Should MLB Expand Active Rosters to 27 Players?

[Matthew Trueblood]

We've all allowed the boiling off of the traditional baseball bench to happen right under our noses, without taking enough steps to stop it. Is it time for the league to catch the rest of the way up?

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

For decades, the active MLB roster size remained fixed. There were times when it swelled (every September, most famously, but also early in some seasons after work stoppages and other external disruptions) and times when owners colluded to constrict it slightly, but for nearly a century, the official, everyday roster size in MLB was 25 players. That changed in 2021, when the league added a 26th active player on an everyday basis, in exchange for the players agreeing to radically reduce the scope of September call-ups. In a connected rule change, MLB also capped the number of pitchers any team could have active at a given time, at 13. That finally put a stop to what had been, in its own right, decades of pitcher creep.

For most of baseball history, teams carried 15-17 position players and 8-10 pitchers. Starting in the late 1980s, the balance tilted, relatively quickly. Eleven-pitcher staffs became commonplace and stayed that way throughout the 1990s. By the mid-2000s, 12-pitcher rosters were common. In the 2010s, it became 13 for many teams in many situations, even with only 25 total roster spots available. Some teams even dared to roster 14 hurlers and 11 position players for a few days at a time, which is where everyone could finally agree that a line had been crossed. Rosters finally grew, and the extra spot was effectively carved out for hitters via legislation.

I don't think we've gone far enough, though. Firstly, simply capping pitching staffs at 13 hasn't stemmed the tide of peculiar pitcher usage that has left so many hurlers hurt and so many teams scrambling and overpaying for whichever arms happen to be healthy at a given moment. Secondly, though, the league is not going to expand for at least another fistful of years. That will make it 30 years between rounds of expansion, and all of the odd distortions of the game we've seen as the result of too much talent caking itself onto and around every roster in MLB will accelerate in the meantime. 

In my opinion, as part of the next round of CBA negotiations (if not sooner), the league and the players union should get together to expand the roster to 27 players—and simultaneously tighten the limit on pitchers again, to 12. Teams should go back to carrying six men on their benches, giving us more defensive and baserunning specialists and more pinch-hit options for manipulating matchups. Holding teams to 12 active pitchers per game should begin to bend them back toward instruction and development that incorporates the ideas of sustainability and durability. Meanwhile, managers would have more options for in-game moves. It would be good for offense. It would be good for fans who love the chess match of the game. It would create more jobs for a union that deserves more of them and has waited too patiently for over two decades already.

There's no room for Tyler Black on the Milwaukee roster in 2025. It will also be difficult to navigate the matriculation of Jeferson Quero to the majors, if and when he's ready for that, with William Contreras and Eric Haase in place already. Those are two examples of players who could readily fit onto a roster with 14 or 15 position players, though, and there are other types of players who play entertaining and edifying baseball who would have clearer utility on such a roster. It would feel like an extreme change, since it's only been a few years since the previous expansion of the roster, but it's really only making up for time lost to inadvisable inaction over long stretches of the previous 20 years.

View full article

[Samurai Bucky]

This is a great idea.  However, this would cause more disparity between the teams with a lot of cash vs. teams without a lot of cash.  Perhaps expanding the roster in the next CBA would be dependent upon addressing the clear disparity in dollars amongst the teams.  This would require concessions by the big market teams and also by the union. 

See existing forum discussion:  https://brewerfanatic.com/forums/topic/44163-labor-discussion-salary-cap-local-tv-sharing/

 

[igor67]

A floor, a cap, and the roster expansion would be good for the majority of players with those mid range players with skills suddenly having a longer shelf life compared to just churning in the next 0-1 WAR potential rookie because he's cheap.

[Jim Goulart]

I could see 15 position players as viable pre-DH in the National League, but today?

This also would really multiply the number of platoons throughout day-to-day lineups, and perhaps it’s the old Rotisserie baseball owner in me, but I likes me players who are in lineups every day. (Well, not because of steroids 160 games, but the 150-game guys.)

[sveumrules]

3 hours ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

There's no room for Tyler Black on the Milwaukee roster in 2025.

There's plenty of room for Black to get around 350 to 400 PAs in the Bauers role as things currently stand.

 

[Brian]

Yes absolutely they should because just about every MLB team is short pitchers every season.

The Brewers used at least 36 different pitchers last season. 

[Ashaw65]

The MLB active roster should be 30. The amount of pitching injuries has spiked since the pitch clock inception and caused problems for every MLB team. If MLB is all about parity ( which is a lie ) and wants every team to remain competitive?  Roster expansion is the best way to appease fans. A hard salary cap floor and a salary cap max?  That's what would even the playing field even more. There will be a full lockout after 2026 and I fully expect there will be no baseball season and the Owners get the cap they've always wanted.

[Brian]

On 1/1/2025 at 9:17 PM, Ashaw65 said:

The MLB active roster should be 30. The amount of pitching injuries has spiked since the pitch clock inception and caused problems for every MLB team. If MLB is all about parity ( which is a lie ) and wants every team to remain competitive?  Roster expansion is the best way to appease fans. A hard salary cap floor and a salary cap max?  That's what would even the playing field even more. There will be a full lockout after 2026 and I fully expect there will be no baseball season and the Owners get the cap they've always wanted.

Some type of Financial Fair Play is the only way to keep the leagues talent fair.  There is no reason why 4 teams spend 800% more money than the Miami Marlins.  The only good news though is that the Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers and Mets are starting to get old, but they will just reload with spending more money.