What would you do to improve baseball?

[Northern Star]

1. Eliminate guaranteed contracts

2. Seriously consider - but not necessarily implement - a salary cap

3. Look into relocating the Rays to the Carolinas

4. End the WS home field advantage based on All Star Game winner rule - the first thing I would do, actually.

[a700hitter]

Any visit to the mound by a catcher or infielder is a charged visit. Enough of all the conferences with players talking to their gloves. Institute an automatic called strike if a batter steps out of the batters box between pitches without permission which shall be granted only for injury or an equipment problem.

[Spudboy]

Any visit to the mound by a catcher or infielder is a charged visit. Enough of all the conferences with players talking to their gloves. Institute an automatic called strike if a batter steps out of the batters box between pitches without permission which shall be granted only for injury or an equipment problem.

 

Yeah something along these lines must be done. The game just drags on and on while batters constantly adjust their gloves and crap.

 

This was very noticeable last night with Koji in the 9th. He worked so fast I had to pay attention!

[Palodios]

Move to an automated balls and strike system. Inconsistent umpires are no longer needed by the game. An electronic system would save game time on arguing strike calls, and make the game more fair for everyone.

 

The MLB also needs to speed up the game. They need to cut out all the crap between pitches. No useless mound meetings, put a limit on the number of token pickoff attempts per PA, no timeouts for batters unless they are hit by a foul or need an equipment change. Enforce these with in-game penalties like strike/ball calls. The Josh Becketts and Dice-ks of the game make the game unbearable. I have no problem giving bullpen pitchers 2-3 extra minutes to warm up if that means a commercial break which I will spend watching a different television channel.

[jacksonianmarch]

I like the game as it is. I think the next thing we're going to see if the elimination of penalties for team's signing QO players. We might see the teams losing a QO player get 2 picks instead of 1, but having a penalty for the signing team effectively forces middle tier players to stay in locations they don't want to stay in.

[mvp 78]

150 game schedule that includes day/night double headers. Get rid of interleague play. Pitch clock of 20 seconds. Salary floor of $50M per MLB team. Get rid of instant replay. Have the bottom 3 teams from each league ineligible for the following year's playoffs. Make umps go back to the 80's style chest shields or move to a robotic strike zone.

[gojohn99]

I like the 150 game schedule. The season is too long. But will you get owners to give up 6 games / gate / concession each? I doubt it..

[mvp 78]

I like the 150 game schedule. The season is too long. But will you get owners to give up 6 games / gate / concession each? I doubt it..

 

Make up for it in ticket price and concession increases. Less tickets should lead to greater demand.

[Palodios]

You would either have to convince the player's union to pay for 12 fewer games per year, or ask the owners to bite it -- that's a strike waiting to happen.

 

The problem with reducing the numbers of game played isn't just money though. The sports holds its records sacred. The HR record (or atleast it used to be...). The 3000 hit club. The 300 win club and 20 win seasons. 50 saves. 30/30 players. 200 IP pitchers.

 

You can't move those benchmarks until all the old stalwarts have died. It has been 40 years and the NL still doesn't have the designated hitter, despite all the pitcher injuries we see, and the player's union with much to gain there.

[mvp 78]

It's NOT going to happen, but I think baseball would be better off for it.

 

It's far more likely than the elimination of guaranteed contracts.

[Palodios]

It's NOT going to happen, but I think baseball would be better off for it.

 

It's far more likely than the elimination of guaranteed contracts.

 

Fair enough.

 

However, I would not be surprised to see guaranteed contracts slowly phased out. We saw something strange happen to the Mets, who opted out of their contract with Kyle Farnsworth, for only a few thousand bucks. The Red Sox and other teams have been adding health clauses to contracts for a few years, noticeably John Lackey.

 

There has been a very noticeable decline in the quality and impact of high cost free agents. Players in their 30s just don't perform as well as 20 year olds nowadays -- especially pitching.

 

If the league rid itself of all of those one-dumb-owners out there, contracts would crash. Someday....

