• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

MLB 2014 Season |OT| This Year, We Put Some Mustard on It.

Status
Not open for further replies.
LWZSLHU.jpg
 
The independent Atlantic League is being used to test out some new "Pace of Play" directives that are meant to speed up baseball games. The Pace of Play committee is being headed by Tal Smith, former President of the Houston Astros. Also included on the committee are former MLB executives Pat Gillick, Roland Hemond, Joe Klein, Cecil Cooper, Bud Harrelson, and Sparky Lyle.

These rules will be used in the Atlantic League for the remainder of the 2014 season:

1. During warm weather, pitchers starting an inning or coming in to relieve a pitcher will now get six warmup pitches instead of eight.

2. Instead of throwing four intentional balls, the batter will automatically walk to first base when the manager or catcher indicates intent to walk to the plate umpire.

3. When any catcher reaches base, regardless of the number of outs, he will be replaced by a courtesy runner. The intention for this rule is to allow the catcher to get to the dugout and have all his equipment on when the inning ends so he's ready to go back on the field as soon as the half-inning is over. The courtesy runner can be anyone on the bench the manager designates and will not eliminate that player's eligibility from the game.

4. The manager, pitching coach, catcher, and/or infielder(s) are limited to three "timeouts" to visit the mound for a non-pitching change during a game. Each subsequent visit will require a pitching change. There will be one extra "timeout" added for extra innings (1 timeout per 3 extra innings). Timeouts shall not exceed more than 60 seconds, or else the present batter will be awarded an automatic ball in the count.

5. The umpires will be directed to strictly enforce Rule 6.02 (which limits a hitter's ability to step in and out of the batter's box) and Rule 8.04 (which requires that a pitcher deliver the ball within 12 seconds when there are no runners on base). If a batter violates Rule 6.02, an automatic strike will be added to the count. If a pitcher violates Rule 8.04, an automatic ball will be added to the count.

6. Umpires will be encouraged to call the strike zone as it's written in the rule book. As a practical matter, that would make the strike zone larger (higher). In theory, it will encourage hitters to be more aggressive.

"There are already rules on the books," said Gillick, who retired from day-to-day work in baseball after winning a World Series as the GM of the Phillies in 2008 (he is now a senior advisor for the Phillies). "I liken it to going to court, and you know who's in charge. You know what the pace of the trial is going to be by the way the judge sets out the rules. And I think the umpire has some control over the pace of the game and how fast it's going to be played."

More radical changes were discussed but were tabled for the time being. "I'm a purist," Gillick said. "I don't want to do anything that would affect the purity of the game."

Atlantic League president Joe Klein, a former GM of the Rangers, Twins, and Indians, also sat on the committee. He said the average time of a game so far this year has been two hours and 59 minutes.

"We would like to get under 2:45," Klein said. "In a perfect world, 2:40 or 2:35 range. We're also going to try educating our players on why we're doing these things. And if something turns out that it's not what it should be, it's real easy for us to go back to where we were and take a look at the next thing."

Might as well rename Rule 8.04 the "Fuck Josh Beckett Rule"
 
Trade Deadline 2014 recap:

  • The Athletics acquired Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes, and cash considerations from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Yoenis Cespedes and a 2015 compensation draft pick
  • The Tigers acquired David Price in a three-team trade with the Rays and Mariners. The Mariners acquired Austin Jackson. Rays acquired Drew Smyly, Nick Franklin, and Willy Adames.
  • The Cardinals acquired John Lackey, Corey Littrell, and cash considerations from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Allen Craig and Joe Kelly.
  • The Marlins acquired Jarred Cosart, Enrique Hernandez, and Austin Wates from the Astros. The Astros acquired Colin Moran, Jake Marisnick, Francis Martes, and a 2015 compensation draft pick.
  • The Yankees acquired Stephen Drew from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Kelly Johnson.
  • The Yankees acquired Martin Prado from the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks acquired Peter O'Brien.
  • The Orioles acquired Andrew Miller from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Eduardo Rodriguez.
  • The Nationals acquired Asdrubal Cabrera from the Indians. The Indians acquired Zach Walters.
  • The Mariners acquired Chris Denorfia from the Padres. The Padres acquired Abraham Almonte and Steven Kohlscheen.
  • The Braves acquired Emilio Bonafacio and James Russell from the Cubs. The Cubs acquired Victor Caratini and cash considerations.
  • The Brewers acquired Gerardo Parra from the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks acquired Mitch Haniger and Anthony Banda.
  • The Athletics acquired Sam Fuld from the Twins. The Twins acquired Tommy Milone.
 
