Neyer: I would outlaw the intentional walk.

Nah. I kind of like the intentional walk as a strategy, even though managers ridiculously over-use it.

I would shorten the season by two weeks, by shortening the schedule to 154 games and scheduling five or six doubleheaders per team.

Nah. I like the length of the season.

I'd shorten the postseason, though. But that ship has sailed.

I would shorten the time between half-innings by 30 seconds.

Unrealistic, of course. Though the length of the breaks has never been an issue for me.

I would order the umpires to enforce the rules prohibiting fielders from blocking bases (including home plate)

Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.

I would do whatever I could to lower the number of pitching changes.

I wouldn't push for this as the commissioner, but if I were a GM I'd find a manager who knew how to run a bullpen.

Oh, and I would set a maximum decibel level for ballpark sound systems that would result in a great deal less noise than we hear now.

Good idea.

Enforcing the strike zone is another one. And replays for home run calls and foul balls only.

I also tend to like players who read books, or write poetry

I call this one, "I Don't Care If You Like Me":
I'd hurt your team?
A mad delusion.
It sure would seem
To be collusion.
--Barry Bonds

I would shorten the season by two weeks, by shortening the schedule to 154 games and scheduling five or six doubleheaders per team.

I agree with this 100%. While I like that baseball starts in early April and ends in October, it's too much. They should probably hack a week off each end.

I agree with this 100%. While I like that baseball starts in early April and ends in October, it's too much. They should probably hack a week off each end.

But why is it too much? Since I like baseball, the more the better.

I agree with this 100%. While I like that baseball starts in early April and ends in October, it's too much. They should probably hack a week off each end.

Noooooooo! Please don't take my baseball from me! I hate the days when there are no box scores.

Neyer: I would outlaw the intentional walk.

I don't like the intentional walk either, but how do you accomplish this? The "unintentional" IBB is always on the table unless you start giving two bases per four-pitch walk.

I don't like the intentional walk either, but how do you accomplish this? The "unintentional" IBB is always on the table unless you start giving two bases per four-pitch walk.

At least the ball is still near the strike zone in this situation. And, there's always the chance that the pitcher will miss his spot, or throw a wild pitch or something. I think that's what he's going for.

Noooooooo! Please don't take my baseball from me! I hate the days when there are no box scores.

Me too, but I'm not a fan of snow baseball either.

Change the rule so that the catcher has to have both feet in the catcher's box when he catches the ball (not when the pitch is thrown), or all runners advance one base. That way, the pitch can be an intentional ball, but it has to be close enough for the occasional "miss".

The biggest change would be to enforce a rule book strike zone. Someone should tell MLB that the whole point to breaking a union is so that you can make them do what you want.

Change the rule so that the catcher has to have both feet in the catcher's box when he catches the ball (not when the pitch is thrown), or all runners advance one base. That way, the pitch can be an intentional ball, but it has to be close enough for the occasional "miss".

Win.

I give this reaction to anyone who wants to take my precious baseball games away from me.

- Anything to speed up the pace of the game. Enforce the rule to pitch every 20 seconds - make the hitter stay in the batters box; limit the number of throws to first. Bill James had a good idea on that one - something along the lines of -pitcher can throw to first twice for "free". On the third throw - if the runner is safe, then he gets to move up a bag.

Me too, but I'm not a fan of snow baseball either.

Snow baseball beats no baseball.

And if we want to shorten something, once again, let's start with the postseason.

I'd add a roster spot and schedule enough doubleheaders to keep the schedule at 162 games but shrink the calendar length of the season by 10-14 days. Yes, I like baseball, too, but, as pointed out, snow ball (and it's cousin cold ball) isn't fun. Add the roster spot to increase pitching flexibility and placate the union on the additional doubleheaders.

What surprised me is just how few of the stories in the book are actually true. I didn’t have any particular preconceptions heading into the project, but I suppose if you’d pinned me down I’d have predicted that perhaps half the stories I researched would be true, or essentially true. But the actual number is far, far below half. And I’m not just talking about the piddly stuff, the “Joe Blow said he homered on Tuesday evening but it was actually Thursday morning” sort of stuff. I’m talking about players tell stories about important things, and finding that the stories simply don’t check out.

Don’t come close to checking out.

Imagine that.

Change the rule so that the catcher has to have both feet in the catcher's box when he catches the ball (not when the pitch is thrown), or all runners advance one base. That way, the pitch can be an intentional ball, but it has to be close enough for the occasional "miss".

