Rule Changes That Can Improve MLB

Over the past half-century, the average length of an MLB game has risen from about 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours and 11 minutes. Meanwhile, the number of balls in play has dwindled. Hits are near historic lows and strikeouts at historic highs.

According to MLB, the time between batted balls has reached an average of nearly four minutes, up by almost a minute from two decades ago.

The game has simply become slow and boring, with too little action.

MLB's own surveys show that fans most want to see triples and steals, both of which rarely occur these days.

Three players tied for the major league with eight triples this season, and just 14 players had as many as five.

Not a single player stole 50 bases this season and just two stole at least 40; Starling Marte swiped 47 bags and Whit Merrifield stole exactly 40.

Here are some rule changes that would benefit baseball:

Universal Designated Hitter

Out of the 713 pitchers who appeared in the big leagues in 2021, just 20 had at least 50 at-bats and a mere two had at least 60 at-bats. Seventeen of them batted below .200; 13 of them batted below .150; and six of them batted below .100.

Pitchers are essentially an automatic out. Their at bats are an exercise in futility in a game that already has far too few hits. It’s time for a universal DH.

Automated Strike Zone

Strike zones are inconsistent across baseball and have become subjective, catering to the whims of the umpires behind the plate. Making the correct call is vital to the game and incorrect calls are affecting games.

Umpires would remain behind the plate to call runners safe or out, to determine if a batter was hit by a pitch, and to call check swings or misses.

Pitch Clock

Football and basketball both have play clocks to keep the action rolling. Why not baseball as well, the slowest of the team sports? Many fans don't realize that there is already a rule on the books governing this.

Rule 8.04 states:

"When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call “Ball.”

"The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball.

"The intent of this rule is to avoid unnecessary delays. The umpire shall insist that the catcher return the ball promptly to the pitcher, and that the pitcher take his position on the rubber promptly. Obvious delay by the pitcher should instantly be penalized by the umpire."

It's time to enforce it.

No More Warmup Pitches for Relievers Entering the Game

This is why there's a bullpen... for warming up.

Ban Defensive Shifts

Two infielders must be positioned on each side of second base, and all four must remain on the dirt until the ball is hit. Shifts are killing offense, making the game boring and predictable.

Make all Salaries Merit Based

If a rookie has a breakout year and is top-10 in multiple categories, he should be paid like a top-10 player; no need to wait for arbitration or free agency. On the other hand, aging, underperforming veterans should not be making tens of millions per year. Pay must be tied to performance. This might require abandoning the Luxury Tax Threshold. Yet, owners might appreciate paying for current performance, rather than past performance.

Implement a Salary Floor

The problem with MLB's revenue-sharing model is that teams aren’t required to reinvest that money directly into improving the on-field product. Perhaps a specific figure for the floor, say $100 million, is too arbitrary or difficult for some small market clubs to meet. Yet, mandating that all teams that receive revenue-sharing money must allocate a certain percentage of it directly towards players' salaries would help to improve the competitive balance in baseball.

Major League Baseball has lots of work to do to bring fans back into parks and viewers to television screens. The sport’s popularity has been steadily declining and even the World Series' ratings have regularly fallen since 2003, dropping to a new low of 5.1 in 2020. Whereas the 2003 World Series averaged 25.47 million viewers, the 2020 World Series averaged just 9.78 million. 

MLB welcomed fans back into the stands in 2021, but attendance was at a generational low. The league saw 45.3 million fans attend regular-season games in 2021, a 33.9% drop from the 68.5 million in 2019, and the lowest figure since 1984.

Changes are long overdue. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires one month from today (Dec. 1). Let’s hope the owners and players recognize how serious their predicament really is, and that they take action to make the game more attractive and entertaining for younger and older fans alike.

MLB Has Become Slow, Plodding and Boring. It Needs Help, Now.

 

Baseball has always had a decided advantage for pitchers. After all, the most elite hitters of all time might have gotten a hit just 35% of the time. But the advantage now enjoyed by pitchers is ruining the game.

