MLB could change strike zone & more..

[gotbeer]

MLB could change strike zone, eliminate traditional intentional walks, report says

Some pretty big changes if implemented.

[RallyPanda]

Beat me to it!

[RallyPanda]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15633876/mlb-competition-committee-agrees-changes-strike-zone-intentional-walks

[kevinb]

This is so dumb. Baseball is so reactionary it's stupid. This doesn't speed up the game at all, and even if it does this doesn't get new fans and athletes playing baseball. Go to an automatic strike zone and get rid of umpires who have their own definition of what a strike is. Stop always being 5 steps behind and be a step ahead for once. And either have a designated hitter or no designated hitter it's baseball it's not f ing rocket science. Stop playing two different damn games. I mean because the Dodgers play in LA and not Anaheim your going to have completely different rules do you know how dumb that sounds. Curry isn't shooting 3s in one arena and in a different arena they are 2s just idiotic. 

[Pujols4MVP]

1 hour ago, Kevinb said:

This is so dumb. Baseball is so reactionary it's stupid. This doesn't speed up the game at all, and even if it does this doesn't get new fans and athletes playing baseball. Go to an automatic strike zone and get rid of umpires who have their own definition of what a strike is. Stop always being 5 steps behind and be a step ahead for once. And either have a designated hitter or no designated hitter it's baseball it's not f ing rocket science. Stop playing two different damn games. I mean because the Dodgers play in LA and not Anaheim your going to have completely different rules do you know how dumb that sounds. Curry isn't shooting 3s in one arena and in a different arena they are 2s just idiotic. 

I agree. The new Umpires need to be simply guys who read the computer to know whats a strike & what isn't.

Also a limit on how much "time" a pitcher or batter can call between pitches....some pitchers waste too much time & some hitters call time constantly.

[ScottT]

The intentional walk thing is dumb.  What other sport does anything like that?   I'm not into booing and I think fans that do it are rather silly, but it's fun to be silly sometimes.  

[ELEVEN]

Running hard to 1B would speed the game up.

[kevinb]

Another thing. Dumb managers if you step on the field to argue anything you're tossed nothing ever changes, I don't wanna see two 55 plus year old men argue unless it ends in some fist fights then by all means argue. Furthermore umpires should be there for nostalgia nothing else they shouldn't be allowed to call anything but absolute easy hey he caught the ball in his glove in the air plays anything remotely close should be done by someone in the booth. Easy done. Umpires are no longer needed. 

[arch stanton]

Eliminating intentional walks is dumb. That affects live play on the field for no real benefit. Those 4 wide ones aren't what makes the game longer. 

[hen3ry]

How would you even eliminate the intentional pass to save time anyway?  The "unintentional intentional walk" seems to take longer anyway, when that's tried.

If the goal is to defeat the strategy of avoiding a team's best hitter when there's a scrub hitting behind him, then pull out a tee, and let Trout hit off that until Pujols' contract expires, hey?

 

[arch stanton]

I don't get it

[bloodbrother]

Kevin Jepsen certainly approves of the new intentional walk rule proposal...

 

[TroutCron]

Go back to the old strike zone which was armpits to knees. Take away the check swing. If you start your swing it is a swing.  I don't agree with using the K zone, the home plate ump is a big part of the game.  The biggest problem to solve is the number of pitching changes. Of course, the Angels are the worst offender there. 

[ScottT]

Do you hate scoring?  If anything, MLB should be looking to increase offense a bit... increase the action, more importantly. 

[Dick B Back]

I agree on increased scoring making it more exciting. Just put PED dispensers in the clubhouses.

[CaliAngel]

I don't like the free pass without throwing the ball on Intentional Walks. Because pitchers can screw that up if they don't throw the ball correctly and that should be a possibility especially when you're opting to skip the guy.

As for the video on that same link, who the f*** gives a shit if there are minority managers or not? What the sh*t kind of hot air do these blowhards breath? "How BIG of a problem is this for baseball?" WTF? I can't believe crap like this even gets discussed. What a gigantic waste of human energy.

[Stradling]

Speaking of a gigantic waste of human energy

[WeatherWonk]

WHY do the games need to be shorter in length? Just because some MLB marketing guy says so? Pftttt!

I like the pace of a baseball game. It's one of the most attractive things about it.

You watch a pitch, you converse with your neighbor, you watch another pitch, you take a bite of a dog and a chug of beer, you watch another pitch, you check out the hottie three rows over (while you distract your wife!), an Angel gets a hit, you stand and cheer. What's the problem with the pacing of all this?

[Ray McKigney]

MLB wants to make the game more exciting and increase viewership? Meet one of the new bat boys, Halo fans.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Ray McKigney

[Pujols4MVP]

1 hour ago, WeatherWonk said:

WHY do the games need to be shorter in length? Just because some MLB marketing guy says so? Pftttt!

I like the pace of a baseball game. It's one of the most attractive things about it.

You watch a pitch, you converse with your neighbor, you watch another pitch, you take a bite of a dog and a chug of beer, you watch another pitch, you check out the hottie three rows over (while you distract your wife!), an Angel gets a hit, you stand and cheer. What's the problem with the pacing of all this?

Because the game is losing the interest of Elite talented kids from playing the game & thats why we hardly see any new superstars anymore. Meanwhile American talent in Ice Hockey is at an all time high with an American player being the #1 prospect in the upcoming draft & in the NHL american Patrick Kane led the league in points & the best goalie this year was american Ben Bishop.

With the amount of people diagnosed with ADD/ADHD its not surprising either.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Scioscia4MVP

[WeatherWonk]

You trying to tell me that hockey is taking kids away from baseball? BS.

We dont see as many superstars because pitching is so good now.

Wait till this whole controversy over concussions in football really takes hold. Kids will be fleeing from that sport when they see more drooling ex-FB players at 40. What a future.

Baseball's problem is that it is rather equipment intensive and takes up lots of space to play. And it requires a lot of people to play. Too difficult to organize a pick-up game in the inner city or even the suburbs. You can form a pick-up game for basketball at any park or driveway, a pickup game for FB in the street.

Let the other sports be for people with short attention spans, created by their dependency on their smart phone. Baseball is fine the way it is. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

15 hours ago, Scioscia4MVP said:

Because the game is losing the interest of Elite talented kids from playing the game & thats why we hardly see any new superstars anymore. Meanwhile American talent in Ice Hockey is at an all time high with an American player being the #1 prospect in the upcoming draft & in the NHL american Patrick Kane led the league in points & the best goalie this year was american Ben Bishop.

With the amount of people diagnosed with ADD/ADHD its not surprising either.

Is this a joke? No one gives a shit about hockey, and in case you haven't noticed, this is the best group of young players to come into the league at about the same time since the 1950's.

[AngelsLakersFan]

11 hours ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

Any word yet on if the NL is going to have DH next season? I heard Manfred say a while ago that 2017 was a good possibility.

They should get rid of the DH. If they want to cut back on pitchers batting, increase offense, and not drift too far away from tradition then there are other ways than simply putting the DH in the NL.

[gotbeer]

I don't know about all of you.  But I can guarantee a way to shorten games.  It won't even affect the baseball game much.  It works in hockey.

Have changes between innings no more than 1 minute.  You could probably cut out what, 4 minutes between switches x 2 x 9, so about 72 minutes a game.  Ok, maybe the change of offense/defense isn't 5 minutes, but it sure seems like it.  Even if it's 3 minutes, that's 2 x 2 x 9 so already 36 minutes cut out of the game. 

Oh wait, money talks.  And fans get bored and watch something else.  MLB should really take a cue from Vin Scully.  This inning is brought to you by Farmer John.  Those plugs probably did more for Farmer John than all their commercials.

[WeatherWonk]

Come on, you shorten the time between innings to one minute, there would be more TV and radio commercials DURING the inning than there already is. That's a worse alternative, IMO. And there would be no time to get to the concession stands without missing whole innings.

 

What the hell is baseball trying to do..........save on money they pay the hourly employees who work the games? Who cares if a game is 3 or 4 hours? Leave when you want, if you think the game's too long.