I'd go for one foot...some pitches thrown in good intent can be pretty bad, and those are exciting plays that would be taken away if the catcher essentially couldn't move to get them.

I'd move one NL team to the AL to form three 5-team divisions in each league. (The team would probably be Houston, leaving the NL Central and AL West with five teams each and intensifying the Astros' rivalry with Texas.) True, there'd be interleague play all season long, but that doesn't bother me.

Scheduling could become a bit more equitable:

72 games within division (18 X 4)
60 games within league outside division (6 x 10)
30 interleague games (6 vs. designated rival, or rotating designated rival aside from NYY-NYM, Bal-Was, TB-Fla, Cle-Cin, CWS-Cub, KC-StL, Mil-Min, LAD-LAA and Oak-SF), 24 vs. other teams rotating divisions two out of three each year

I don't think that the MLBPA is hip to the idea of more doubleheaders.

Decibel levels lowered, I like it. Can you also be in charge of movie theaters for a day for the same reason?

Yes, I like baseball, too, but, as pointed out, snow ball (and it's cousin cold ball) isn't fun.

I don't know; it's pretty warm in my living room, and doesn't usually snow in there.

I would have a rule where if you hadn't been in a World Series in 35 years or more you automatically get into the World Series the next year.

True, there'd be interleague play all season long, but that doesn't bother me.

If I were commissioner for a day, my only course of action would be to ensure TerpsNats never becomes commissioner for any day following me.

I don't think that the MLBPA is hip to the idea of more doubleheaders.

Indeed. Why I suggested additional roster spots. though that probably wouldn't be enough, I'll grant. I also like more doubleheaders because it would mean more day games. Day baseball is cool.

OK, bunyon. I skimmed over your #12. I do agree with your #21.

I can't imagine the owners are hip to more doubleheaders either unless they're day-night.

Only things I agree with Neyer on is enforcing the rules that are already on the books. The decibel level in the park doesn't really bother me cause Wrigley keeps it pretty quiet.

I'd add a roster spot

They'd just waste it on a LOOGY.

-36 teams
-set the schedule so that either all the teams are playing on a day or they're all off (and do it so that all the off days are set, like every other Thursday or something)
-Make the World Series HFA based on regular season records

would result in a great deal less noise than we hear now.

A little Borbetomagus at the ballpark would be kinda cool actually.

(that one's for Repoz)

Commissioner for a Day?

1. Contract Tampa Bay immediately -- obviously they can't draw a crowd in that market ... and, worse, they're making me look silly.

2. Add two teams to the NY metro area. Yes, I know I need a 3rd team somewhere with TB gone, but I'll leave that headache for tomorrow's commissioner.

3. Tell MLBAM to stop wasting the Supreme Court's time.

4. Tell Cooperstown to put Sean Forman in the HoF already!

I can't imagine the owners are hip to more doubleheaders either unless they're day-night.

of course. I have no problem with day-night doubleheaders and have never understood why fans expect to get twice the product at the same price.

1. Introduce relegation to AAA for the worst team in each league.

2. Pay me an obscene salary.

3. Wise to the ways of the world I wouldn't put more teams in New York, it's not like Leyton Orient, Brentford or even West Ham are costing Arsenal or Chelsea any revenues.

4. I would, however, be in favor of a series on the moon.

5. And I would sell 30 franchises in the newly not-pointless AAA for 10 million bucks apiece. No questions asked.

I'd put a team in Columbus, Ohio.

What? Commissioner or not, I don't wanna live in New York.

"Change the rule so that the catcher has to have both feet in the catcher's box when he catches the ball (not when the pitch is thrown), or all runners advance one base. That way, the pitch can be an intentional ball, but it has to be close enough for the occasional "miss"."

I might be missing it, but wouldn't that effectively eliminate pitch-outs as well?

Sorry, Mr. Neyer. The correct answer to the "commisioner for a day" question is:

"I'd eliminate the position of Commissioner of Baseball."

I'd be satisfied with more day games. Postseason ESPECIALLY.

If there's no intentional BB, how are you going to keep pitchers from throwing at the hitters? There's more than one way to give a batter a free base.

I might be missing it, but wouldn't that effectively eliminate pitch-outs as well?

That was my first reaction, also.

A MLB team on Coney Island would be great. Just expand the current Cyclones stadium.

