There have been a few different themes of this strange MLB offseason. The one we’ll most likely remember in the years that come is how slow-moving it all was and how wrong we all were about what the free agent market would look like, for whatever reason.
MLB is implementing the dumb extra inning rule in the minors
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes a bad new rule in the minors, the Brewers inexplicably not yet signing Alex Cobb, and some fun Mariners commercials
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
This was also the winter of pace of play, though. Although this has been Rob Manfred’s pet project since becoming commissioner, things really started to take off this winter. There were whispers he and the league would unilaterally implement a pitch clock into the game without support from the Players Union, but that hasn’t come to fruition. Instead, the league mandated the number of mound visits every game in a rule that players pretty much universally hate. Hooray!
Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though. Subscribe to our daily MLB newsletter and let us do the heavy lifting for you each morning to find the things you need to see.
Now, the league has taken things a step forward, at least at the lower levels. On Wednesday we found out minor-league games will see extra innings start with a runner on second base. We’ll start off by being a little positive about this rule. For one thing, we’ve seen it in action in the World Baseball Classic, and the world didn’t end. So that’s neat. More importantly, wins and losses really don’t matter at the end of the day in minor-league games. While building a winning culture for young players is important to teams, these levels are about developing pitchers. Thus, avoiding long games with big pitch counts and unexpected appearances is not really a bad thing.
That being said, this is all really stupid. There’s really no good defense for this rule. Again, it’s not the end of the world if this just happens in minor-league games. It’s still not ideal, of course, but whatever.
Every sign is pointing towards this eventually coming to the majors, though. Manfred has said that won’t happen, but I find that hard to believe at this point given how quickly this rule is expanding to different levels of the game. Really, all this is going to do is ensure every extra inning starts with a sacrifice bunt. If MLB is really so concerned about these long games, just start instituting ties instead of going through with one of those half-measures Mike Ehrmantraut warned against.
- Starling Marte is one of the few exciting pieces left on the Pirates, and he went a long way to make a diving grab Wednesday.
- Why in the world have the Brewers not signed Alex Cobb?
- Stephen Piscotty is back in his hometown of Oakland, and Athletics Nation got to talk to him about what that’s like.
- The Twins aren’t exactly seen as a financial powerhouse, but they’ve used money to maximize some recent trades.
- Trevor Bauer is a strange pitcher, and he just might be revolutionizing the game.
- Every year, the Mariners release a handful of commercials with their players. Here’s a review of this year’s crop.
- It seems like the Cardinals could have done a bit more this winter, but what exactly could they have done?
- The Yankees were connected to starting pitching all winter but never pulled the trigger. No worries, though, as they’re set up to make a midseason deal.
- Buster Olney is pretty confident in where Bryce Harper is going to end up next offseason.
See More:
