The future of baseball

[notin]

It’s plain crazy. An average top ten Ivy League graduate bearly make in his life 3-4 M.

That’s a season salary for a lot of bad mlb players.

How many Ivy Keague graduates are among the best 750 people in the world in their field?

[notin]

Three steps MLB can take for better pace of play

1) Enforce existing rules for how long a pitcher can hold a ball in between pitches.
YES!

2) No more expanded rosters in September.
OK, but expand the roster to 26.

3) Keep the shift!!
Yes, more outs!

Also,DH for all.

25 players after September 1. If MLB adopts some sort of “only dress 25 players”, I’m ok with that.

But when Bruce Bochy, for example, adds 6 relievers to his bullpen and makes 3 to 4 pitching changes per inning for multiple innings, he does go a long way to making the game difficult to watch.

Also the shift speeds up games since it mitigates the need for a LOOGY. What takes less time?

1. Manager to walk out to mound and take ball from pitcher
2. Lefty reliever to come in from bullpen
3. Warm up pitches.
4. Full at bat from lefty hitter
5. Manager to remove LOOGY by repeating steps 1 through 3.

Or

1. 3 infielders to simultaneously walk about 40 feet each
2. And then after the at bat, walk back.

I’ll take the latter option...

[moonslav59]

25 players after September 1. If MLB adopts some sort of “only dress 25 players”, I’m ok with that.

But when Bruce Bochy, for example, adds 6 relievers to his bullpen and makes 3 to 4 pitching changes per inning for multiple innings, he does go a long way to making the game difficult to watch.

Also the shift speeds up games since it mitigates the need for a LOOGY. What takes less time?

1. Manager to walk out to mound and take ball from pitcher
2. Lefty reliever to come in from bullpen
3. Warm up pitches.
4. Full at bat from lefty hitter
5. Manager to remove LOOGY by repeating steps 1 through 3.

Or

1. 3 infielders to simultaneously walk about 40 feet each
2. And then after the at bat, walk back.

I’ll take the latter option...

Agreed.

[Northern Star]

I must admit I'm coming round to my earlier thought of making the games 7 innings.

[/heresy]

[Kimmi]

We had that moment this year when Mookie Betts pulled out and flashed his 'cheat card' after making a catch. A lot of folks found this funny/entertaining.

Personally it made me a little queasy. No reflection on Mookie, of course. Just the fact that fielders now need these cards to know where to position themselves on every play.

In case you missed it, Bradford mentioned this moment in an article on WEEI today, titled How Analytics Helped the Red Sox Win Their World Series.

Of all the regular season moments that helped pave the way for the Red Sox' World Series title, what happened in the sixth inning back on June 21 in Minneapolis has to be pushed to the top of the list.

With the Sox holding a 2-0 lead over the Twins, Rick Porcello delivered his 0-2 offering to Joe Mauer. The lefty hitter jumped on the pitch, sending into the right-center field gap, almost exactly where Mookie Betts was standing. In fact, the right fielder had to take exactly three steps back before casually hauling in the liner. After throwing the ball back in and signaling the first out, Betts couldn't help himself.

The right fielder who had been adamant that he and his Red Sox' outfield-mates didn't need those cards and analytics being thrown the infielders way since spring training -- going so far as telling WEEI.com back in April, "It doesn't seem like baseball sometimes with all of the extreme shifts," -- couldn't help himself. He took the card out of his back pocket and waved it toward the Red Sox' dugout with a huge grin.


I am just glad that someone else enjoyed that moment as much as I did.

[Bellhorn04]

Rosenthal is issuing some rumbling sounds about the possibility of a work stoppage. Says the players have made a move toward creating a reserve fund.

[Northern Star]

Rosenthal is issuing some rumbling sounds about the possibility of a work stoppage. Says the players have made a move toward creating a reserve fund.

Too much to hope the owners wait them out and then smash the union into pieces. No more guaranteed contracts, no more DH. Draft signing bonuses in 5 figures max, not 7 or 8.

[Bellhorn04]

Too much to hope the owners wait them out and then smash the union into pieces. No more guaranteed contracts, no more DH. Draft signing bonuses in 5 figures max, not 7 or 8.

Thou art a tyrant!

[Bellhorn04]

Why would the owners want to kill such a golden goose?

[mvp 78]

Rosenthal is issuing some rumbling sounds about the possibility of a work stoppage. Says the players have made a move toward creating a reserve fund.

I hope the Union sits out as long as they need to.

[dgalehouse]

After signing with the Mets , Justin Wilson was lamenting that many owners were more interested in pocketing the money than in spending to put a winning team on the field. If that is the general feeling of the players , the labor negotiations could get rough.

[jacksonianmarch]

The players have already set aside a reserve fund. When an entire industry shifts their spending habits at the same time, they are either not making money or colluding. It isn't door #1...

[moonslav59]

The players have already set aside a reserve fund. When an entire industry shifts their spending habits at the same time, they are either not making money or colluding. It isn't door #1...

I agree, but then,,,,

There is still spending going on. The Sox will spend the same. The Yanks and Dodgers added salary.

Maybe the owners sense the economy is about to collapse. There is a lot of similarities to the late 1920's and many economists are forecasting a recession.

[jacksonianmarch]

I agree, but then,,,,

There is still spending going on. The Sox will spend the same. The Yanks and Dodgers added salary.

Maybe the owners sense the economy is about to collapse. There is a lot of similarities to the late 1920's and many economists are forecasting a recession.

This is not recession based spending. This is colluding with the stat geeks to devalue players. I am a stat geek to some degree, so I get it, but the players have a right to be upset, albeit they can cry in their $10 mil mansions

[moonslav59]

This is not recession based spending. This is colluding with the stat geeks to devalue players. I am a stat geek to some degree, so I get it, but the players have a right to be upset, albeit they can cry in their $10 mil mansions

Haven't we all been saying for years that GMs are dumb for paying big-named FAs basically for their past performance and not future projected output?

So, maybe stat geeks have shown them the truth and they finally realized the initial bump you get for these mega signings almost always sours over time, often over a short time.

I still think Machado and Harper will get mega deals- maybe not $300M and probably not 9-10 years, but they will do fine.

How are you so sure the strong possibility of a recession is not playing a part in teams tightening their budgets?