I don't think that relegation would work in baseball. The US isn't as geographically compact as the European countries.

I might be missing it, but wouldn't that effectively eliminate pitch-outs as well?

I hadn't thought of that, but I wouldn't mind, either.

Relegation is a horrible idea.

relegation is a horrible idea for MLB. I like it in soccer. If the minor leagues weren't what they are - developmental leagues for the big club - then it might be a good idea. Whether or not it would be fun or not, the changes to baseball as a whole that would have to occur in order to implement relegation would be far too taxing.

If I was Commissioner for a day, I'd -

- Eliminate interleague play

- Go back to a four-division setup, with one less round of playoffs

- Deaden the ball so that offense returns to 1992 levels

- Yes on the minimum bat thickness

- Give the Blue Jays and the Rays two (2) years to figure out how to have natural grass in their stadia. Ban artificial surfaces forever.

I don't think that relegation would work in baseball. The US isn't as geographically compact as the European countries.

Russia is pretty big.

As a fan, you can't swap the team you support if it is relegated, that is really taboo. You have to endure miserable lower-league football, possibly forever.

Relegation is a horrible idea.

If you're afraid of playing for real stakes it is a horrible idea.

Eliminate interleague play

I wouldn't eliminate it, but I'd cut back on it drastically. I enjoy seeing games like Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, Cardinals-Royals, Marlins- Rays, A's-Giants, etc.

The problem with relegation is that there aren't any untapped markets for MLB to get into. The cities currently supporting minor-league teams simply wouldn't be able to support a major-league team financially.

If you're afraid of playing for real stakes it is a horrible idea.

Then why dick around with relegation? Team executions are better.

They'd just waste it on a LOOGY.

Allow each team one single-batter pitching change a game. From then on, each pitcher must face two hitters before being removed. To prevent pitchers from faking an injury to leave after a single batter, don't allow a substitution - make the opposing team use a position player to pitch the next batter if the pitcher is "unable to continue" after a single batter. Don't want that situation? Don't use your LOOGY allotment unless there's an emergency.

(Note: I believe the first part - limiting or eliminating LOOGYs - was Bill James's idea, which we've discussed at length on BTF before.)

I enjoy seeing games like Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, Cardinals-Royals, Marlins- Rays, A's-Giants, etc.

I don't. I find those "rivalries" to be fake.

The problem with relegation is that there aren't any untapped markets for MLB to get into. The cities currently supporting minor-league teams simply wouldn't be able to support a major-league team financially.

This misses the point of promotion and relegation. Ideally, it works like a market. You don't worry about what places can support what teams. That just falls out naturally. If Montreal can't support the Expos then they fall down to AAA or wherever. More teams from the existing big markets would bubble up, and maybe you'd have several major league clubs in metro New York. Some talent-spotting genius would run a team and so Birmingham would bounce around in the big leagues for a few years. Almost as exciting would be when Helena and Pulaski string together a few big years and so get to play AAA titans like Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and the recently relegated Texas Rangers.

Also, it would bring back real competitive local baseball. In a few years I'm likely to be living in some random college town somewhere. I'd love to have the local minor league team play games for some reason other than that the players can learn enough to play elsewhere a few years in the future.

I agree, though, that it would never happen. There's too much financial risk for too many people (players and owners). Better to keep sucking at the money trough and keep the monopoly as is.

I enjoy seeing games like Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, Cardinals-Royals, Marlins- Rays, A's-Giants, etc.

The problem is, those are the only enjoyable rivalries. Really, even some of those are a stretch. Interleague is basically around so that New York, Chicago, and LA can have rivalry games while all the other teams don't have a rival and don't get any extra benefit.

The cities currently supporting minor-league teams simply wouldn't be able to support a major-league team financially.

Neyer (and others) have written numerous times that if Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee can support teams, than Indianapolis, Portland, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham could, too.

I wish they could find a sensible scheduling system as opposed to whatever standard is used now.

Plus, perhaps they should hold division record as the most important standard for winning a division, while the wildcard goes to the best team who didn't win a division.

Maybe 32 teams will work in order to make the divisions better too.

32 teams, 2 leagues, 16 per league, 8 per division, 2 wildcards per league.

And the teams can be in Portland, and maybe Richmond or somewhere in Virginia.

