Good news everyone! My buddy Hayes who I know for like 30 years submitted a guest post. That’s awesome because I didn’t have time to Autopilot the blog today! Here are words from Hayes, I might even read them myself!
Hayes is responding to my absolutely brilliant post from the other day!
Friendly Response to Shannon’s Baseball Fixes
Shannon thinks baseball is broken. He’s right. I hate to admit it but he’s right. I work on a college campus and the only people who like baseball are students who have played baseball forever as a kid or who are on our college team (who are pretty good BTW—Canisius made the NCAA tourney this year! Go Griffs!)
Anyway…here are some of my solutions to fix what’s wrong and I’ll try to mirror Shannon’s arguments.
Time of Play
Shannon notes that the game is kind of a snore. I looked up average time of play and during the early years we were looking at 2 and a half hours very consistently until 1983. Then we started to tick up and today the average game is just over 3 hours long. The AVERAGE game. So many games are longer. And many games are shorter. But look, I’m busy. I ain’t got 4 hours. 2.5 is even pushing it 7 nights a week.
What causes this lengthening of the games you ask? No it’s not the commercials, although they should cut down on them.
It’s one word: expansion.
There are too many teams. The union will cry that they are losing jobs and that the owners shouldn’t make all the money. They are right. So I propose the following.
Return to a 20 team league. 10 teams in each league and NO divisions. Top 2 make the playoffs in each league and play a best of FIVE series. And then the World Series can remain 7 games.
What about those 10 other teams? Well they play too…but they are now a AAAA league. Top two teams in these leagues will replace the bottom two teams in MLB. Salaries are comparable with the MLB making slightly more.
Why is this a good idea? Simple. There are two many players who just aren’t major leaguers. Games were faster because the guys could throw strikes and throw 9 innings. The talent was there. Now you have guys with less stamina and sitting around long innings makes arms expand and contract differently. I know from my own experience that I never wanted to languish on the bench. I wanted to stay loose and to get back out there when I was pitching. I think most pitchers feel the same way. So relegate the teams and more importantly the players. Hit below .240? You get sent down. Every player has to meet a goal that THEY agree to (and no agents involved in that process). These are mutually agreed upon between the field manager and the player. So they’ll split the difference and keep things realistic.
There are too many players. Period. Get rid of some and you solve a big problem.
Broadcasting
I remarked to Shannon on Twitter that the game “sounds old”. I was flying around radio broadcasts on MLB.com the other day and nobody sounded young at all. A bunch of old codgers sitting on the porch wasting the day. That’s not a bad motif but it can also lull you to sleep. The best broadcast teams have been balanced: For instance: Red Barber, Connie Desmond and Vin Scully. Red was the staccato PBP expert who described all the action in his own Southern way. A storyteller pat excellence and a father-figure to many. Desmond was a peer. A big brother who now likely knew more about the nuances of the game than dad did, but gave dad respect anyway and brought out the best in him and vice versa. Scully, then, was the kid from the streets! He asked questions and has enthusiasm and energy and was willing to learn. The Mets Broadcasters of Murphy, Kiner and Nelson were similar. Even McCarver and Steve Zabriskie balanced each other in their Hey day of Mets TV.
ESPN’s Sunday night Team is similar.
Matt Vasgersian: ringmaster
Alex Rodriguez: Expert and say what you want about his steroid use, etc.
He’s an excellent analyst and his rapport with the players brings something insightful to the broadcast.
Jessica Mendoza: It’s like someone’s big sister joined the crew and added a whole new perspective. Insightful, honest and brings up angles that are often unexpected but great.
Buster Olney: great for breaking news.
I agree with Shannon that they should occasionally mic a player on field. But maybe someone in the dugout too? DB: designated broadcaster. Players probably hate doing this, so you should unleash them a bit. I would love to hear Wilmer Flores say “Hey, you guys have no idea what you’re talking about. Here’s really what’s going on.” Maybe there’s some front office person who could do this too.
Shannon’s right about doing these things occasionally. Don’t kill it.
Shannon’s biggest point is about superstars. You need to build them on and off the field. I’m a 70s-80s-90s guy and these guys today could have some of that Reggie Jackson swagger, or Johnny Bench’s tenacity or Bill Lee’s antics.
Here are today’s superstars:
Mike Trout
Bryce Harper
Noah Syndergaard
Mookie Betts
Joey Votto
Clayton Kershaw
José altulve
Aaron Judge
And then I have to start reaching.
Over the top intros:
I love the All Star Game for the player intros. I’d say the first game of every series should do this. And maybe Shannon’s right about the Vegas style hockey intros. I think they are super cheesy and I was yelling “just play the game already!” During the NHL finals but I seem to be in the minority.
Declare Amnesty or Ban For Life
Baseball has to definitely say who cheated and who didn’t and then move on. A decision on whether we’re going to forgive and forget, asterisk the records, or just kick the bums out needs to be made. The commish needs to make a ruling and be gutsy here.
SABR ruins Strategy
Nobody bunts because statistically speaking you are giving them an out and that gives them an advantage. Now I only need 2 and not three.
Nobody steals because it’s a low percentage play.
Baseball in the SABR metric era has become SAFE. Nobody can pitch more than 100 pitches. Nobody can steal unless we’re sure. And never EVER bunt. This is the “color” Shannon alludes to and he’s right. The game is not fun. It’s
Complicated.
I love Shannon’s $10,000 per strikeout. I’d add a $20,000 per walk rule too.
Start Time:
5:25pm. That’s right. Night games at at 5:25. Listen on the radio in traffic and catch the rest over dinner or after you get a few chores done. People will be more apt to listen and watch in the background. And who doesn’t want to leave work just a tad early to get downtown?
More weekday day games. Maybe Wednesday is half of the games are in the daylight.
All weekend games are during the day, but one. Sunday night is at…you guessed it: 5:25pm.
I agree with all of Shannon’s takes on how to speed up the game. I’d add one: The Bullpen car. This kids, was a golf cart that sped the players in to the field. That seriously sped things up. I also agree on no warm up pitches. Get out there and play!
I could eventually get used to a 7 inning or even a 6 inning game. But maybe we start here and see how it goes.
….
Hey Shan here. I actually read that. Pretty good, except for the part where Hayes thinks baseball has stars. It doesn’t. Quick, name this MLB player.
Hint he is from New Jersey and once played in the Little League World Series. He is actually baseball’s biggest star. There are dopey articles daily about him, including one by Matt Ehalt in the last 48 hours. Not Linking.