Just 14 Major League hitters batted at least .300 this season. There are 30 teams, each with a 26-man roster. So there are at least 780 players. Again, just 14 of them were able to manage a hit at least 30% of the time.

Across the majors this season, there were 42,145 strikeouts, and just 39,481 hits. Yes, there were actually more strikeouts than hits in Major League Baseball this year. This trend has really screwed up the game.

As recently as 2008, there were just 32,884 strikeouts across the majors. So, the game now endures nearly 10,000 more strikeouts per season than it did just 13 years ago.

The league-wide batting average was just .244 this season, the lowest since 1972, after which the American League instituted the designated hitter. In response to the .242 batting average in 1967, MLB lowered the mound 10 inches to aid hitters. What will the league do this time?

For decades, Major League Baseball’s strikeout rate was roughly 15%-16%. These days, MLB hitters are striking out in roughly a quarter of all plate appearances (23.2% this year).

The level of ineptitude by major league hitters is just stunning.

The game is plagued by the Three True Outcomes: strikeouts, walks, and home runs. In fact, 36% of all plate appearances in 2021 ended with one of those three outcomes, as did 35% in 2019.

There were 5,944 home runs in the majors this year, the third-highest total of all time. The two higher totals came in 2017 (6,105) and 2019 (6,776). Do you spot a trend?

While home runs may be exciting, just as with walks and strikeouts, the ball is not put in play. In all three instances the defense merely watches, and there are a LOT of these instances these days.

Baseball has become slow, plodding and boring. And this is coming from someone who loves the game, who grew up on the game, and who played through high school.

Hitters should be compelled to stop swinging for the fences in every at-bat and simply put the ball in play. We need more runners on base, more steals, more sacrifices, more moving runners to the next base, and more runs via small ball. Simply put, we need more action!

Urging pitchers to throw 98-MPH fastballs isn’t just leading to lots of strikeouts; it's leading to a rash of Tommy John Surgeries. A whopping 105 major league and minor league players had UCL surgery in 2021. As of 2015, one-third of all MLB pitchers had undergone Tommy John surgery, according to Baseball Reference. It’s time to get back to the craft of pitching, not just hurling and flame-throwing.

There is an opportunity in the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement to fix some of what ails baseball.

Banning defensive shifts would be a start. Batters are no longer talented enough to avoid shifts. They can't even make contact anymore! A new rule should mandate that two infielders must be on each side of second base, and on the dirt.

It’s also time to let computers call balls and strikes; the umps all have different strike zones and get the calls wrong far too often. The technology exists. Everyone at home can see the strike zone box on TV. The calls should be accurate every time, but they're not. It’s affecting the game.

Lastly, the 12-second pitch clock, which is already in the MLB rule book (Rule 8.04), must be strictly enforced. Football has a play clock and basketball has one too, and they're enforced. It’s time for baseball to start enforcing its own rule too. 

Long, slow, plodding baseball games must be made a thing of the past. It’s time.

The Red Sox Didn't Really Come Up Short This Year; They Overachieved

 

When the season began, I wrote that the 2021 Red Sox would go only as far as their pitching would take them. The offense, I predicted, would be among the best in baseball, and I was right. The Red Sox offense ranked second in the Majors in slugging (.449), third in OPS (.777), third in batting (.261), and fifth in runs per game (5.1).

However, the imbalances of their offense finally caught up to them in the American League Championship Series. Feast or famine clearly doesn't work in the playoffs. The Red Sox scored a total of three runs in their final 27 innings of baseball this year. That’s how playoff series are lost. 

In reality, the Red Sox schizophrenic performance in the ALCS was more of the same; we had already seen an extended preview.

The Red Sox inconsistent results over the season's two months could be described as a tale of two teams, and this was clearly on display in the ALCS. It was if the Red Sox team had a split personality; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They were two teams in one: laconic and explosive. You never knew which team would show up from game to game.

But all the blame cannot be laid at the feet of Boston’s offense.