Might as well rename Rule 8.04 the "Fuck Josh Beckett Rule"

the courtesy catcher thing is fucking stupid! and how often are intentional walks handed out in a game? it has no bearing on the speed of a game. none. who cares about it. what difference does two extra pitches make? none! Football is (unfortunately in my opinion) the most popular sport in this country because Americans love violence. simple. other countries love Baseball and don't complain about this shit.

Trade Deadline 2014 recap:

  • The Athletics acquired Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes, and cash considerations from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Yoenis Cespedes and a 2015 compensation draft pick
  • The Tigers acquired David Price in a three-team trade with the Rays and Mariners. The Mariners acquired Austin Jackson. Rays acquired Drew Smyly, Nick Franklin, and Willy Adames.
  • The Cardinals acquired John Lackey, Corey Littrell, and cash considerations from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Allen Craig and Joe Kelly.
  • The Marlins acquired Jarred Cosart, Enrique Hernandez, and Austin Wates from the Astros. The Astros acquired Colin Moran, Jake Marisnick, Francis Martes, and a 2015 compensation draft pick.
  • The Yankees acquired Stephen Drew from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Kelly Johnson.
  • The Yankees acquired Martin Prado from the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks acquired Peter O'Brien.
  • The Orioles acquired Andrew Miller from the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Eduardo Rodriguez.
  • The Nationals acquired Asdrubal Cabrera from the Indians. The Indians acquired Zach Walters.
  • The Mariners acquired Chris Denorfia from the Padres. The Padres acquired Abraham Almonte and Steven Kohlscheen.
  • The Braves acquired Emilio Bonafacio and James Russell from the Cubs. The Cubs acquired Victor Caratini and cash considerations.
  • The Brewers acquired Gerardo Parra from the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks acquired Mitch Haniger and Anthony Banda.
  • The Athletics acquired Sam Fuld from the Twins. The Twins acquired Tommy Milone.

how come you don't do the standings anymore?
 
Did Kevin Towers posses Friedman? Your telling me all they could get for Price was a backmof the rotation starter, a fringe majormleaguer and some Astroglide? Wow. Unbelievable. Just disgraceful too.
 
I hope this a sign of ownership pulling the plug and the Expos can come back. I don't give a foot how good Franklin's UZR may be, if brah can't crack yhe lineup of the worst offense since the dead puck era. Dome on. Disgraceful.
 
Why the hell you trade Cosart? A controllable starter who is on the verge of being established. Jim Crane obviouslymisn't going to pay for someone in free agency. And for Marisnick?



And I see Towers is still trading talent away for Hamburger Helper. You can make a strong case that he has lost every trade he has done.
 
Why the hell you trade Cosart? A controllable starter who is on the verge of being established. Jim Crane obviouslymisn't going to pay for someone in free agency. And for Marisnick?



And I see Towers is still trading talent away for Hamburger Helper. You can make a strong case that he has lost every trade he has done.

He just wants enough wins to secure his job while the team fumbles in mediocrity.
 

rekameohs

Banned
And I see Towers is still trading talent away for Hamburger Helper. You can make a strong case that he has lost every trade he has done.

There's no way he was gonna get anything in return. Better to just throw away all that shit and save money. Course, it's entirely his fault that this mess started in the first place.

And I guess Ziegler for Brandon Allen was an absolute steal but hey, broken clock analogy right?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom