New rule changes for 2019 and 2020

[robert terwilliger]

dick mountain too.

 

[Hammettf2b]

if you're only good enough to pitch to one guy you don't belong in the major leagues

You're totally missing the point. It's not that these pitchers aren't good enough, they're in the major leagues ffs. The teams will now be limited on how to play the game for a reason that has nothing to do with baseball.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

You're totally missing the point. It's not that these pitchers aren't good enough, they're in the major leagues ffs. The teams will now be limited on how to play the game for a reason that has nothing to do with baseball.

Yep. I don't like rule changes that take management strategies out of the equation. If people are turned off by a 90 second pitching change then they can go watch something else.

 

[Elvis P]

With the rosters expanding there is no fatigue excuse for relievers, everyone will have 8 pen arms so 3 batters shouldn't be a problem. Mid inning pitching changes take over 3 minutes, annoy the hell out of me, and Im glad this rule will be in place. I am a huge baseball fan and I am in total support of all these rule changes. It would be nice to avoid an actual pitch clock though, but if it stops Pedro Baez from boring me I guess I'm for it. Love the decreased commercials for national tv games. MLB is going in the right direction.

Agreed. Hitters should not be able to step out between pitches either.

 

[Connorrhea]

I would like to see mound visits completely disappear, there is no need for them, you don't see hitting coaches giving the batters a pep talk or strategy talk if they are down in the count....one of the stupidest rules that needs to go along with pitchers hitting in the NL.....but we can't get rid of that rule because it represents the original way the game was played....yeah, so was not allowing coloured players into the league but they changed that rule.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

I would like to see mound visits completely disappear, there is no need for them, you don't see hitting coaches giving the batters a pep talk or strategy talk if they are down in the count....one of the stupidest rules that needs to go along with pitchers hitting in the NL.....but we can't get rid of that rule because it represents the original way the game was played....yeah, so was not allowing coloured players into the league but they changed that rule.

Actually they are often necessary, and 3rd base coaches have gone and talked to batters in the past during ab's.

 

[Connorrhea]

Actually they are often necessary, and 3rd base coaches have gone and talked to batters in the past during ab's.

You seriously believe that? Tell me that the next time you see a pitching coach talk to a pitcher and on the next pitch the hitter cranks it for a home run or a base hit. And 3rd base coaches rarely talk to hitters and if they do, its because of missed or mixed signs and usually that is with new players to teams or young players and it takes like 10 seconds....but if the batter is 0-2, you don't see the play completely stop and the hitting coach come out of the dugout and we wait 2 minutes while he tells the hitter "its ok, just keep doing what you're doing"...its a complete waste of time and completely unnecessary, pitchers and coaches should have done their work prior to the game and be prepared mentally and strategically...where do you see this in any other sport? They have timeouts in other sports for a reason, not coaches timeouts in the middle of the game where a specialist like a defensive coach or special teams runs onto the playing field to instruct the player who is struggling. Can you imagine a goaltending coach running onto the ice during a hockey game before an important face off in their zone and right off the face off the other team shoots the puck from the point and scores? Yeah....that coaches visit is really necessary. But then you are gonna say, what about all the times the pitchers strike out a guy on the next pitch or get themselves back in the count? Everything I just said completely cancels all of that out which makes the mound visit completely unnecessary and ridiculous.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

You seriously believe that? Tell me that the next time you see a pitching coach talk to a pitcher and on the next pitch the hitter cranks it for a home run or a base hit. And 3rd base coaches rarely talk to hitters and if they do, its because of missed or mixed signs and usually that is with new players to teams or young players and it takes like 10 seconds....but if the batter is 0-2, you don't see the play completely stop and the hitting coach come out of the dugout and we wait 2 minutes while he tells the hitter "its ok, just keep doing what you're doing"...its a complete waste of time and completely unnecessary, pitchers and coaches should have done their work prior to the game and be prepared mentally and strategically...where do you see this in any other sport? They have timeouts in other sports for a reason, not coaches timeouts in the middle of the game where a specialist like a defensive coach or special teams runs onto the playing field to instruct the player who is struggling. Can you imagine a goaltending coach running onto the ice during a hockey game before an important face off in their zone and right off the face off the other team shoots the puck from the point and scores? Yeah....that coaches visit is really necessary. But then you are gonna say, what about all the times the pitchers strike out a guy on the next pitch or get themselves back in the count? Everything I just said completely cancels all of that out which makes the mound visit completely unnecessary and ridiculous.

They have already limited the amount of times a catcher/coach can visit the mound, and they have a 30 second clock. That issue has already been addressed.

The coaches and catchers often are trying to calm a pitchers jitters more than anything. The game is extremely mental, and no single player has the game in their hand more than the pitcher. Doing completely away with this strategy wouldn't be a good thing.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

The innings where a team keeps changing pitchers is the worst. Warming up each arm on the mound and the commercial breaks...

Then cut down the amount of warmup pitches. They already are warming up in the bullpen for however long. Stop trying to change strategies of the game.