Divisions under that

AL East: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New York, Tampa Bay, Toronto
AL West: Anaheim, Arizona, Kansas City, Minnesota, Oakland, Portland, Seattle, Texas

NL East: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Florida, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Washington
NL West: Chicago, Colorado, Houston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, San Francisco, San Diego, St. Louis

The divisions would have unofficial pods of 4 teams each. Those pods

AL East 1: Baltimore, Boston, New York, Tampa Bay
AL East 2: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto
AL West 1: Anaheim, Oakland, Portland, Seattle
AL West 2: Arizona, Kansas City, Minnesota, Texas
NL East 1: Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
NL East 2: Atlanta, Florida, Richmond, Washington
NL West 1: Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee, St. Louis
NL West 2: Colorado, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego

Teams will play 12 interleague games, 6 against teams in an opposing pod, 6 against a traditional rival.

They will play the other league teams in 48 games.

They'll play the other division teams in 98 games.

For a total of 158 games.

But maybe something else is better.

ok, I had some some other reason for the pods, but I forget what it was

How about this:

If you hit the ball, fair or foul, and your bat breaks into two or more pieces, you're out.

Nah, too harsh.

If you hit the ball, and your bat breaks into two or more pieces, the ball is dead and you're still up at bat.

Change the rule so that the catcher has to have both feet in the catcher's box when he catches the ball (not when the pitch is thrown), or all runners advance one base. That way, the pitch can be an intentional ball, but it has to be close enough for the occasional "miss".

Not only eliminating pitch-outs, as noted above, but making every wild pitch an automatic base. Outlawing it is more trouble than it's worth.

Frankly, I'm astounded that anyone feels so strongly anti-intentional walk. It never seemed that pernicious to me. And it has its place in the game. It's an interesting strategy to consider, and it led to the wonderful baseball moment of watching Buck Showalter have to give the "four-fingers" sign repeatedly to the incredulous pitcher (who was it?) instructing him to walk Bonds with the bases loaded.

Better --

If you hit the ball, and your bat breaks into two or more pieces, you are dead and you're still up at bat.

#53 -

GMTA.

Better:

If you hit the ball, fair or foul, and your bat breaks into two or more pieces, Roger Clemens gets to throw the largest bat fragment at your head.

Frankly, I'm astounded that anyone feels so strongly anti-intentional walk. It never seemed that pernicious to me.

It's more the usage that bothers me. Too many people are intentionally walked.

----32 teams, 8 divisions of 4 teams each, no wild card

----WS home field advantage to the league of the defending World Champion (call it the "winner breaks" rule)

----either 154 games or 8 doubleheaders; in any event, cut a week from each end of the season

----only one home and one road uniform per team, per season

----postseason games to begin no later than 7:00 local time, regardless of time zone

----during the LCS round, mandatory day games whenever two home teams from the same time zone are scheduled on the same day

----strictly enforce the 20 second rule with a giant clock hovering over the stadium

----legalize the spitball and other trick pitches

----allow the elbow protector, but no free base if a pitch hits it, unless the batter hits the ground trying to avoid it

----10% of the seats behind the plate to be sold at inflation-adjusted 1958 prices on an unreserved, first come/first served basis, beginning two hours before the game; ticket buyers' hands will be stamped and displayed upon entry along with ticket to prevent scalping; and as a sop to the adjacent luxury box owners, no waiters or waitresses shall take these bargain hunters' food orders

----designated section for cigar smokers and tobacco chewers, but only the cheap and stinky variety; no "cigar aficianados" and no spittoons

----eliminate any noise amplification other than a popcorn megaphone, and resurrect Pat Pieper; music restricted to live kazoos and other acoustical instruments for the untalented

----hard liquor section with at least 10% reserved for moonshine; may be combined with the stinky cigar section

----mandatory 15 minute autograph session before each game, rotated among groupings of five players per game from each team, strictly reserved for children under 13 years old, and each autograph must be personalized to foil greedy little entrepreneurs

----owners must pass a stiff baseball history test, present owners included and no exceptions

And that's the way it oughta be.

----WS home field advantage to the league of the defending World Champion (call it the "winner breaks" rule)

For some reason this issue has never interested me in the slightest.

----and ballparks shall be given only (a) easily pronouncable names with at least one vowel per syllable; and (b) names that are known to at least 75% of the adult population prior to the naming, to be determined by a vote conducted in the bleachers

----WS home field advantage to the league of the defending World Champion (call it the "winner breaks" rule)

For some reason this issue has never interested me in the slightest.