Red Sox pitchers surrendered 5 earned runs in both Games 1 and 2. While that may get it done in the regular season, it rarely results in wins during the postseason, where pitching typically dominates. Yet, Sox pitchers allowed 11 earned runs (12 total) in Game 3, and 8 earned runs (9 total) in Game 4; that’s rarely a winning formula. Though Sox pitchers allowed just 4 runs in Game 5, defensive miscues resulted in a total of 9 Houston runs. Again, that rarely leads to a win. Finally, Sox pitchers surrendered 5 earned runs in the deciding Game 6, while their offense delivered nothing, zip, zilch.

Add it all up and the end result was quite predictable.

Yet, this season should be viewed as nothing less than a smashing success.

In spring training, the notion of the Red Sox being in the ALCS seemed more than improbable; it seemed impossible.

Considering that the Red Sox win-total for this season was projected at 80.5 by oddsmakers, the fact that they won 92 games is remarkable. The fact that they made the playoffs in a division with four 90-plus-wins teams (which had never happened before) is incredible. The fact that they beat the Yankees in their first one-game playoff matchup since 1978 was delightful. That they eliminated the defending American League Champion Tampa Rays was inconceivable. Yet, the fact that they were eliminated by Houston in the ALCS was predictable.

This team had flaws and they were exploited. But that doesn’t take away from the extraordinary results they managed over the course of 162 regular season games and 11 playoff games.

We shouldn’t forget that this was supposed to be a bridge year. The fact that the Sox made it to the ALCS is beyond surprising; it's stunning.

As Red Sox fans used to say for decades, Wait until next year! The team will be even better; they have a great nucleus of Bogaerts, Devers, Dalbec, and Verdugo. But they will surprise no one in 2022.

The Sox will have some interesting decisions to make in the coming weeks and months. 

We’ve likely seen the last of Martin Perez and Garrett Richards, neither of whom is likely to be renewed. Richards’ absence from the ALCS roster was telling. 

Tanner Houck will get a rotation spot next season, joining Chris Sale, Nate Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and, perhaps, Garret Whitlock, unless the Sox are determined to make him their closer. He just seems to have much more value as a multi-inning starter. 

Will Eduardo Rodriguez be re-signed? He’s been so frustrating over the course of his career. The Red Sox have spent years waiting for him to blossom into at least a reliable No. 2 starter, yet he consistently performs more like a No. 4. How much do the Sox value him at this point?

Will the Sox retain free-agent reliever Adam Ottavino, who was probably overpaid this year at $8 million?

The Sox will certainly explore the free agent and trade markets for another starter. They need another frontline pitcher to compete in the stacked AL East. At the least, they need someone who is consistently reliable.

Will JD Martinez opt in or opt out? His decision will impact the Red Sox intentions with Kyle Schwarber, who is best-suited as a DH. Schwarber is extremely limited defensively and is otherwise a player without a position. Though the Sox surely love his bat, can they really carry two DH’s?

Can Jarren Duran hit well enough to be a reliable fourth outfielder next season?

Dustin Pedroia’s $12 million finally comes off the books this offseason. Richards made $10 million this year, including his buyout; bringing him back would cost $8.5 million. Rodriguez made $8.3 million. Ottavino made $8 million. Perez made $5 million. If Martinez opts out, the Sox will save $19.375 million.

Add it all up, and the Sox could have $61 million to play with in the free agent market.

Chaim Bloom has made a series of savvy moves in restocking the farm system, and some of the Sox top prospects could impact the roster next season, including first baseman Triston Casas, second baseman Jeter Downs, righty Connor Seabold, lefty Jay Groome, and righty Josh Winckowski.

The point is, this team has deep pockets, ample payroll space, and is stacked with prospects waiting to make the jump to the majors.

Have hope Red Sox fans. This year was just a preview. The future looks bright.

Should Ted Williams Have Won 10 MVPs?

 

Ted Williams played 19 seasons in the majors and won two MVP Awards: in 1946 and 1949. That would be a great achievement for most players, but not so much for a player who is widely regarded as "the greatest hitter who ever lived.”