[jacksonianmarch]

Contracts aren't coming down and guaranteeds are here to stay. It all about the market. And as long as you have 1 owner willing to pay, you'll always have dumb contracts

[Youk Of The Nation]

1. Replace one baseball per game with a small explosive charge, filled with glitter, streamers, and a small speaker pre-programmed with a stirring, yet tasteful, trumpet solo. Ser the charge to detonate on contact with a bat and award the player who sets it off with an inside-the-park home run.

 

2. Allow fans in the stands to pelt thrown-out baserunners with water balloons as the player walks back to the dugout

 

3. Settle all safe/out calls at home plate through a spirited round of Rock, Paper, Scissors between the runner and the catcher.

 

4. Replace the home plate umpire with a robot capable of correctly calling balls and strikes. Program the robot to brutally slaughter all members of the visiting team and approximately 45% of the fans, at random intervals. Just to keep everyone on their toes, and also just as a posthumous "f*** you" to Isaac Asimov.

 

5. Amend the rulebook to state that any player struck by a pitch that is deemed by the umpires to be intentional is awarded second base on the field and third base with the pitcher's wife or girlfriend.

 

6. Let Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame on the condition that he work a minimum of 50 hours a week doing loud, unnecessary construction directly in front of Barry Bond's home between the hours of 2-6 AM.

 

7. Install a hidden trapdoor in each MLB outfield, directly above a pit filled with either ravenous crocodiles or (depending on if the local climate can sustain crocodiles) poisoned spikes. Inform all major league players of the pits' locations except for Brett Gardner.

 

9. At the conclusion of each All-Star game, have the managers of the NL and AL teams duel with rapiers, sans protective gear. Home field advantage goes to the man who draws first blood.

 

10. Continue to launch fireworks in celebration of home runs, but launch them horizontally.

[Thunder]

150 game schedule that includes day/night double headers. Get rid of interleague play. Pitch clock of 20 seconds. Salary floor of $50M per MLB team. Get rid of instant replay. Have the bottom 3 teams from each league ineligible for the following year's playoffs. Make umps go back to the 80's style chest shields or move to a robotic strike zone.

 

That would mean that the Sox wouldn't have won the WS last year.

[VA Sox Fan]

1. Replace one baseball per game with a small explosive charge, filled with glitter, streamers, and a small speaker pre-programmed with a stirring, yet tasteful, trumpet solo. Ser the charge to detonate on contact with a bat and award the player who sets it off with an inside-the-park home run.

 

2. Allow fans in the stands to pelt thrown-out baserunners with water balloons as the player walks back to the dugout

 

3. Settle all safe/out calls at home plate through a spirited round of Rock, Paper, Scissors between the runner and the catcher.

 

4. Replace the home plate umpire with a robot capable of correctly calling balls and strikes. Program the robot to brutally slaughter all members of the visiting team and approximately 45% of the fans, at random intervals. Just to keep everyone on their toes, and also just as a posthumous "f*** you" to Isaac Asimov.

 

5. Amend the rulebook to state that any player struck by a pitch that is deemed by the umpires to be intentional is awarded second base on the field and third base with the pitcher's wife or girlfriend.

 

6. Let Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame on the condition that he work a minimum of 50 hours a week doing loud, unnecessary construction directly in front of Barry Bond's home between the hours of 2-6 AM.

 

7. Install a hidden trapdoor in each MLB outfield, directly above a pit filled with either ravenous crocodiles or (depending on if the local climate can sustain crocodiles) poisoned spikes. Inform all major league players of the pits' locations except for Brett Gardner.

 

9. At the conclusion of each All-Star game, have the managers of the NL and AL teams duel with rapiers, sans protective gear. Home field advantage goes to the man who draws first blood.

 

10. Continue to launch fireworks in celebration of home runs, but launch them horizontally.

 

Classic post! LMAO!!!

[mvp 78]

That would mean that the Sox wouldn't have won the WS last year.

 

Ok.

[VA Sox Fan]

Ok.

 

Based on this season so far, wasn't last season a fluke anyway and the Red Sox shouldn't have won the WS last year? That's not my opinion but some reporters were spouting the non-sense.