Also it's going to increase workloads a guy who might usually throw a couple pitches and be done might wind up throwing 20 or so pitches. It also affects the next days availability. Gonna see so many relievers being shuttled back and forth to the minors and with the rules for days between recall it's gonna mean more lower quality guys coming up just because their arm is fresh.

I understand they want to shorten game times, and the shorter time between innings is a great start but this rule change is horrible. I'm not a fan of the pitch clock either but I'd think that is the lesser of two evils if I had to pick one.

 

[NYRFAN218]

Inning Breaks: Good idea that no one could really be opposed to. Surprised MLB actually did this one since it'll reduce commercial time especially on the national broadcasts so props to them.

Trade Deadline: On board with making it one date but I think I'd like the deadline pushed back to say August 15th. July 31st seems pretty early to me when there's still 2 months or so left in the season.

All-Star Game: Seems like a cool concept that will get fans engaged. Whatever.

Home Run Derby: Guess it may get more guys willing to participate? Again, whatever.

Mound Visits: Fine with reducing it again. A lot of teams didn't even come close to using 6 per game last year and I feel they've already adapted to the limitations.

Abolishing 40 man roster expansion in September: I always thought expanding the rosters that much during the biggest games of the season was absurd so I'm fine with this. 28 seems like an okay number.

Roster size increasing to 26: Again, fine with it. It seems like an issue more prominent in the National League with teams losing a ton of pitchers and hitters early on due to pinch hitting and other various things. American League you won't see as many guys burned early on with the DH. Not a fan of capping how many pitchers you can carry though. It seems like an idea to cap the pitching changes but they're already limiting it with the 3 batter per pitcher rule.

Injured list: No strong thoughts on it. Okay, I guess.

3 batter rule: This is the only one I truly dislike. I don't like limiting what managers can do like this. My solution to try and speed up the end of games would be to drastically reduce warmup pitches for guys entering mid inning. Who knows if MLB goes for this as this means even less commercials but my suggestion would be for a pitcher entering mid inning to be capped at 2 to 3 pitches. He's already thrown a ton in the pen and these 2-3 would let him get a feel for the mound. It seems nonsensical to throw another 7 or whatever the number is after throwing 20 in the bullpen.

Nothing about the pitch clock as I assume that's gotten major push back but that's something I'm also in favor of. I'd also crack down on batters stepping out of the box again.

 

[NYRFAN218]

Then cut down the amount of warmup pitches. They already are warming up in the bullpen for however long. Stop trying to change strategies of the game.

Also it's going to increase workloads a guy who might usually throw a couple pitches and be done might wind up throwing 20 or so pitches. It also affects the next days availability. Gonna see so many relievers being shuttled back and forth to the minors and with the rules for days between recall it's gonna mean more lower quality guys coming up just because their arm is fresh.

I understand they want to shorten game times, and the shorter time between innings is a great start but this rule change is horrible. I'm not a fan of the pitch clock either but I'd think that is the lesser of two evils if I had to pick one.

I actually didn't even see your post about the warmup pitches before I made mine. I really think that's such a better solution than the 3 batter rule but the slicing of even more commercials will probably be a tough sell.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

It's the constant commercial breaks between pitching changes that's annoying. They could perhaps limit warm up pitches to 4 (assuming the pitcher is warmed and not in due to an injury) and don't cut to commercial. The fans watching on would stay interested and the game would only be delayed a minute or so.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

I actually didn't even see your post about the warmup pitches before I made mine. I really think that's such a better solution than the 3 batter rule but the slicing of even more commercials will probably be a tough sell.

They get a guaranteed ~4 minutes of commercials every inning. They shouldn't need more than that.

 

[NYRFAN218]

They get a guaranteed ~4 minutes of commercials every inning. They shouldn't need more than that.

I don't disagree. Even if they reduced it, they could still air a minute's worth of commercials during those 3 or so pitches and the actual entering from the bullpen. I just think it's a tough sell to wipe out a half minute to minute worth of commercials which is revenue they're already seeing when they're already wiping out anywhere between 5 to 25 seconds worth of commercials off every half inning.

 

[rangerssharks414]

FWIW

 

[BMOK33]

You seriously believe that? Tell me that the next time you see a pitching coach talk to a pitcher and on the next pitch the hitter cranks it for a home run or a base hit.

Funny you mention that because most savvy players know exactly what to expect in that scenario. They generally teach guys that following a mound visit if you’re a more seasoned player the pitcher has a strong tendency to try and groove the next pitch and they’re usually told to sit fastball all the way and look middle in. Rookies and younger players are usually told to expect the pitch they can least handle because they want you to think you’re going to get a meatball but you almost never will. It’s the same thing that on 3-2 with the bases loaded the veteran is going to get a fastball 90% of the time. Meanwhile they’ll throw one in the dirt to a high K rookie figuring it’s better than 50-50 he swings

 

[TootooTrain]

There should be a couple additional things added to that 3 batter min rule for pitchers. For example, if the pitcher brought in gives up single earned run, you can change.

Otherwise if they stick with the current format, youll get alot of pithers getting slaughtered and faking blisters.

 

[MMC]

So how does everyone feel about the 1 deadline after what transpired yesterday?