The truth is, Williams didn’t have just two fantastic seasons during his illustrious career. He had a string of phenomenal seasons that didn’t result in an MVP Award. 

For example, in 1941, Williams’ third season, he led the majors with 135 runs, 37 homers, 147 walks, that legendary .406 batting average, a .553 OBP, a .735 slugging percentage, and a 1.287 OPS, the highest of his career.

Yet, Joe DiMaggio, who had a 56-game streak that season, won the award and Williams was the runner up. The Yankees won the American League Pennant, while the Red Sox finished in second place, 17 games out. 

But that wasn’t the only time that Williams’ was snubbed.

In 1942, Williams’ fourth season, he led the majors with 141 runs, 36 homers, 137 RBI, 145 walks, a .499 OBP, a .648 slugging percentage, a 1.147 OPS, and 338 total bases. He also lead the AL with a .356 batting average. 

Yet, despite winning the Triple Crown, Williams again finished in second place to another Yankee, second baseman Joe Gordon. Boston once again finished in second place, behind the Yankees. 

Williams missed the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons — the prime of his career — while fighting in World War II. We can only imagine what he would have done on the diamond, but it surely would have been extraordinary.  

As noted above, Williams finally won the MVP Award in 1946, upon returning from the war. That year he led the majors with 142 runs, 156 walks, a .497 OBP, and a .667 slugging percentage. He also led the AL with 343 total bases. Additionally, Williams batted .342, which, quite incredibly, led neither league. By Williams' lofty standards, there was nothing exceptional about this year. It was almost an ordinary year for Williams, who made greatness seem ordinary. 

In 1947, Williams again finished second to DiMaggio, despite leading the AL with 125 runs, 32 homers, 114 RBI, a .343 batting average, a .634 slugging percentage, and 335 total bases. He also led the majors 162 walks, a .499 OBP, and a 1.133 OPS. Williams once again won the Triple Crown (his second in three seasons), yet still didn’t win the MVP. It seems impossible, yet it happened. 

In 1948, Williams led the AL with 44 doubles, 126 walks, a .369 average, .497 OBP, .615 slugging, and a 1.112 OPS. Yet, Cleveland's Lou Boudreau won the MVP and Williams finished third, despite leading the league in six offensive categories. 

Williams won his second and final MVP Award in 1949, after leading the AL with 155 games, 39 doubles, 43 homers, a .650 slugging percentage, and 368 total bases. He also led the majors with 150 runs, 159 RBI, 162 walks, a .490 OBP, and a 1.141 OPS.

Williams was 30-years-old and in his prime, yet had won the final MVP Award of his long, extraordinary career. Despite turning in six Hall-of-Fame-caliber seasons, he had just two MVPs to speak for it all.  

In 1951, his age-32 season, Williams led the AL with a .556 slugging, a 1.019 OPS, and 295 total bases, while leading the majors with 144 walks, and a .464 OBP. Despite leading the AL or the majors in five offensive categories, Williams finished 13th in the MVP voting. The Red Sox finished the season third in the American League.

Yet, Williams still wasn’t done producing historic seasons. 

In 1954, his age-35 season, Williams led the majors with 136 walks, a .513 OBP, and a 1.148 OPS, while leading the AL with a .635 slugging percentage. Most remarkably, Williams did all of this in just 117 games. For his efforts, he finished seventh in the MVP voting. 

Notably, Williams hit .345 in 386 at-bats, yet Bobby Ávila, who had hit .341, won the batting championship. This was because a batter needed 400 at-bats to qualify for the batting title. Williams' league-leading 136 walks kept him from qualifying under the rules at the time. Using today's standards (plate appearances), he would have been the champion. The rule was changed shortly thereafter to prevent this from happening again. 

In 1955, Williams batted .356 in 320 at bats, lacking a sufficient number to win the batting title over Al Kaline, who batted .340. Williams, who also hit 28 home runs and drove in 83 runs, was named the "Comeback Player of the Year.” He finished fourth in the MVP voting.

 

Yet, that still wasn’t the end of Williams' historic output. 

