Rod Carew "speaking out - to the commissioner"

[HobokenJon]

Preach, Rod! Preach! Loved this. The Athletic wrote it up today. Here's his original post. One more desecration I would add to his list: Intentional walks with no pitches pitched.

https://mailchi.mp/rodcarew/2022-wee...9?e=e68036346f
https://theathletic.com/3539812/2022...les-analytics/

Excerpts:

"How can you tell me the game is better when it looks like softball - times when teams use four outfielders, and extra innings starting with a man on second?"

"How is the game better with analytics becoming so dominant that players don't know how to think for themselves?"

"In spring training and during the season, I spend time in the cages talking to all players, especially the young guys. They're learning all about exit velocity and launch angle, but they don't understand the nuances of the game, the things that make a difference between winning and losing."

"There's a place in the game for analytics. They just shouldn't be the game."

"Baseball isn't a skills competition. Yet instead of trying to create well-rounded players, teams seem to be building robots designed to hit balls far and throw it hard."

"The finer points of our sport are being downgraded to the point of being lost. That's why games are longer, slower and more boring."

[Shoeless Moe]

I heard in a game tonight the announcers say the Braves have not sacrificed bunted all season.

Bert Campaneris did it 40 times in 1977.

[RCFire82]

That would be the defending World Series Champion Braves!
Go Bravos!

[jingram058]

Anytime I bring up stuff like this, or robotic umpires, or 5 minutes of commercials every half inning during game telecasts, or starting the 10th inning with a man on second, or what have you, and how it's ruining baseball, I get torched like a cremation fire.

[ClementeFanOh]

Bravo Rod! A fellow net54 member called him "the hitting witch" in a PM a
few weeks back, and I love that nickname. He also happens to make very,
very good points. A tip of the cap to him- Trent King

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Anytime I bring up stuff like this, or robotic umpires, or 5 minutes of commercials every half inning during game telecasts, or starting the 10th inning with a man on second, or what have you, and how it's ruining baseball, I get torched like a cremation fire.

I do NL only fantasy leagues because i hate the DH and i am pretty much a purist but i actually like the man on 2nd rule and starting to live with the DH

baseball is entertainment, thats why you see such huge money into it, so trying to make it more entertaining is going to happen

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I do NL only fantasy leagues because i hate the DH and i am pretty much a purist but i actually like the man on 2nd rule and starting to live with the DH

baseball is entertainment, thats why you see such huge money into it, so trying to make it more entertaining is going to happen

We agree on something! I like older school small ball where bunts, singles and steals matter. I also like teams that have great pitching and fielding over huge offenses. All that said, I love the man on second in extras. Sounded terrible at first. In practice I think it’s worked well and is really fun. In a way I think it has forced some teams to think more about fundamentals - trying to get the guy over with a productive out.

[Hxcmilkshake]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I do NL only fantasy leagues because i hate the DH and i am pretty much a purist but i actually like the man on 2nd rule and starting to live with the DH



baseball is entertainment, thats why you see such huge money into it, so trying to make it more entertaining is going to happen

NL has the DH now. And I can't wait for robot umps.

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[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Anytime I bring up stuff like this, or robotic umpires, or 5 minutes of commercials every half inning during game telecasts, or starting the 10th inning with a man on second, or what have you, and how it's ruining baseball, I get torched like a cremation fire.

Definitely too many commercials, and don't get me started on extra innings...there are no words to describe how much I hate the zombie runner!!

[mrreality68]

Glad a person like Rod Carew is speaking up.

Change to games are good but they should stay in the framework of the game and the traditions.

Small ball has been neglected and not all players hit homers so it should be better balanced.
I am ok with the DH since all teams play interleague play and most pitchers cannot hit (let alone do a quality bunt)
I am not a fan of the man on 2nd but perhaps over time I can used to it.

[insidethewrapper]

I've been a fan for over 65 years and the game is starting to lose me. Man on 2nd base in extra innings ?, Taking pitchers out of no-hit games ? Making the bases bigger ( less space between the bases ) ? Pitch clock ?

They "baby" pitchers with pitch counts and innings and it seems more and more pitchers are having sore arms, so maybe a different method should be tried ! If it was working I'd say "great" , but this regiment isn't working. It's like throw hard one day, take 5 days off and pitch hard again ( sounds like the weekend warrior syndrome) and we all know those results. Pitch 5 innings with a 6 man staff ? Do these athletic trainers know anything ? Everyone has a sore leg or arm etc.

Just enforce the rules and make batters stay in the batters box ! No adjusting batting gloves after every pitch. Nothing wrong with 2 1/2-3 hour games. But 3 1/2 + tends to be long.

One more thing, next year all teams will play all other teams in both leagues, should there only be one Home Run leader, Batting Leader etc. instead of having a NL Leader and an AL Leader ?

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Definitely too many commercials, and don't get me started on extra innings...there are no words to describe how much I hate the zombie runner!!

If a guy was throwing a perfect game through 9 innings, would a zombie runner ruin it? Suppose the zombie stole third and home to win the game? The pitcher never allowed a batter to reach base (perfect game) yet loses.

How can any baseball purist reconcile that?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

I heard in a game tonight the announcers say the Braves have not sacrificed bunted all season.

Bert Campaneris did it 40 times in 1977.

He also got caught stealing 43% of the time in 47 attempts. Texas did a lot of stupid stuff with him, including having him sacrifice 40 times. Teams did lots of dumb stuff back then, like the A's wasting multiple roster spots on designated pinch runners.

The Braves don't sacrifice because sacrifices are a waste except in limited conditions. The old strategy of bunting a guy from 1st to 2nd and then praying that one of the next two guys - who will fail over 70% of time each - will somehow succeed has been proven to be dumb. I would argue it was never aesthetically interesting or strategically deep either.

[Hxcmilkshake]

The Yankees signed Josh Donaldson in part because of his exit velocity.

Hes hitting. 220 with 12 hrs

They also deployed a shift against a guy in his 2nd big league at bat!!!! Of course it didn't work.

It gets nuts sometimes

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