MLB 2021-22 Hot Stove/Picket Line Thread

[infrared41]

1 hour ago, SFGiants58 said:

So, pitch clock?

 

That would be a good start, but there would still be a lot of work to do. I'd add moving the mound back 6-12 inches too. Every other "major" sport makes rule changes when things swing too far in one direction. MLB needs to take the giant stick of tradition out of its ass and do what's necessary to save the game. If that requires wholesale changes to the things that traditionalists (and I consider myself one) deem "holy" and untouchable, so be it.  Otherwise, MLB is fast headed to the boxing and horse racing section of sports.

 

FWIW, I've seen the pitch clock in action at minor league games. It is a godsend.

[SFGiants58]

Get the 18-34’s in a focus group and see what they come up with for rule changes.

[tBBP]

I've probably already spoken on this before, but baseball is a game thats far more enjoyable to watch at the park than it is on TV. Mind you, the in-park experience itself is why I go when I can, but good luck getting butts past turnstiles for early evening games on school nights--or for that matter earlier afternoon games on weekdays--ain't no decent parents finna have to be dealing with parking, traffic, driving home and getting their kids tucked in on no school night just to take in a baseball game. (I know some still do it, but still...nah' mean?)

 

Speaking for myself, I like the relaxed atmosphere of the ballpark when the weather is nice outside and I have a decent seat with good sightlines. For the record, I prefer to ne higher up, with a view of both the field, at least one of the dugouts, and the city skyline if there is one, to take in the whole experience. Such is the case with Target Field in Minneapolis--VERY nice ballpark, and for a paltry $30 I can get good seats up in the nosebleeds on the third base/left field side, with a great view of downtown along with the field.

 

But that also underscores the main issue with the sport itself: the relative lack of action. That's not gonna keep kids, or really anyone, engaged the way other sports do. NBA players are constantly running up and down the court; soccer players are constantly running up and down the pitch; hockey players are constantly running skating up and down the ice; even NFL players are more in motion than not. Unless one understands the intricacies of the game of baseball, very few are gonna sit and watch it on TV.

 

So what does MLB do about this? I don't know. Granted, to the degree the individual clubs are able, each should be responsible for likening the in-park experience for their fans. But for MLB itself? I really don't know. I do know this: I think once David Ortiz retired, the personalities seem to have left. That's the thing i remember about baseball in the '90s right up through the late '00s: marketable players with actual personality. Big Papi. Pedro. King Felix. Bartolo (wherever he was). I was never thr biggest fan of his but even Jeetah himself (Derek, that is) had some personality. The Big Unit. Joey Bats. I can name plenty others from before the '00s, but you get my point. These guys are gone, and I can't think of anyone playing today aside from Bryce Harper who has any sort of tangible magnetic personality.

 

I guess MLB should really invest in some marketing smart guys to see what kind of PR they can do to, pardon the pun, make their game great again, because if they don't, baseball's collective visibility may just go the way of the dodobird before long.

[BBTV]

I'm 100% for rules changes to make the game more exciting.  I think my "random exploding grenade ball" idea was a good start.  I do want to go on the record as saying that I think introducing a gorilla would be going too far.

[infrared41]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

I'm 100% for rules changes to make the game more exciting.  I think my "random exploding grenade ball" idea was a good start.  I do want to go on the record as saying that I think introducing a gorilla would be going too far.

 

Are you kidding? The gorilla armed with what could be the grenade ball is exactly what MLB needs.

[heavybass]

 

 

[dont care]

4 hours ago, infrared41 said:

 

Are you kidding? The gorilla armed with what could be the grenade ball is exactly what MLB needs.

I was thinking more along the lines of have a gorilla used once per game as a pinch runner at third to steal home. If the catcher lives then the run doesn’t count.

[BBTV]

6 hours ago, dont care said:

I was thinking more along the lines of have a gorilla used once per game as a pinch runner at third to steal home. If the catcher lives then the run doesn’t count.

 

I just don't see the gorilla being able to understand the complexities of the game, unlike in football where we're really only asking him to perform one of a limited set of tasks.

 

You know how the bat boys always bring heaps of balls out to the umpires to put in their pouches?  Let's make two special types of balls and randomly put them in that pile so that one of each gets introduced into each game.

 

Type 1: upon contact, spikes pop out of it, so that fielders have a real tough choice to make, since fielding it would likely result in loss of fingers or even worse if it hits them in their chest.  Also, if it's a foul ball, any fan that's distracted by their phone might end up with spikes lodged in their brain.  Either way, fans (other than that one) win.