It's the inner nine ball player in me, Ray.

only one home and one road uniform per team, per season

I agree. I'd make an exception for ONE (1) turn-back the clock game per team per season, with the codicil that the opposing team MUST participate and wear appropriate uniforms as well.

In the 10th inning of the Tigers-Angels game last night (Monday) Freddy Dolsi threw a Wild Pitch while Intentionally Walking Garrett Anderson & put the winning run on 3rd base.

And who, after listening to the wonders of Saturday's Reds-Padres game, would want to limit pitcher substitutions?

Frankly, I'm astounded that anyone feels so strongly anti-intentional walk. It never seemed that pernicious to me. And it has its place in the game. It's an interesting strategy to consider, and it led to the wonderful baseball moment of watching Buck Showalter have to give the "four-fingers" sign repeatedly to the incredulous pitcher (who was it?) instructing him to walk Bonds with the bases loaded.

I've posted this before, and everyone thought I was nuts, but why can't the hitter intentionally whiff at the first two pitches in order to get the defense to pitch to him? Or let the first one or two go by, THEN swing at the next two, to get a 1-2 or 2-2 or even 3-2 count? I swear that one of these decades a hitter is going to do just that, and I can't imagine the look on the pitcher's face as he looks confusedly into his own dugout for further instructions. If it is a choice between letting Barry Bonds hit 2-2, or Edgardo Alfonzo at 0-0 with Barry at first, then why not give it a shot?

I'm not too crazy about the wild card, but if we're stuck with 8 playoff teams (and no more!), then it is the lesser of the evil which would occur if a 75 win team wins its division while a 95 win team doesn't make it. Yeah I'd love good old fashioned pennant races, 4 8 team divisions, but that grand old nag was put out of her misery long ago.

Yeah I'd love good old fashioned pennant races

I thought the new-fangled pennant races last year were pretty good.

I've posted this before, and everyone thought I was nuts, but why can't the hitter intentionally whiff at the first two pitches in order to get the defense to pitch to him?

Because, why "earn" the base when someone's giving it to you for free? As much as people don't want to admit that walks are good (the old avg. vs. obp argument), players instinctively know that getting on base gives them a better chance of scoring than trying to get a hit.

i hate getting into this discussion late. but i've already had this figured out for a long time.

radical realignment. collapse the two leagues together. should have been done in 2000 to celebrate the new century.

put a team in brooklyn and a team somewhere out west.

8 4-team divisions, 4 divisions east of the miss., 4 divisions west of the miss., then you can do a modified balanced schedule as in the NBA where every team plays its rivals on the same side of the miss. a set no. of times and then does a sort of home and home with rivals on the other side. i had some setup where the season was a little over 162 games or a little under, i forget.

the regional rivalries would really heat up.

finally, make the players pull their pants up and show their socks. i HATE the long pants.

I would change the divisions to be based on geographical area. All of the California teams and Seattle and Arizona would be in one division for example. MLB has two leagues overlapping an enormous country. Players would appreciate shorter commutes I bet. I would also try to include a Mexican team, Cuban team and Puerto Rican team (forget a little lost revenue) to expand the game. Joining the Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean leagues would be good too (not up to the commish, though).
Also, I would do all of the speed up the game stuff which I have commented about before.

A little lost revenue?

Although Puerto Rico has 4M people (about the size of the Phoenix metropolitan area) but with relatively flat population growth, and it has a per capita income of less than $20k (the US average is $45k).

The entire island of Cuba has 11M people, but a per capita income of $4.5k.

The metropolitan area of Mexico City has 20M people with a per capita income of $22k.

None of those locals could sustain a MLB franchise without the other teams subsidizing well over half of its operating and payroll expenses.

I've posted this before, and everyone thought I was nuts, but why can't the hitter intentionally whiff at the first two pitches in order to get the defense to pitch to him? Or let the first one or two go by, THEN swing at the next two, to get a 1-2 or 2-2 or even 3-2 count? I swear that one of these decades a hitter is going to do just that, and I can't imagine the look on the pitcher's face as he looks confusedly into his own dugout for further instructions. If it is a choice between letting Barry Bonds hit 2-2, or Edgardo Alfonzo at 0-0 with Barry at first, then why not give it a shot?

