Manfred proposes a Golden At Bat

[patrickgpe]

Another dumb idea to fix a problem, that doesn’t exist. 
 

https://www.ktsm.com/news/mlb-commissioner-says-theres-buzz-about-a-golden-at-bat-rule-what-is-it/#:~:text=“There are a variety of,the game%2C” Manfred said.

[wiguy94]

I find it really hard to believe this would ever get approved. This would be deeply unpopular with traditional baseball fans and I don't think this would bring any new fans to the sport.

[wiguy94]

I've read through the comments on the Athletic article and on twitter and I haven't found a single person in favor of this. Absolutely no chance this would ever get approved.

[Underachiever]

My goodness, that sounds awful.

[Team Canada]

1 hour ago, patrickgpe said:

Another dumb idea to fix a problem, that doesn’t exist. 

Yeah, that sums it up.

To be fair, the pitch clock and bigger bases have been absolute godsends for the game, but it's pretty clear that game speed and station to station baseball were becoming detrimental to the pace and enjoyment of the game.

This messes with the fundamental mechanics of the batting order and substitution rules.

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, Team Canada said:

Yeah, that sums it up.

To be fair, the pitch clock and bigger bases have been absolute godsends for the game, but it's pretty clear that game speed and station to station baseball were becoming detrimental to the pace and enjoyment of the game.

This messes with the fundamental mechanics of the batting order and substitution rules.

I love those, the shift. Replay has been good. There are a few very small aspects of replay I don't love, but on balance it's a huge success. 

Eliminating the shift(or limiting it) has been great.

This would just...skew the game too much. You'd also see the best hitters getting paid more. Imagine getting Soto out and then you have to face him again 2 hitters later with 2 on or the bases loaded. 

Just...an asinine idea. 

[Underachiever]

Put big targets in the outfield. If a home run hits the target, it's worth a grand slam, and free ice cream for an inning. 

Allow a pitcher one do-over a game. Game-winning home run? Not so fast!

Designated Goon. Once a game you can put in a maniac to just destroy the second baseman on a double-play, charge the mound on an inside pitch, or level the catcher. 

Multi-ball. Bases loaded. Like pinball, you can put three balls in play, shot out of a cannon, for the fielders to chase. Runners can keep going till they all score or get tagged out.

Allow slower runners to have bigger sliding gloves. Turang? No glove. Gary Sanchez? 8-foot paddle attached to his arm. Why should the fast guys get all the stolen bases? 

[patrickgpe]

Ghost runners was a very controversial idea he had. I love it for regular season games.

People that say that this fundamentally changes the game. The good news is  I have seen no support for this online. 

[nate82]

This does have support or interest from the owners which is what matters more than online opinion. 

[homer]

Great for Savannah Bananas. Bad for MLB.

[Playing Catch]

I LOATHE this idea. I curse Jayson Stark for even writing about it. How this is even being discussed is maddening.

ALL of the other rules other than the Manfred Man make baseball more baseball-like. This idea was a stupid thing for Stark to even dream up, let alone write about.

As far as the Manfred Man thing, it doesn't really bother me that much. I don't think it should start until like, the 12th inning, but if they don't do this, the union gets its undies in a bundle about pitchers health and all that. So I get it.

[TURBO]

GROSS

[AKCheesehead]

2 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

Ghost runners was a very controversial idea he had. I love it for regular season games.

People that say that this fundamentally changes the game. The good news is  I have seen no support for this online. 

I HATE the ghost runner. 

[patrickgpe]

41 minutes ago, AKCheesehead said:

I HATE the ghost runner. 

I admit it’s controversial. But everyone can admit it’s a better idea than a golden at bat 

[CheeseheadInQC]

I wonder if this idea is being floated to make a variation (say you can only use someone on the bench as the substitute) less controversial.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm not anything close to a baseball "purist" and this idea is dodgy at best.

But even so, I'd like to see it in real life just to see how it plays out practically. Not in MLB, of course, but somewhere.

Either way, I applaud Manfred for actually trying to think creatively instead of boxing the sport into nostalgia and purity tests. Baseball should have been having these conversations decades ago; most will be crap and discarded (likely this one) but others were long overdue (the pitch clock).

[owbc]

It’s not that much crazier than a designated hitter. I’m not in favor of it, but I like the acknowledgement that we are still in a dead ball era and more changes to increase offense are needed. 

My hope is that a 2D auto strike zone with rounded corners will do the trick for offense though. 

If we go to a 154 game schedule it would also allow single season records to continue to be broken. 

That said, please please please do banana ball rules for the all-star game. That would be so much fun. 
 

 

[Outlander]

I doubt something like this would ever pass but like all new rules it gets tried elsewhere first and wouldn't mind seeing those games and how it changes baseball strategy. Would there be a literal ghost runner if the batter reached and he had to bat again a couple batters later in his normal spot.

[JackNicholson1974]

How would they handle having Aaron Judge getting back to back at bats? Runners on second and third. Two out. Up 1 run. Walks Judge to load bases. Pitch to someone like Stanton. You then use Judge to bat again? Gosh this is stupid.

[owbc]

6 minutes ago, JackNicholson1974 said:

How would they handle having Aaron Judge getting back to back at bats? Runners on second and third. Two out. Up 1 run. Walks Judge to load bases. Pitch to someone like Stanton. You then use Judge to bat again? Gosh this is stupid.

In banana ball the player that you are pinch hitting for becomes the base runner. 

Personally I would make it illegal to do the substitution if the hitter has already recorded a plate appearance in the inning. However, for a walk or hit batter I would still allow it following the banana ball rules. 

[nate82]

I posted this in another thread but I would love to see the extra innings rules changed to a shootout style select 4 batters and you get 9 outs to get as many runs as possible with the home team deciding if they want to bat first or last.  If no runs are scored it goes to a walk off choose 3 hitters and only 1 hitter can be from the previous 4 selected.  In the walk off there are only 3 outs and strike outs count as 2 outs and walks are 2 bases.  Team with the most runs wins the walk off.  Home team always bats last in the walk off.

[SomewhereInTime]

 

[SomewhereInTime]

 

[BrewerFan]

7 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

I admit it’s controversial. But everyone can admit it’s a better idea than a golden at bat 

Awfully low bar. 

This isn't 5 kids playing baseball in the yard, this is MLB. You can use a real runner. 

Speaking of which, that's the one I don't like. The guy starting on 2B in extras. 

[Klantz27]

I will stop watching baseball forever if this happens