They can and do rotate positions. I'd rather pitchers hit just like everyone else. I'd also rather every hitter play the field just like everyone else.
Except "everyone else" does all the same stuff - pitchers are specifically different. We ask them do something extra - a lot extra, in fact, making them far and away the most important and active player on the team on a given night. So much so that they only can play every 5 days or their arms will fall off. So why not have them do less in some other part of the game that isn't relevant to what we ask that them to focus all their effort to specializing in?
i've always wondered about why certain positions can hit better than others. i know i'm forgetting someone but in my lifetime of watching beisbol only ryan sandberg and kent could slug it from the 2B position.
Just as legit as why don't hitters have to pitch. Listen the pitching position is already at a huge advantage nowadays with the pitching of 6 innings, two middle relief in the 7th and 8th, then the closer in the 9th. You have plenty of chances to pinch hit for him at those times. Using the example of Yankees and Red Sox does not help the case either, that was a hundred years ago, the game has changed. Did they DH for Ruth when he pitched?
Seriously? Middle Infielders have to field a ton of balls, having somebody who is unable to get to and field at a very high clip can easily cost you 50-60 hits a year, it becomes very difficult to offset that in the batters box. Hands and range rule out a ton of players from the position.
The up-the-middle positions - catcher, 2B, SS, CF - are defense-first and the most difficult (along with 3B) to play. If you can't adequately field, and your name isn't Derek Jeter, you will be moved somewhere else if you can hit. It's very rare to find guys that can combine the quickness, range, hands at 2b/SS and are also big enough guys to "slug it".
But the answer is that the rules are arbitrary and whatever people thought was best for the game. Hitters don't have to pitch "just because". Baseball could easily have been designed where all the players rotate positions every inning, so everyone pitches 1 inning, catches 1 inning, etc to ensure that all players were treated equally and had to be good at everything. But it just wasn't designed that way - it was designed so that everyone specialized in different things, and especially pitchers were treated differently. So there's nothing "sacred" about about a pitcher hitting - if they treat pitchers more differently or less differently than any other player, it's not really a big change.
The increase in west coast games isn't fun. Kids and people with jobs typically can't stay up for the whole game.
Simple answer is supply and demand. Jeff Kent and Lance Berkman can play 1B, but only Jeff Kent can play 2B. So you basically have a smaller talent pool that are skilled enough to play those positions.
Still ****ing hate it, would still stab Bud Selig in the throat if given the chance for what he did to this club.
Still hate it. Enjoying this team, but the AL move and the way it was handled still tarnishes my experience. I'll never get over the "it's not like Houston has a history in the NL to contend with" statements that were made.
Because I ask them to hit. I want them to hit. I think pitchers should be better hitters. I think there is value in that, just like you have to weigh the value of offense vs. defense for the other 8 positions. You could ask the other 8 guys to focus entirely on defense and have 9 designated hitters, if we didn't want them to do anything else.
Fair enough - my only point is that it's arbitrary what each player is required to do. I don't agree with the "it's fake baseball" type arguments. Pitchers are already treated differently than other players, so I don't see an issue with treating them more differently.
The "no rivalries" argument is a test in patience. Of course we don't have any rivalries over here yet, we haven't played a significant game past the first week in the season since we moved. That will change though if we keep playing like this. If you were writing a movie script starring the Astros, the Angels would be EXACTLY the villain you would create. I would love to be able to hate them in September when we play them 6 times. The Rangers have potential to offer us a rivalry Houstonians have never known in baseball: one where the other team hates us as much as we hate them. If there is ever a year where the division comes down to us two, and it will happen eventually, the emotions will be unprecedented. And I can't wait. I would have preferred to stay in the NL, but other than a handful more late nights, my life as a baseball fan hasn't really been affected.
Agreed. When the move was initially announced, I thought far too many people were sleeping on (or were too blinded by rage) the potential Astros/Rangers rivalry. It didn't help that Selig tried to sell it, and no Astro fan was buying *anything* he was selling. But when things settle down, it has the potential to be a *bitter* rivalry, IMO. Neither franchise is terribly decorated - in fact, both are slightly underwhelming and seeking sustained legitimacy, which creates an urgency to race to the top; Nolan Ryan is a focal point for both franchises; I think the Rangers falling as the Atros ascend is going to make Ranger fans *very* bitter; and, of course, Houston/Dallas will always hate each other. And then there's the underrated aspect of easier travel - unlike basketball, in which a one-night only trip up/down 45 is a little more taxing and harder to pull off, playing 3-, 4-game series allows for far greater enemy infiltration. If these teams play meaningful games in September, you can spend a weekend in Houston/Dallas and get your money's worth and I think that, more than anything else, is what's going to really fuel this.
OP, you left out the "hell no" option, so I just chose the "no" option. (And by the way, what in the hell do you have against apostrophes?) I hate the DH, I hate the AL, and I hate Bud Selig for making the Astros move. I still miss seeing the Dodgers and Giants 18 or more times a year, and yes, I've been missing that since 1994. Back then I was like, "bummer, man." But this whole AL bull****--this is insulting.
What, all three of them? RangersFanForLifeSince2010 has already moved on to greener pastures. The Rangers sink to irrelevance again. That town is all Cowboys all the time. The Mavs won the flippin' NBA title and the radio waves were still full of Cowboys talk. They still haven't noticed that they have an NHL franchise.
Baseball was indeed designed for players to be able to specialize: on defense. And, every player who plays defense participates in the offense. Unless, of course, you play in the American League, who I'm guessing will be adding the "Rover" position in a few years.