I've thought of this also, and an enterprising team could try it. Of course, in something like 90% of cases, the opposing manager is doing his opponent a favor by issuing an intentional walk. But in those 10% of cases? Sure.

EDIT: I see Jimmy made this same point.

I don't think that relegation would work in baseball. The US isn't as geographically compact as the European countries.

Russia is pretty big.

Can you imagine a home and home between St. Petersburg and Irkutsk? Or better, Vladivostok?

The metropolitan area of Mexico City has 20M people with a per capita income of $22k.

So, forget the poorest 18 million. I'll wager the richest 2 million have far more disposable income than any comparable sized US city.

1. No interleague play.
2. No wild card.
3. Third team in NY.
4. Peter Angelos to Guantanamo.
5. All pitchers must pitch to at least two batters, barring injury.
6. Strict enforcement of pace rules (batters can't step out of box, pitchers must pitch within 15 seconds, etc.)
7. Muzzles for Yankee and Red Sox fans.

Can you imagine a home and home between St. Petersburg and Irkutsk? Or better, Vladivostok?

Teams from Vladivostok and St Petersburg are in fact scheduled to play each other in this season's Russian Premier League. Not an easy away trip...

So, forget the poorest 18 million. I'll wager the richest 2 million have far more disposable income than any comparable sized US city.

There isn't a comparably sized US city other than New York (metro area is 18M). LA is only 15M.

As to whether there is greater income disparity in New York or Mexico City, it's probably a toss-up.

There isn't a comparably sized US city other than New York (metro area is 18M). LA is only 15M.

No, what I mean is, the richest 2 million in Mexico City have more purchasing power than any city (or metro area if you will) of 2 million in the US.

I would change the divisions to be based on geographical area. . . . Seattle and Arizona would be in one division

What crazy-ass map has Seattle and Arizona as geographically close?

What crazy-ass map has Seattle and Arizona as geographically close?

They're probably not all that far apart on this one, where everything west of the Hudson kind of gets dissolved into one indistinguishable lump. Seattle and Arizona are both somewhere in there, probably hidden behind Kansas City or Texas. It's a bit hard to tell.

You could put a team in PR and Mexico City. Then, eliminate luxury tax payments to any team in the contiguous US and make all luxury tax payments go to those two teams. Basically, let the Sox and Yanks finance expansion into those poorer markets. Tell the Castro families that if they'll turn the country over to a democratically elected parliament, they can have the Havana franchise and they'd also get luxury tax payments.

Could Honolulu support a team? Put a team there for a few years and the further expansion into Asia is a little easier.

EDIT Honolulu is the 73rd largest US TV market. I'm surprised - it seems bigger when you're there. I guess it's the traffic on the H1.

1. No interleague play.
2. No wild card.
3. Third team in NY.
4. Peter Angelos to Guantanamo.
5. All pitchers must pitch to at least two batters, barring injury.
6. Strict enforcement of pace rules (batters can't step out of box, pitchers must pitch within 15 seconds, etc.)
7. Muzzles for Yankee and Red Sox fans.

I was going to express my complete agreement with David's list, until I got to No. 7. So I'll just give it a mmpphmnmph.

Neyer: I would outlaw the intentional walk.

Maybe if we just outlaw the silly walk-the-bases-loaded strategy so that we don't have to sit through manager incompetence.

Tonight's Yankees-Orioles game. Tie game in the bottom of the 11th with 1 out and a man on third. Girardi orders LaTroy Hawkins to intentionally walk Luke Scott and Kevin Millar to load the bases, forcing Hawkins to throw strikes and thus removing Hawkins's edge. One pitch later, the game is over on a deep drive to right.

Yeah, but Joe Girardi was clearly trying to out dumb himself all game and he had set the bar pretty high tonight, so he had to do something absolutely insane.

Walking the bases loaded... you get the force at every base and a double play opportunity. But the cost -- forcing the pitcher to throw strikes, and providing the batter with that knowledge -- is huge.

Walking the bases loaded... you get the force at every base and a double play opportunity. But the cost -- forcing the pitcher to throw strikes, and providing the batter with that knowledge -- is huge.

Well, bringing in Hawkins to start the inning is crazy. To expect him to intentionally walk two guys and then expect him to come back and throw quality strikes to get a DP or a K is batshit insane.

