That may very well be. But it doesn't explain some of the dis-proportional optimism. I want to win. I want to be optimistic. But I cant be sincere about either until our SP staff is upgraded.
Didn't see it posted anywhere, but SI.com posted an article about how Manfred and the MLB is considering starting extra innings with a runner on 2nd. Absolutely atrocious if true. Hope they don't do that. Way too extreme, not to mention it ruins the game and oversteps the length issue
They are throwing everything they can at the wall and just seeing what sticks. This would be awful. They are talking about this and other potential rule changes on MLB Network every day.
No coaches or players visits to mound unless removing the pitcher. That would shave a half hour off games immediately. Figure out your game plans before the game and in the dugout and be self sufficient enough to get things done without a coach or catcher babying you along.
TV. MLB faces 2 tough things. They want more action and shorter games. Fast games are often among the more boring, so I'm not sure that is for the best. Getting pitchers and hitters to be ready quickly is the most important thing, IMO. Also need to cut down on replay times and work to eliminate arguments.
Robot umpires would speed up game. Human umpires err on the side of more pitches per AB (e.g. more likely to call a ball in 0-2). Granted fewer 3-2 counts would affect tension greatly.
Preston Wilson was complaining about catcher framing. He said if umpires did their job it would be meaningless and it doesn't matter because electronic strike zone is coming. I look forward to that day.
Be just like going to Walmart and using the self checkout and bag it yourself. Can't even talk to the cashier anymore, what the hell kind of fun is that. Keep the umpires, let em argue and kick the the dirt.
Because three and a half hours is not the length that a baseball game was intended to be. We will look back on some of this stuff in 20 years like we do the goalposts at the front of the endzone. We are going to be asking why the hell did we let the catcher go out there and talk to the pitcher three times an inning when there are 17 freaking built in timeouts in every game. If we knew nothing about baseball and someone plopped down a rule book for us and explained the game they are proposing to play, 90% of people would think it's a horrible idea to stop play and let guys go talk to the pitcher 5 times an inning. Because it's the way we are used to it is never a good reason, in any business, to justify a practice.
You could easily shave time off the game in other ways. Enforce the time between pitches - that was a great idea. Enforce the batters staying IN the batter's box. Cut the time down on mound visits. Cut the time between innings - commercial breaks can be just as long, but go back immediately to the action when they end instead of then starting the batter walking to the box, etc.
Back on the pitching topic.. This is why I don't understand why we havent made a trade yet. Pitching is our one glaring issue, and the guy we are looking at is not only elite, but consistently elite. And while we are trading prospects under long term control, HE is under long term control. It's not like we are giving up our future for 1 year of Kershaw, its multiple years of an extremely consistent pitcher whom everyone HOPES our prospects can somehow become... just go with the known.
Pitching isn't a glaring issue. And nothing is known when predicting the future, because of injury and drop in performance. PECOTA sees pitching as our strength. Last year pretty much went as bad as it could go and we finished 4th in runs allowed (3rd if you go by runs per inning). Even our starting ERA which was middle of the pack was sandwiched between Texas & CWS. In 2015 everything pretty much went right and we finished 2nd in starting ERA and 1st overall. Could we use to improve our staff? Absolutely and Jeff Luhnow wants to. That doesn't mean doing that at any cost though.
Yep: Pitch clock No mound meetings Batter can't step out of the box Shorten time between innings Finite pitching changes (my suggestion would be 5) Review clock Intential walks without pitching I'm not for electronic strike zones, and the putting a runner on second idea is ridiculous. If they want to shorten extra innings, just do a coin toss to determine who beats 1st and make it sudden death.
I like ideas like this one I don't think the problem is the actual "length" of the game. I don't think most casual fans care if the game is 2:45 vs 3:15...it's about the "pace" that the game is played at, casual fans don't like all of the down time. those of us that are die hard baseball fans could care less, but for mlb to keep the casual fan, it's about keeping the game moving, regardless of how "long" the game ends up being
