Loading ...USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale recently convened a summit of “baseball men” to talk about “ways to improve the national pastime.”
The Reds’ Dusty Baker represented managers on the panel, and along with wily superagent Scott Boras, had a unique solution to shortening the length of games: Add a pitcher to every roster, because if teams can keep pitchers fresher, it might reduce the need for so many changes.
Hat tip to Rob Neyer, who points out the obvious:
Of course that’s preposterous. The more pitchers you’ve got, the more pitching changes you’ll make.
Exactly. Every team would just add another LOOGY. Pre-LaRussa, every team had 9 or 10 pitchers, and games lasted 2:20. Now, teams carry 11 or 12, and the games take 2:50. More pitchers may not be the cause of the problem, but I’m sure they aren’t the solution.
Note to the grammar geeks: I know the headline is incorrect. But “fewer” just doesn’t have the same flow.
I think there are a few causes to the problem. Better offenses lead to more plate appearances. No longer do you have a lineup with 3 guys over .340 OBP, you usually have 7 or 8 guys over .320 and 5 over .340. More HR’s. Of course, more pitchers too. Want to speed up the game? Bring back the bullpen carts!
You are making this up. I’m not going to click on the link because I want to go through life believing that our manager would not say something that crazy.
Let me digest this one: INCREASING the number of pitchers in the pen will DECREASE the amount of time it takes to play 9 innings. Why? Because it will keep pitchers fresh, silly. Fresh pitchers will lead to faster games. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the pen or rotation, this logic is garbage either way. Heck, go with a 6 man rotation and your best pitchers pitch less and you have to rely on guys who can only pitch 5 innings at a shot on a good outing.
Just imagine how many innings Dusty could pitch someone if they were ‘fresh’. Heck, with another pitcher ol’ toothpick could roll out Cordero 10 games straight, because he’d be ‘fresher’.
@Doug Gray: You know Doug this could be a chicken/egg argument. Maybe the offense is better becasue of overworked pitchers which in turn makes for longer games.
My goodness… the Dustball just can’t come up with a thought that is both original and sensible, can he?
Anyway… I remain convinced that any team that constructs its roster with 14 hitters and 11 pitchers (instead of the 13-12 split that everyone seems to use now) will have a slight competitive advantage.
Let your good relievers pitch full innings! Or even, gasp, 2 innings sometimes!
Personally, I’d like there to be a limit on the number of relievers used per inning. Perhaps, no more than 2 changes per inning, and no more than 5 pitchers per 9-innings. For extra innings, limit the changes per inning to one. Of course, there should be considerations for injury, but if injury is used as an excuse, there would need to be oversight from the commissioner’s office that the mngr and pitcher weren’t lying about said injury.
I’d also like to limit the number of times a catcher can go talk to the pitcher. I would like the bullpen cart used, also. Whether they expand the roster by one pitcher or not doesn’t really matter.
Watching the FoxSports recent “Reds Rewind” series, one of the most noticeable difference between 30 years ago and today (other than the size of the players) was speed of the games. Two things that jumped out at me was pitchers seemed to work faster and batters didn’t climb out of the box between every pitch.
While I actually understand (I think) what Dusty was trying to say, it sure sounds silly when spoken as a full sentence. Ideally, Dusty meant to say that more starting pitchers who can longer in games would decrease game times/use fewer pitchers.
In reality, most teams have a lousy fifth starter, I can’t imagine the poor quality a sixth starter would bring to the table…so I think the whole idea is bogus in practice.
@Bill Lack: I’ve been re-watching the whole ’75 world series, and I too have noticed the increased speed of the game. The pitchers don’t waste time walking around the rubber, and the batters are ready to rock. I’m not sure why things would change so drastically. Also, I’m not sure how to change the current condition.
Amen.
personally I think this is huge and it also annoys me. I’m a fan of players that don’t step out.
on the other hand it annoys me, the length of games does not
Someday. Someday.
I think Rob Neyer despises Baker. He always has something to say about what Baker says/does. I’m glad at least one media person calls out Baker since our own beat writers can’t muster an ounce of criticism.