Quote from fenn68 on March 10, 2019, 10:19 am

History of MLB game lengths:

1948 ... 2:13

1958 ... 2:31

1968 ... 2:33

1978 ... 2:30

1988 ... 2:49

1998 ... 2:52

2008 ... 2.55

2018 ... 3:04

So a steady progression upward ... adding in the last half century about a half hour of "dead time" and since 1948 51 minutes of "dead time" ...

then add the "action" has regressed from players putting the ball in play and baserunners / fielders actually running to the three natural outcomes of strikeout / walk / HR.

In an era of internet - video games - on demand TV/Movies where immediate gratification is demanded and most (including me) get frustrated if opening a website is not instantaneous ... baseball is going the wrong way to gain the young fans (and maybe even keep the old fans if they are not hard core fans).

Maybe not in the near term ... but baseball needs to worry about becoming as relevant as cricket or chess.

Quote from LynchMob on March 10, 2019, 10:47 am

Quote from Brian Connelly on March 10, 2019, 8:34 am

Yeah, MLB has a weird Catch-22 where they want to add offense but also shorten games.  I think the real issue is they simply need there to be more bat to ball contact than there is now.  It's just pretty boring for 90% of fans in stadium to go 10-15 minutes between seeing / hearing bat hit ball.

Not saying I like this idea at all ... but the train wreck that I can see coming is ... changing balls/strikes  from 4/3 to 3/2 ... it will add offense and shorten games ... but do that, and it's a whole new ball game ... ie. previous stats will not be comparable to new stats at all ...

Quote from LynchMob on March 10, 2019, 8:56 pm

Dodgers optioned C Rocky Gale to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Gale, 31, hit .222 (2-for-9) with three RBI in Cactus League play. Once again, he'll provide additional catching depth for the Dodgers at Triple-A.

Quote from Cptjack on March 15, 2019, 7:35 am

Proposed rule changes

2m TV timeout standardized - Fantastic

20s pitch clock - Fantastic

3AB min - Good

Mound Distance increase - Bad

Mound Lowering = Good

26m roster/ 12P = Good

28m expansion/ 13P = Great

Roboumps - Fantastic

Single Trade Deadline - Fantastic

NL DH - Forgone Conclusion

Draft Rules to negate tanks = Bad

Quote from fenn68 on March 15, 2019, 9:21 am

Sounds like we are basically in agreement on these proposals. Should note the roster mix is still under discussion and more likely 13 max pitchers on the 26 man and 14 max pitchers on the 28 man. That should work well with the moving the time for the injured list and minor league options out to 15 days from the current 10 days. MLB teams just abused the 10 day windows with a shuffle of players because they were tired ... not injured or not playing poorly to warrant being sent to the minors. Note the option to the minors cost ML players part of their ML pay (and service time) unjustifiably.

It should be "interesting" to see how teams deal with the single trade deadline on July 31. If a lot of teams think they are in contention will that reduce the supply of trade chips and potentially increase the return demanded for the few in play? Will that push the non-contenders to move pieces more aggressively if maybe those players are perceived not to have a big market? Also, could make August interesting ... no trades which sort of renders pointless "revokable waivers" ... its point being to ferret out trade potential in August. So if the teams are left with just release waivers ... player gets claimed --- player is gone or if not claimed a FA (unless still eligible for minor league assignment).

In the past, a player such as Wil Myers could be put on revokable waivers to see if a trade could be worked. Now the gamble is that if they put him on waivers and someone claims him he (and his contract) are gone BUT if no one claims he is a FA (Padres still pay the contract) and get no return except the waiver price. That risk should take a lot of more high profile names off the August waiver list.

Of course (if GMs really trust each other ... big risk), two teams could work out an "off the books" deal where a player is put on waivers and claimed then after the season the two teams make a "second deal" focusing on the agreed upon return. High risk to the team putting a good player on waivers ... someone else might claim him first plus the second deal may be so transparently one sided MLB steps in to quash the back door play.

 

Quote from BoosterSD on March 15, 2019, 4:37 pm

I like the one trade deadline. However, I personally think they picked the wrong date for the single trade deadline. I think it would have been better to split the difference and made it August 15th. That way GMs have an additional 15 days to really judge the caliber of the team and decide whether they want to be buyers and sellers. You would still have the newly traded buys on the team for approximately 25% of the season.

Quote from BoosterSD on March 15, 2019, 4:49 pm

I get that a couple of guys in ML are not good umps and they need to go; however, the vast majority of umpires are extremely well trained professionals and we do not need "Roboumps". The problem with umpires is the almost life long appointment of umpires. Older umpires like Joe West, and flat out bad umpires such as CB Buckner or Angel Hernadez need to be ushered out the door much sooner than they are now, which is rarely ever. Much like a player, they need to be evaluated each year and then they keep their jobs based on performance versus tenure. Baseball players are not perfect, and neither are umpires. This is a game played by fallible humans and should remained officiated by humans as well.

Quote from Cptjack on March 15, 2019, 5:00 pm

Quote from BoosterSD on March 15, 2019, 4:49 pm

This is a game played by fallible humans and should remained officiated by humans as well.

LOL. Fallible humans do their fallible jobs and in every other industry they are replaced by machines that can do their task better than them, but nah we gotta stop that at baseball. Can't allow the players to play the game under the conditions it is meant to be played under. We have to ingrain an element of human error to the benefit of one team over another, one player over another. It doesn't matter that you are removing player agency from the game and giving it to umpires. As long as there are more humans there are more human elements! Nevermind the fact that everything done by baseball players is done by humans, I need a double dose of humanity on every play.

Quote from MrPadre19 on March 19, 2019, 8:53 am

Trout getting paid!

So first Manny,then Arenado ,and then Harper all  only had the top deals in history for a minute each.