New baseball commissioner Rob Manfred open to defensive-shift ban

[scho63]

OH BROTHER!

Another asshole commissioner on his way to screwing up an entire sport! WTF is wrong with the morons? They are becoming worse than politicians.



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http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...172529801.html

New baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has been in office a little more than 12 hours and he's already making some interesting waves. In an interview that aired on ESPN on Sunday morning, Manfred made it clear that examining the pace of the game is first on his list of priorities, but not far behind will be finding ways to "inject additional offense into the game."

Without being prompted for an example, Manfred specifically mentioned he'd be open to pursuing the elimination of defensive shifts, which he says give the defensive team a competitive advantage.

Defensive shifting is something we've seen implemented more and more in recent years as teams begin to shift — pun most certainly intended — to more sabermetric based research. It's more regularly reserved for strict pull hitters, which in most cases could be identified without a ton of research, but we're also seeing more creative — and even extreme — uses of defensive positioning that go beyond such tendencies. In some ways, it has become as important as pitch selection, which is sometimes influenced by positioning.

Now, this is a shift. pic.twitter.com/55I1lXERop
— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) August 30, 2014

How Manfred would go about proposing the change and what his suggested guidelines would be are unclear. He'd almost have to create a specific zone that each defender has to stay within when each pitch is delivered. If that's the case, does that mean we'd see more lines drawn on the field, or is it up to umpire discretion? Can a defender creep in anticipating a bunt, or is that unfair? We'd be opening up a whole new can of worms here.

Those questions aside, Yahoo's Jeff Passan has learned that key figures within the game, including general managers who believe in sabermetrics, are actually open to such changes.

This is very telling: I ran Rob Manfred's idea to limit defensive shifts by two sabermetrically inclined GMs -- and both said they agree.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 25, 2015
Both essentially said same thing: The game is better when the casual fans gets the product they want. Big concern baseball isn't delivering.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 25, 2015
To paraphrase: Who do casual fans want to see compete, Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout or Andrew Friedman and Jerry Dipoto?
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 25, 2015

So perhaps the potential change has traction, but we're not entirely sure it's a change fans would get behind. Would more offense be great? Of course it would. Most would agree to that. But fans also enjoy the strategy that goes into the game, and eliminating something like the shift takes away one layer of discussion and second-guessing that we all like to engage in.

Which side of the argument are you on? Do you think the shift belongs in baseball, or would you like to see it banned?

[KC native]

Terrible idea.

If you don't want teams to pull the shift on you, learn to hit the ball the other way.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by KC native

Terrible idea.

If you don't want teams to pull the shift on you, learn to hit the ball the other way.

This is really all that needs to be said.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

It gives the defensive team a competitive advantage?!? What kind of dumb ass statement is that? So I guess the offensive team doesn't have an advantage with that giant gaping hole on the other side of the infield??

What a dumbass.


Baseball is gonna be ruined by idiots.

[Saul Good]

Are the umpires going to have penalty flags that they throw?

Maybe he can speed up the game by letting pitchers run the hurry-up and pitch the ball as soon as they get it back from the catcher regardless of whether or not the batter is in the box (actually a much better idea than banning the shift).

[KCUnited]

"..Manfred made it clear that examining the pace of the game is first on his list of priorities, but not far behind will be finding ways to "inject additional offense into the game."

Nothing like 40 minute innings of guys circling the bases and pitching changes to speed up the game.

[DMAC]

Please don't **** with baseball!! It has been soooo good lately. It's the only sport I can handle anymore.

[morphius]

It would have to be something basic like, only 2 infielders on either side of second base.

But my thought on it is the same as KC Native, learn to hit the ball the opposite way to break it.

[scho63]

What really slows down the game is all the marketing and gimmicks they do between innings!

-Give each team 2 minutes to take the field after the last out and throw the first pitch.
-Pitcher has 10-15 seconds to throw his next pitch unless he goes to first base or else it's an automatic BALL

Those are a couple I can think of without screwing up the game too much

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by morphius

It would have to be something basic like, only 2 infielders on either side of second base.

But my thought on it is the same as KC Native, learn to hit the ball the opposite way to break it.

Literally zero reason for something like that. Wherever the defenders are placed, there are holes. Why define where these holes have to exist?

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by scho63

What really slows down the game is all the marketing and gimmicks they do between innings!

-Give each team 2 minutes to take the field after the last out and throw the first pitch.
-Pitcher has 10-15 seconds to throw his next pitch unless he goes to first base or else it's an automatic BALL

Those are a couple I can think of without screwing up the game too much

between innings goes by the number of warmup pitches for the pitcher, typically.

the 10-15 sec rule would cut down on the bluffs to 1st and the constant stepping off the rubber.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Literally zero reason for something like that. Wherever the defenders are placed, there are holes. Why define where these holes have to exist?

****ers get paid 10's if not 100's of millions of $'s to hit the ball and cry because they might have to go oppo instead of pulling.

[cosmo20002]

Next up: 4 strikes, 3 balls

[lewdog]

How about actually enforcing the time between pitchers, how ****ing long the pitchers take and shaking off numerous signs and stepping off the rubber and limiting a batter stepping out of the batter's box all the ****ing time (Cain, I'm looking at you adjusting your batting gloves between EVERY pitch even when you don't swing).

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Another moron commish just like football