Six More Sent Packing | Pace of Play Rules
Late Tuesday night, the Nats sent six players to minor-league camp:
| OPTIONED | REASSIGNED |
| OF Rafael Bautista | LHP Bryan Harper |
| 1B-LF Jose Marmolejos | RHP Jaron Long |
| RHP Wander Suero | C Jhonatan Solano |
Ordinarily, that might have been enough to pull the plug—it’s usually somewhere between Julius Caesar saying “Ow, my back!” and the monks at St. Capistrano saying “Great, now we have to clean up after all these birds”—but with still a little drama regarding Victor Robles and Erick Fedde, I’m going to keep the lights on for a few more days.
##As the headline notes, yesterday the minors announced it will implementing speed-up rules including a limit on the number of mound visits, a 15-second pitch clock, and placing a runner on second base to start each extra inning. The latter is probably the most controversial, prompting some pearl-clutching that it’ll be “99% probable that an inning will start with a bunt followed by an intentional walk.”
I tend to doubt it except when the batter in question is an accomplished bunter, which we know is not as common as it is in the majors. And why stop at just one intentional walk? Might as well load the bases if you’re the visiting team and playing for two. In fact, you may actually see some savvy managers making sure the opposing team’s fastest runner won’t be the guy on second if there’s another extra inning – especially if it can set up making a catcher the last out.
The “runner on second” rule has already been instituted in the DSL, GCL, and AZL last season. The sky remains blue and above us, so I don’t see the harm in expanding it to the rest of the minors as a trial run. The so-called purists, a.k.a. the opponents of the DH rule that was first proposed in the 1890s, can stain their doilies with the ink splattered from their fingers trembling to keep their quills steady as they write their letters to the editor (OK, fine: as they text from their flip-phones).
I don’t see this as being all that different than the college football overtime rules or the three-point line in basketball. We’re not talking about reducing the number of balls and strikes for walks and whiffs or games could end in a tie. The minors already are different than the majors in terms of pinch-hitting, how relievers are used, players learning a position “on the job,” etc.
What’s a flip phone?
Interesting take on Gott and his chances:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2018/03/15/trevor-gott-and-the-complicated-periphery-of-the-nationals-bullpen/
Luke, I dislike the DH because it removes some strategy from the game. As used in the AL today, it’s just a rest day for guys who need a day off from playing in the field. When it was implemented it was meant to be a way for veteran guys who could still hit but not play in the field to extend their careers, i.e., Tony Oliva. So, as a purist, I also disdain the runner on 2B plan. It’s a hamfisted way of trying to eliminate long extra inning games. Are there so many that it’s become a problem? Yes, the fans dwindle once the game is in double figure innings, but this is a test of the resiliency of the benches and bullpens, and the stamina of the regulars. If the idea is that long extra inning games are harmful to the players, then cap them at 12 innings and live with ties. Or, consider the 10th inning to be a new game and allow all previously-used guys to be used again.
No, it was meant to prevent the automatic out that pitchers are and have been for more than a century. That’s just how it was used initially. In the minors, you’ll sometimes see it used to keep a given bat in the lineup while they rotate fielders between positions. (Unfortunately, last year Austin Davidson was the beneficiary of this tactic, not Taylor Gushue).
As for strategy, I’m still waiting for a purist to acknowledge first the reality that it’s harder in the A.L. to handle pitchers. In the N.L. the (wrong) decision to lift a pitcher can be defended by his turn in the lineup —- or dictated by the opposition’s lineup. No such excuse in the A.L. 90% of double switches are so obvious even FP can see them coming, so I’m not sold on the strategy. I respect the opinion, but don’t agree it’s as meaningful.
I am encouraged by the idea that some people can live with ties. I’d rather see those than position players pitching or pitchers playing the field, not to mention older minor-leaguers being abused (i.e. pitching them on short rest or too long simply to eat innings).
Luke safe to say that some of the call overs from B fields are having good springs ? Lou Collier back from the dead !
If the game remains tied after 12, treat it as a suspended game, to be completed the next time the teams play–but not a day game after a night game. If they don’t play again, the game would be completed only if the outcome affected the playoffs–just as rainouts are treated.
If gametime is genuinely the biggest threat to baseball, and Manfred doesn’t care about discarding baseball tradition anyway, why not just make games 8 innings instead? If that doesn’t work, make it 7. Keep cutting until we reach the appropriate length.
The Boswell article today makes one consider if Lerner would love to have a long ride like the Braves had for 13 years . Re upping Bryce in a market saner than first thought last fall could help .