In 1957, his age-38 season, Williams led the majors with a .388 batting average, a .526 OBP, a .731 slugging percentage, and a 1.257 OPS. He also bashed 38 homers, 28 doubles, drove in 87 runs, and scored 96 times. Yet, he finished second in the MVP voting, behind Mickey Mantle. The Yankees won the AL Pennant, while the Red Sox finished third. 

By this point, Williams was a living legend. He had complied nine Hall-of-Fame-caliber seasons, yet had still won only two MVP Awards. Winning just one pennant in all those years likely played a role in this, as did Williams' surly demeanor toward the press. Yet, it is impossible to look at the dominance he displayed year after year and not wonder how the writers could have snubbed him so often. It seems spiteful.  

However, Williams still had one final burst in him. Though it wasn’t necessarily an MVP-caliber season, in 1958, the year he turned 39, the ageless wonder led the AL with a .328 batting average, while also leading the majors with a .458 OBP and a 1.042 OPS. Williams also belted 26 homers, 23 doubles, and had 85 RBI. He finished seventh in the MVP voting. Again, he was 39 years old. 

It’s fair to say that Williams could have, perhaps should have, won as many as seven more MVP Awards in his career. And this doesn’t even include the three years he spent fighting in WWII during his prime, or the two years (1952, 1953) that he spent as a Marine Corps Aviator in the Korean War. Williams was still in his extended prime at that time, as these were his age-33 and age-34 seasons. As further evidence, he turned in two more MVP-caliber seasons following his return from the war ('54 & '57). Upon his return in 1953, Williams batted .407 over 37 games. In 1957 and 1958 at the ages of 39 and 40, respectively, he was the AL batting champion for the fifth and sixth time. Williams was not washed up by any stretch of the imagination.

The point is, over the course of those five seasons that were completely (or mostly) lost to war, Williams would certainly have performed well enough to justifiably earn multiple MVP Awards. Whether the writers would have voted for him is another matter and can only be left to the imagination. But it requires little imagination to recognize that Williams would have produced statistics that modern writers just couldn’t have ignored or overlooked. 

The writers of his era shouldn’t have either. It was an injustice. 

This Red Sox Team Should Be Celebrated, Not Derided

 

Yes, the Red Sox getting swept by the Yankees in three straight home games was frustrating, dejecting and disheartening, especially when this team is vying for a Wild Card berth.

Sunday night's loss put Boston in the second Wild Card spot, one game behind their arch rivals, with six games left in their season. And Toronto is just one game behind Boston.

The Sox play three games in Baltimore against the 50-106 Orioles, and then finish out the season this weekend with three games in Washington against the 64-92 Nationals.

Those two teams are awful and the Red Sox could conceivably win all six games. Yet, this Red Sox team has been terribly inconsistent for the past two months and there are no easy or guaranteed wins for this bunch. 

While the Red Sox may beat up on the dregs of the major leagues, they are just 8-21 against teams with winning records since the trade deadline. That’s not an optimistic reality for a team with playoff aspirations. 

That said, the Red Sox are sort of playing with house money at this point. They were never supposed to be in this position in the first place. Fighting for a playoff spot in the season's final week was not in the cards for this club when the season started, according to the experts.

The Las Vegas sports books and Draft Kings all pegged the Red Sox win total at 80 ½.

I was a bit more optimistic. Here's what I wrote on April 1:

"Given their potent offense, I think the Sox are capable of 85 wins this season, which should be good enough for third place in the ever-challenging AL East."

Here we are on Sept. 27 and the Red Sox are 88-66, in third place in the AL East. The Olde Towne team is already three wins ahead of my optimistic projection, with six games to go. They're way ahead of what Vegas and Draft Kings projected.

No matter how many of these final six games the Sox win, they will almost certainly claim at least two of them, which would put them at 90 wins this season. That has to be viewed as a stunning accomplishment all by itself, well beyond any reasonable expectations.

The Red Sox used 33 pitchers this season, the most in franchise history. They also placed 11 players on the Covid injury list, which may have sealed their fate by early September.