1. Expand to 32 teams, eight divisions, two leagues, no wild card
2. No interleague play
3. HFA in the World Series determined by regular-season record
4. Restore the balanced schedule
5. First two round of playoffs best of seven, WS best of nine, no off days within series
6. Agree with DMN's rule about relief pitchers
7. No beer sales to guys wearing backward tennis visors and/or fraternity garb
8. Organ music only
9. No "God Bless America" unless it's a patriotic holiday
10. No DH (yes, I realize the MLBPA would never go for this)

Anything to speed up the pace of the game. Enforce the rule to pitch every 20 seconds - make the hitter stay in the batters box; limit the number of throws to first. Bill James had a good idea on that one - something along the lines of -pitcher can throw to first twice for "free". On the third throw - if the runner is safe, then he gets to move up a bag.

The Unexpected Pickoff inspired by Martin Gardner (Not Mark Gardner)

Once the Rickey was on first base and Mark Buehrle was pitching. Now the Rickey knew that if Buehrle were to catch him by surprise with his best move, he would be out, but if the Rickey got the upper hand and was expecting it, he would be fine, and he would steal second easily.

Thanks to a new rule in the league, the Rickey knew that Buehrle could only throw to first three times.

The Rickey thought to himself, "If that guy has not picked me off by the second throw, the Rickey knows it has to be the third throw and the Rickey'll be fine. So it can't be the third throw."

"But if it since the Rickey knows it cannot be the third throw, if it reaches the second throw, it must be that one. And then the Rickey will be fine. So it can't be the second throw either."

The Rickey repeated the same logic a final time and concluded that Buehrle couldn't pick him off at all.

What happened?

The Rickey will tell you later.

I'm really surprised at the amount of people who would make multiple changes. I know some of them are small tweaks, but some of the in-game stuff seems to tinker with the very way the game's been allowed to be played forever.

Just because managers didn't use 4 pitchers an inning back in the old days, doesn't mean they couldn't. Now a radical rule needs to be put in to place to put Jesse Orosco out of work?

You think managers are stupid to give out intentional walks in most cases so there shoudl be a rule protecting them from their stupidity? Do we ban sac bunts for non-pitchers too? Stolen bases with all but 1 runner per team who's designated as the team Herb?

Adding more franchises? Didn't we learn from the Loria/Selig induced Montreal debacle that there simply aren't the cities out there to support a major league franchise? There's already some in existence that aren't drawing flies and we're going to add more teams to sucker a city's taxpayers into building them a stadium to draw 20,000 a night and dilute the talent base further?

Neyer (and others) have written numerous times that if Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee can support teams, than Indianapolis, Portland, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham could, too.

Those AAA cities would have to build larger stadiums though. Victory Field's (Indy) capacity is only about 14,500; Portland's is 20,000; Nashville's is 10,500; Durham's is 10,000. Even if Portalnd was filled to capacity every game, that is only 1,620,000 for a season, which is about what the Royals drew last year. However, even the other three cities drew to capacity, they'd be well under the Marlins' paid attendance.

I like Andys kazoos rule.
As a matter of fact i'll go so far as to say that kazoos should be handed out to everyone as they walk into the stadium. who doesn't love a kazoo?

and you all missed a biggee ... If you bring a beach ball into the stadium, your tickets are revoked.

1. One throw (or fake) to base per runner.
2. Teams can't carry more than 11 pitchers.
3. 32 teams; two 8-team divisions per league; no wildcard
4. Cool Flow batting helmets banned for being ugly.
5. Stirrups or hose must be visible at least three inches above cleats.
6. No more DH
7. No more interleague play

I think it's really short-sighted to look at things like that on a population/income scale only. Kansas City, Cincinnati and Milwaukee aren't recent expansion franchises or something. They've had major league baseball teams going back 40 years, pre-dating any sort of financial disadvantage tied to small towns. These cities have grown up with these teams and have their ties firmly rooted to them.

Asking a similarly sized city to jump ship to a brand new team assuming they'll come in the same numbers seems foolish to me. Phoenix and Denver were much larger metro areas than these, without a franchise within reach unless it was WGN or KMOX. (didn't hurt that Arizona won a world series during their new franchise grace period) That worked. Asking every Indy Cub fan or every Portland Mariner fan to pick up this new team which happens to be horrible and is likely playing in a horrible park for a few years seems like a pretty daunting task. Smaller cities don't have the luxury of profiting by drawing just half the existing baseball fan crowd.

