January 25, 201511 yr http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/new-commissioner-rob-manfred-open-to-banning-defensive-shifts-172529801.html New baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has been in office a little more than 12 hours and he's already making some interesting waves. In an interview that aired on ESPN on Sunday morning, Manfred made it clear that examining the pace of the game is first on his list of priorities, but not far behind will be finding ways to "inject additional offense into the game." Without being prompted for an example, Manfred specifically mentioned he'd be open to pursuing the elimination of defensive shifts, which he says give the defensive team a competitive advantage. Thoughts?
January 25, 201511 yr Author This would certainly help the offensive numbers and raise scoring which would be a good thing IMO.
January 25, 201511 yr Let's make circles in the field where the players have to play. Buster Olney has been ripping this on Twitter all day.
January 25, 201511 yr How about batters learn to hit opposite field? There's a novel idea. Why did more guys put up better offensive numbers back in the day? They could hit....
January 25, 201511 yr He cannot be serious, can he? If you don't want the other team to deploy a huge shift against you, take an easy bunt single 5 times in a row and they will stop. It drives me crazy when players don't. Jay Bruce could have bunted .500 or better last year but refused to. Why?? Is he too proud not to...but is OK hitting .210??
January 25, 201511 yr The easiest solution to increasing offense is lowering the mound again. Even if it's only 1". Banning the shift makes no sense to me.
January 25, 201511 yr Offense = Ratings Defense = Boring (to average fan) That's why Commish is looking to boost Offense Inconsistency in Strike Zone from day to day is maddening for me...that would be my first fix!
January 25, 201511 yr How about batters learn to hit opposite field? Yes that's a possibility. But remember, part of a shift working effectively, is pitchers pitching to the shift. Not easy to take a low and in pitch the other way. In addition, teams are perfectly happy giving up singles instead of solo home runs to left handed power hitters if that's how they want to beat the shift.
January 25, 201511 yr I would be against any banning of any defense. ALMOST any defense. For example, positions 3-9 standing within 6 feet of the plate would be ludicrous. Not to mention dangerous. But I do think that it would be terribly cumbersome and time-consuming to enforce just about any rule restricting defensive positioning.
January 26, 201511 yr Enforcement would be easy...SS and 3B must stay to the third base side of second base until the ball crosses the plate. Anything beyond that would be a pain IMO.
January 26, 201511 yr ALMOST any defense. For example, positions 3-9 standing within 6 feet of the plate would be ludicrous. Not to mention dangerous. But I do think that it would be terribly cumbersome and time-consuming to enforce just about any rule restricting defensive positioning. It would be ludicrous but I would not ban it. If a team wanted to employ it, let them. Even if the manager ordered it, I don't think too many players would listen to the "6 feet from the plate" defense. In the 76 World Series, I think Pete Rose was only about 30-40 feet from home plate when Mickey Rivers was batting - it was comical - and it totally took Rivers out of his game..
January 26, 201511 yr Enforcement would be easy...SS and 3B must stay to the third base side of second base until the ball crosses the plate. Anything beyond that would be a pain IMO. Why on the SS? What about outfielders?
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