Dave Cameron's article on the new "clean transfer rule" "This year, in an attempt to clarify the difference between a catch and a transfer on plays around the base base bag, MLB informed teams that a clean transfer from glove to hand was now going to be a required element in making a legal catch. No longer could a player argue that the ball was dropped on the exchange between glove and hand in order to retire the lead runner in a double play attempt. To be credited with the first out, the player has to move the ball from his glove to his hand without losing possession of the ball." I was totally oblivious to this rule change until reading this article. It's shocking to me how easy it would be to exploit this new rule on the defensive side of things. I would love to see a team take advantage of this rule change and make a mockery it. It's a dumb rule and needs to be done away with ASAP.