Sure you get that team to be a contender right away like the D-Backs then you'll get yourself a fanbase.(Though Arizona hasn't drawn that well the past 1.25 years. That seems like quite a gamble to take on when the risk is winding up with another franchise that can't draw 20,000 a year and is spending 50M a year on payroll to get its ass kicked year in and year out.

1. One throw (or fake) to base per runner.

The problem is that after that one throw, if you don't get him the runner can steal the base at will.

The solution is to outlaw pick-off attempts altogether, and limit the length a runner a lead-off before the pitch. Make every stolen base a battle of runner's speed versus catcher's arm.

That is, if you don't care for the battle of wits between pitcher and runner. Personally, I have no problem with the status quo.

The problem is that after that one throw, if you don't get him the runner can steal the base at will.

You could still call a pitchout. But, yeah, you're right. That was a shitty idea.

I'm really surprised at the amount of people who would make multiple changes. I know some of them are small tweaks, but some of the in-game stuff seems to tinker with the very way the game's been allowed to be played forever.

Just because managers didn't use 4 pitchers an inning back in the old days, doesn't mean they couldn't. Now a radical rule needs to be put in to place to put Jesse Orosco out of work?

Actually, I was hoping to put Tony LaRussa out of work. The "radical rule" is designed to make the game more aesthetically enjoyable. Why is it so much more "radical" to require that a pitcher pitch to two batters than to require that he pitch to one batter?

Adding more franchises? Didn't we learn from the Loria/Selig induced Montreal debacle that there simply aren't the cities out there to support a major league franchise?

No. We learned from the Loria/Selig Montreal debacle that Loria and Selig are dishonest, nothing more.

There's already some in existence that aren't drawing flies and we're going to add more teams to sucker a city's taxpayers into building them a stadium to draw 20,000 a night and dilute the talent base further?

Oh, come on; they could double the number of major league teams and within a few years you wouldn't notice anything "diluted" about the "talent base." And one of the cities to which I suggested adding a team was New York. But you do have a point about taxpayers; let me amend my post 74 to add:

8. All stadiums must be built solely with private money.

8. Organ music only

I'd drop all my other suggestions if they'd agree to that one.

You could still call a pitchout. But, yeah, you're right. That was a shitty idea.

Pitchout wouldn't help. After the first pickoff attempt, as soon as the pitcher has the ball back, the runner could take off and the pitcher couldn't do anything about it.

1. Expand to 32 teams, eight divisions, two leagues, no wild card
4. Restore the balanced schedule

Divisions serve no useful purpose when combined with a balanced schedule. Arbitrarily drawn lines become the sole basis for postseason qualification.



1) Reinstate league offices; "major league baseball" is a designation, not a league in which the American and National are glorified conferences.

2) Move Milwaukee back to the American League where it belongs

3) Expand by two teams

4) Do away with the Central Divisions

5) Build a schedule around the old concept of matched pairs (CHC-STL, LAD-SFG, etc.), with partnered teams having homestands and road trips at the same time, facing other pairs in inverse order; DET @ NYY and TOR @ BOS followed by DET @ BOS and TOR @ NYY, for example.

Each team would play 16 games against its cohort, 15 games against other teams within the division and seven games against teams outside the division, for a total of 162.



6) Do away with the designated hitter

7) Do away with the draft and six-year reserve

Let me preface this by saying I find nothing wrogn with pickoffs and the game of keeping runners close. But, you could put a line near each base and say that a pickoff attempt can only be made if a runner is outside that line. It would create judgement calls and, in general, suck. But it would solve the problem of lots of throws and throws when the runner isn't threatening to do anything except pat the first baseman on the ass. But if the runner takes a big lead or breaks for the next base, the pitcher can make a play.

What kills me is the deadtime. Guys stepping out and studying their bat or pitchers walking around the mound like their lost. Commercials. Guys calling time to sweep dirt off their pants or remove pads. Limit timeouts. If you hit a double and have an elbow guard on, it stays on until you get to third. If you get dirty, you stay dirty. Or just knock the dirt off while standing on the base.

I'm a little surprised how few changes would be made above. Imagine being boss of your company for a day - how many changes would you make there? We're imagining some sort of dictatorial power over MLB and really not coming up with a whole lot, IMO.

"I also tend to like players who read books, or write poetry"

This is actually more common than you'd think. Miguel Batista has had a Spanish-language book of poetry published, for example (and a crime novel as well).