Radical realignment and the universal DH

I had to think about this one for a while:

As I’ve mentioned before, Selig’s now in caretaker mode, seemingly uninterested in further radical changes. Which makes me think he might actually retire after next season, as promised.

What I can’t figure out is how “full geographical realignment” is related to “universal DH”.

Oh, wait. I think maybe I’ve got it. Among the current impediments to the universal DH is simple: Most of the National League teams don’t want the universal DH. They don’t want it because they haven’t built their teams that way. They don’t want it because their fans are actively resistant to the idea. And they don’t want it because change is hard.

But radical realignment means a great number of teams changing leagues. And if you have a bunch of teams changing leagues, a bunch of teams are necessarily going to change their DH situations. If you kept the current system, with the leagues having different rules, then a double-bunch of teams would have to switch, which would play havoc. If you standardize the rules, you’ve got a choice between going all-DH or all-non-DH. And the latter’s just not happening, because too many veteran hitters would lose their jobs.

So it seems to me that Commissioner Bud is exactly right. For the next little while, anyway, there just won’t be the ownership support for standardizing the rules unless ownership doesn’t have a choice. And without radical realignment, there’s a choice.