 

Type 2: upon contact, it explodes like a bomb, seriously injuring the batter (and I guess maybe the catcher) when it's hit.  Imagine the bottom of the 9th in game 7 of the world series.  The home team is up by 1 with two outs, but the bases are loaded and Freddie Freeman is up to bat.  Fans are biting their nails because a base hit wins the WS for his team.  But then he fouls off a ball and immediately explodes into flames.  Oh and here's the thing - he can't be replaced for a pinch hitter, so whether dead or barely alive (albeit charred), he has to finish the at-bat.  The home fans would go berserk!  

 

You want excitement into the game?  There you go. 

[dont care]

5 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

I just don't see the gorilla being able to understand the complexities of the game, unlike in football where we're really only asking him to perform one of a limited set of tasks.

 

You know how the bat boys always bring heaps of balls out to the umpires to put in their pouches?  Let's make two special types of balls and randomly put them in that pile so that one of each gets introduced into each game.

 

Type 1: upon contact, spikes pop out of it, so that fielders have a real tough choice to make, since fielding it would likely result in loss of fingers or even worse if it hits them in their chest.  Also, if it's a foul ball, any fan that's distracted by their phone might end up with spikes lodged in their brain.  Either way, fans (other than that one) win.

 

Type 2: upon contact, it explodes like a bomb, seriously injuring the batter (and I guess maybe the catcher) when it's hit.  Imagine the bottom of the 9th in game 7 of the world series.  The home team is up by 1 with two outs, but the bases are loaded and Freddie Freeman is up to bat.  Fans are biting their nails because a base hit wins the WS for his team.  But then he fouls off a ball and immediately explodes into flames.  Oh and here's the thing - he can't be replaced for a pinch hitter, so whether dead or barely alive (albeit charred), he has to finish the at-bat.  The home fans would go berserk!  

 

You want excitement into the game?  There you go. 

Gorilla doesn’t need to understand the game when all he is doing is running from 3rd to home, at any time, doesn’t matter when in the at bat. He doesn’t even have to run in a straight line. He can kill and maim every player on the field and both dug outs by the time he gets to home if he so chooses. Only the catcher has to survive to stop a run.

[BBTV]

4 minutes ago, dont care said:

Gorilla doesn’t need to understand the game when all he is doing is running from 3rd to home, at any time, doesn’t matter when in the at bat. He doesn’t even have to run in a straight line. He can kill and maim every player on the field and both dug outs by the time he gets to home if he so chooses. Only the catcher has to survive to stop a run.

 

So I guess my final question before approving this plan is this - is the gorilla at least wearing stirrups?

[gosioux76]

22 hours ago, DEAD! said:

 

I could only think of Mookie Betts to add. 

Man, looking back on the black players I remember watching as a youngster,

Mookie Wilson, Andre Dawson, Dave Winfield, Tony Gwynn, Dwight Gooden,  Devon White, Joe Carter, Barry Larkin, Kirby Puckett, Fred McGriff,  Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Dave Stewart, and Lou Whitaker (because I was 2nd baseman in Little League and I happen to have a Lou Whitaker glove)

Yes, it's a shame there aren't as many black players, especially stars, these days.

 

 

This may sound strange, but I think the game back then benefited from its relative lack of exposure. 

 

When you think back, those players became recognizable figures despite most of us having much less  access to the actual games themselves.  Like most of you who grew up in that era, I knew every one of those players and could name, I'd guess, 75% of the starting lineups of all the major league teams. Yet growing up in rural Minnesota in the '80s, the only televised baseball I could watch were Twins road games, the occasional nationally televised weekend game, the All-Star Game, NLCS, ALCS and World Series. Any sort of analysis or game reports came from nightly local broadcasts on TV news or from newspapers. 

 

The rest of it was up to consumers. So baseball fans like me became obsessed with baseball cards and related collectibles that flooded the market in that era. I subscribed to Sports Illustrated and bought other sports magazines off the rack. Baseball didn't necessarily need to market its stars because consumers were doing the heavy lifting for them.

 

Compare that with today, where we have access to almost every game, and especially game recaps, relatively easily, and where we can rely on the internet to get every morsel of information we could want.  In an environment like that, baseball needs to be more strategic about marketing its stars to compete with all of the other entertainment options available to us. Thus far, it appears as if the powers-that-be are the last ones to realize this. 

[TBGKon]

The 2022 Regular Season thread will be used moving forward

 

 

[infrared41]

3 hours ago, BBTV said:

I just don't see the gorilla being able to understand the complexities of the game,

 

OK, make it a chimp then. Chimps are smart, unpredictable, and super strong. A fully grown adult chimp can tear your arms off.