans. This kind of change will not attract that audience, and will alienate the existing fans forever. Any change that affects gameplay is bad, in and of itself, because it is a change that affects gameplay. Pure and simple. A change is bad because there is change, no matter what the change is. Not willing to give it a chance. Mannfred needs to resign immediately for attempting to change something that affect gameplay.
You let roid freaks coach. Cheated teams out of millions. Let Pete in A holes
Length of game is only an issue for me when we’re at the ballpark and it gets to be 10PM and it’s still only the 7th inning. We live an hour and a half away and really like to be home before midnight, especially on a weekday. Folks who work the next day and/or are bringing their kids to games have little choice but to leave early, especially if the game is running long. But contrary to what many are saying here, these marathon games become long not so much because of pitching changes, but because they are slugfests. Low-scoring games are over a lot faster, even with a lot of pitching changes.
60 second timer from the instant the manager signals a review. If the reviewing crew can’t make a determination in 60 seconds it was too close to call and the on-field call stands.
25 second pitch clock. If you go over three times in a row you get a warning and after that it’s an automatic ball.
A mound visit in the 9th or after requires a pitching change.
One visit to the mound per batter for the catcher. If he visits again, it’s a ball.
At its core, this is about customer service. If restaurant has great food, and slow waiters, I’ll go somewhere else. This isn’t as much about length of game, it’s about pace. Batters and pitchers need to actually look like their motivated to play. Give us some hustle. That’s the way baseball used to be played.
Exactly. As a pitcher I remember hearing all the time, “Work fast. Throw strikes.” They still throw strikes but fast is becoming rarer and rarer.
I think if you look above, you’ll see what customers want. I don’t need pace. I go to the to relax and watch the game take place at its pace. If it could be made faster without hurting the game I still wouldn’t want it faster.
I do like hustle. During game play. That’s it. In between plays is unnecessary
Not only do the players not want it, a lot of the fans don’t want it.
If you don’t like the owners and the commissioner’s office making unilateral changes, then don’t expressly give them that right in the CBA. You can’t complain about it if you’ve agreed to it.
The fans don’t want it. They don’t have a say in the CBA
Neither the league or the union give two flying flips about anything except our money so don’t expect that to change.
Padres over under 64 think under