This was supposed to be a bridge year anyway. The Red Sox will be a better team next season. Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock be better and more experienced. They will become rotation stalwarts, replacing Garrett Richards and Martin Perez, who spent much of this season as ineffective starters before being demoted to the bullpen. The Sox will likely target a starting pitcher in a trade or in free agency, as well.

Dustin Pedroia’s $12 million salary will finally come off this books this winter, freeing up some free agent money. However, the Sox will pay the Dodgers another $16 million for David Price next season, the final year of his current contract.

This team has a solid foundation, comprised by the aforementioned Houck and Whitlock, plus Chris Sale, Rafael Devers, Hunter Renfroe, Alex Verdugo and even Bobby Dalbec. And if the Sox do the right thing, Xander Bogaerts will be in Boston through the end of his career.

Hopefully, the worst of the coronavirus will be behind us all next year, and the Red Sox will not again have their roster devastated by quarantined players.

In short, there is much to look forward to in 2022. This year was just a preview and it gave us a lot to feel hopeful about. Good days are ahead, Red Sox fans.

Expect Danny Santana in Boston Soon, As Red Sox Shakeup Roster

 

The Red Sox entered the day with 217 runs scored, tied with the White Sox for the major league lead. That’s a byproduct of Boston’s major league-best .446 slugging percentage and .772 OPS. The Red Sox .264 batting average is also third in the majors.

However, all that offensive output is driven by just four players: 

J.D. Martinez - .340/.417/.601/1.018

Xander Bogaerts - .342/.401/.605/1.006

Rafael Devers - .278/.354/.583/.937

Alex Verdugo - .284/.345/.446/.791

Those four players are masking the deficiencies in the rest of the lineup, not just those in the bottom third of the order.

Marwin Gonzalez - .218/.310/.315/.624

Hunter Renfroe - .225/.258/.392/.650

Bobby Dalbec - .211/.262/.395/.657

Enrique Hernandez - .237/.296/.421/.717

Franchy Cordero - .167/.222/.226/.448

Gonzalez offers the team tremendous defensive versatility, making up for his offensive shortcomings. Similarly, Renfroe’s cannon-like arm and deft ability to patrol right field also make him an asset. 

The Sox still believe in Bobby Dalbec, who is coming off a 2020 showcase in which he delivered 8 homers and 16 RBI in just 80 at bats. In that brief span the first baseman compiled a .359 OBP and a .600 slugging; that's why there's still so much hope. Though Gonzalez could replace Dalbec at first, that would eliminate Gonzo's greatest asset: the ability to play multiple positions each week.

Hernandez could and should lose his leadoff spot. But, like Gonzalez, his defensive versatility assures him a spot in the lineup each day.

Then there’s Cordero, who simply isn’t justifying a roster spot at this point. Though he is speedy for a big guy, Cordero is not noted for his defense. With a roster shakeup in the offing, Cordero will almost certainly be the odd man out.

Who would replace him? Danny Santana, whom the Red Sox signed to a minor-league deal in March. 

Like Gonzalez and Hernandez, Santana can play virtually any defensive position, other than catcher. Then there’s his offensive versatility; Santana is also a switch-hitter. The super-utility player suffered a serious foot infection during spring training, which delayed his season. However, he has been raking during his minor-league rehab assignment and could be called up any day now.

The rub is that Santana is not on the 40-man roster, so a spot would have to be created. In other words, someone else needs to go. Though the Sox can demote Cordero since he has minor league options, they will not remove him from the 40-man roster.

Michael Chavis could also be sent back to Triple-A, but he will not be removed from the 40-man either.

Most likely, Brandon Brennan, whom the Red Sox claimed off waivers from Seattle on May 3, will be designated for assignment, creating space for Santana.

Boston has been operating with a 14-man pitching staff this season, which they’ve needed. That’s because not one Red Sox starter is averaging as many as six innings per outing this year, which has put a lot of pressure on the bullpen. That extra man is a nice luxury for Alex Cora. 

However, something has to give and the woeful output by half the Red Sox lineup may take precedence over pitching depth, at least at this point in the season.