Commissioner for a Day

[MattEmily]

I heard of this article that retired baseball player; Gary Sheffield had written and sent in to the Players' Tribune and I thought it was an interesting read.

Now I don't necessarily agree with everything that he says but I thought some points that he makes in the article that he wrote were interesting so I thought I should create a thread about it and then after we reply to his points we should decide on what we would do if we were the Commissioner of MLB.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/ga...ner-for-a-day/

Issue: Throwing at Batters

Now while I agree that throwing at batters is wrong it's wrong how things are done and it's also wrong what Sheffield encourages.
I think that if a pitcher intentionally throws at a batter then the opposing pitcher should be allowed to do the same then teams should be warned if it goes any farther than that.
Also Pitchers shouldn't be allowed to throw at batters' heads and if the Home Plate Umpire or the Crew Chief feels that a Pitcher is doing so then they should be ejected immediately and automatically subjected to a fine and a suspension and the suspension should last at least 20 games.

Issue: Telling Guys How They Can Slide

I agree that the sliding rules are ridiculous but to be fair they are designed to prevent a serious injury.

Issue: Extra Innings

while his suggestion for Extra Innings is interesting I'm not for it and Extra Innings should remain as they are.

Issue: Instant Replay

I disagree that instant replay is ridiculous. Replays help get the call right and the majority of the time the replays are right yes there are those long replay calls that take a lot of time to get the call right but I'd rather they get the call right than wrong even if it takes them 10 minutes to go through the various video angles.

Now about the pace of play I disagree there should be no mound visits but I do agree that there are way too many visits to the mound between the Pitcher and other fielders now I'm not saying they should get rid of the fielder mound visits but they should limit them depending on the score on the game and what inning the game is in.

Shifts shouldn't go away since they do help out the defense as well as the Pitchers.

I do agree that the Wild Card Play-Off format should be a series instead of a 1 and done game.

Nope no DH in the NL since I like that the leagues have different rules and therefore they have different strategies granted it's an unfair advantage for the NL when it comes to Interleague Play but I do think there's an easy way to overcome that unfair advantage.

I agree that the PED policy is not strict enough since the first suspension is a 80 game suspension along with the Playoffs, the 2nd suspension is a 162 game suspension including the Playoffs and the 3rd suspension is a life ban.

Commissioner For A Day

Throwing at Batters = this would be allowed but only in the case of if a Pitcher throws at a batter then the opposing Pitcher would be permitted to do so as well but in the event that a Pitcher throws at a batter's head then an Umpire (only the Home Plate Umpire or the Crew Chief) would be permitted to throw a Pitcher out for intentionally throw a Pitcher out.
Also if a Pitcher throws at a batter and an opposing Pitcher continues and then continues after that then the Umpires may elect to warn or eject at their discretion.

Instant Replay should be expanded but things such as balks, check swings and of course ball and strikes shouldn't be counted in the replay list but all other things should be included in the list regardless of whether the play is done before the Umpire or not.

Wild Card Game - the 1 and done game should be done away and it should be a best of 5 series.

no DH in the NL but I do think there should be more Interleague Games in fact all 30 teams should have the opportunity to play each other at least once.

PED suspensions should be stricter not as strict as what Sheffield suggested but I do think the first suspension should suspend a player for 100 games and the next 2 suspensions should remain what they are currently.

No-pitch intentional walk and the time clocks shouldn't exist the clocks should only exist for the purposes of when the TV networks are aware of when to come back to the game.

All Star Teams should be picked by the Managers only and not by the fans however the special MLB Ballots that Players and Coaches elect their votes on should still continue for some bench players and a few Pitchers that will be in the bullpen.

[PRangerX]

Get rid of the draft and international draft cap.

Teams no longer lose draft picks for signing fas. But they still get comp picks. Go back to using statistics to determine type a free agents. If a team signs more than three type a in a season they will surrender their first round pick to the team with the worst five year record.

Draft picks are made tradeable.

Negotiate a deal with the Yankees and Mets to allow the Rays to move to Brooklyn and become the Blues. Swap the Blues to the National League and move the Marlins to the American League.

Move the As to Portland Oregon.

Expand in Montreal (American) and Boston (National). Montreal Expos and Boston Americans .

Make a deal with Japan and Korea that would allow teams to loan players there and still retain their rights. Pending player approval. The team would still have to pay the difference of what the Japan team would pay but it wouldn't count against the luxury tax.

Insitute a pitch clock and enforce batters box rules.

Have a fifth umpire for replays who makes a quick call on challenges.

After the 12 inning of regular season extra inning games runners are automatically placed on first for each half inning. The playoffs keep the old format.

Limit interleague play to two series a year that feature natural rivalries.

[MattEmily]

Originally Posted by PRangerX

Get rid of the draft and international draft cap.

Teams no longer lose draft picks for signing fas. But they still get comp picks. Go back to using statistics to determine type a free agents. If a team signs more than three type a in a season they will surrender their first round pick to the team with the worst five year record.

Draft picks are made tradeable.

I disagree with the cap since it enforces more of a fair playing structure.
I disagree with teams no longer losing draft picks but I agree with the comp picks.
I disagree with the stats thing since it'd be unfairly judged.
I agree with you about making picks being tradable.

Negotiate a deal with the Yankees and Mets to allow the Rays to move to Brooklyn and become the Blues. Swap the Blues to the National League and move the Marlins to the American League.

Move the As to Portland Oregon.

Expand in Montreal (American) and Boston (National). Montreal Expos and Boston Americans.

I don't agree with the Rays thing yes they should be moving to a new city but it should be in a state that doesn't have a MLB team. The Marlins shouldn't come to the AL.
I do agree that Oakland should be moving but where is the question.
I don't agree about expanding in Montreal or Boston.

Make a deal with Japan and Korea that would allow teams to loan players there and still retain their rights. Pending player approval. The team would still have to pay the difference of what the Japan team would pay but it wouldn't count against the luxury tax.

that's not a bad idea but instead it should be a renting system so that players can get a feel on how they might do in MLB.

Insitute a pitch clock and enforce batters box rules.

Have a fifth umpire for replays who makes a quick call on challenges.

After the 12 inning of regular season extra inning games runners are automatically placed on first for each half inning. The playoffs keep the old format.

Limit interleague play to two series a year that feature natural rivalries.

No to pitch clocks and no to enforcing the batter's box rules
I disagree with the 5th Umpire since you need someone who is not on the field who has access to all of the available video angles. I do think they need to make some changes in regards to replays such as what I had mentioned earlier but also I think their Replay Command Center should be an Umpire Committee and there's like 3 Umpires who are assigned to watch a selection of games and then the majority (meaning 2 out of the 3 Umpires that are assigned to a selection of games) must reach a consensus about a replay decision.

No about after the 12th inning of a regular season games. That would be downright horrible if that came down to deciding a divisional winner or who would be the Wild Card teams.

Absolutely not about the Interleague thing.

[PRangerX]

Actually eliminating the cap would help teams build quicker. Before the cap was put in place even smaller market teams were spending big money on draft picks and international players. Most small market teams can still afford to spend millions on the draft. The system was starting to police itself before they changed it.

They need to speed up the game for younger viewers. So a pitch clock and new extra innings policy should be attempted. There is no reason why a 18 inning game should be played in april or may. Its overkill for the casual fans.

Boston and New York could support more teams. And it would add more rivalries. Not to mention create more completion for high payroll teams. Particularly in New York and Boston. That said it would be hard to pull off with strict territory rights rules in place.

[MattEmily]

Originally Posted by PRangerX

Actually eliminating the cap would help teams build quicker. Before the cap was put in place even smaller market teams were spending big money on draft picks and international players. Most small market teams can still afford to spend millions on the draft. The system was starting to police itself before they changed it.

They need to speed up the game for younger viewers. So a pitch clock and new extra innings policy should be attempted. There is no reason why a 18 inning game should be played in april or may. Its overkill for the casual fans.

Boston and New York could support more teams. And it would add more rivalries. Not to mention create more completion for high payroll teams. Particularly in New York and Boston. That said it would be hard to pull off with strict territory rights rules in place.

true but it's not a hard cap and if the cap was no more teams could spend however much they would want which would be bad.

Yes it's annoying having long games but you don't want pitch clocks or a new extra inning format to be the deciding factor on whether you're a contender or pretender I mean you can lose your season in April just as easily as you can lose your chance in August or September.

I'd think it would be better to go with a new team in another state since the territory rights wouldn't be as tough to get around in those cases I mean in the case of any New York teams you would have at least 2 New York teams to reach a consensus with.

[MattEmily]

I do think that them throwing out the baseball if it gets any dirt on it is ridiculous though. Yes I understand the reasons for it but it's just pointless since sweat will get on it and in the case of delays you could have snow or even rain on it so it's just pointless however if fielders want to throw out the ball after the 3rd out after their turn on defense then I say that should be allowed.

Arguments shouldn't take longer than a minute and if they do the player or coach should get a warning and if the argument continues for another 20 seconds then the player or Coach should be ejected.

Decisions on whether to challenge a play or not shouldn't take any longer than 30 seconds.