Rod Carew "speaking out - to the commissioner"

[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.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Carter08

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.

Also when to take out a starting pitcher mattered an inning earlier because of a pinch hitter...

however i dont think teams right now make productive outs in extra innings they appear to not care and are swinging away from what remember the early data says but that could change..

[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.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Hxcmilkshake

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

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

there should be a few replays given a game on strike 3 calls....if super fast response...perhaps in the late innings....really not fair to take a strike 3 in the 9th thats clearly a ball.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Hxcmilkshake

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

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Just think, we could go back to hitting off of a tee like my 5 year old in order to save the pitchers arms. Oh, I guess we wouldn't need pitchers anymore, so let's load up on more swing and a miss home run hitters, cuz "that's what the fans want..."

[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?

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Mark17

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?

Definitely an issue. My biggest problem with it is that it just feels so artificial...it's like if the NBA decided the baskets will be moved from 10 to 7 feet for Overtime.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Mark17

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?

I am not disagreeing with you but the chances of this happening is extremely unlikely as pitchers no longer seem to go 9 and as mentioned before with pitch counts and specialist relievers.

[Seven]

The game has lost its way.

"Efficiency" isn't always better in the sake of the sport. I say this as someone that wasn't even alive in the 1970's, go back and watch a game. The game goes on quicker, the pitchers go deeper into games, watching the game is just more enjoyable. Players seemingly played harder, pitchers threw more and a good portion of them had long lasting careers. As a side note, The rule changes against sliding, and blocking the plate took another great aspect out of our game.

Baseball was better when it was more true to its roots. When it was simple, yet strategic. When the quality of play on the ballfield was actually worth the price of admission. Players used to be tougher, I'm not just saying that either. You don't get players that even play all 162 games anymore, they have to be rested because their investments now.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

I am not disagreeing with you but the chances of this happening is extremely unlikely as pitchers no longer seem to go 9 and as mentioned before with pitch counts and specialist relievers.

In today's game, yes. But someday there will be a throwback manager who won't be afraid to let his pitchers actually throw the ball more than 80 times a game.

Or a knuckleball pitcher who isn't putting any strain on his arm.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Mark17

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?

part of a perfect game is the team aspect, your team needs to score for you to win the game, if you throw 11 perfect innings and your team scores zero you dont get a perfect game either....really a trivial point

i worry about rules that impact winning or losing a game versus trophy names for accomplishments.

if you dont field your position as a pitcher and make an error you lose a perfect game....not allowing a runner to score from 2nd base with no outs would be your job since your team didnt score for you..part of the team aspect.

your example out of all the issues in baseball to worry about seems marginal even from a purist standpoint

[Snapolit1]

Rod is right and also wrong. The game can be slow. But that’s not because guys aren’t sacrificing or playing the same strategy that was gospel truth three decades ago. A good deal of what Rod and his generation believed - sacrificing bunting — has been pretty clearly shown not to be optimal strategy to win ballgames with the skill sets players have today. None of that stuff is affecting time of play.

It’s a different game. Would love to know how many times the Dodger or Yankees have sacrificed bunted their ways to the impressive win totals they have.

I do hate all the chatter on exit velocities and launch angles.

[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.