Interference & Illegal Slides

“Throw it into the runner’s back. Because then what’s happening? (The runner) is impeding (and he is out)."

That quote is not from a disgruntled Yankees fan, nor is it from Joe Girardi or anybody else within the Yankees organization. This quote, which is essentially telling players to throw the ball at another player, comes from Dana Demuth.

Dana Demuth is the umpire crew chief from yesterday's game, and was also the home plate umpire during the controversial play in which Betances threw a Carlos Correa ground ball into right field, allowing the go-ahead run to score for the Astros.

To be fair, Demuth is not condoning any sort of violence between players. The issue is that the rule regarding interference is about judgment. An umpire during this type of play has to ask himself, "did the player interfere with the thrown ball, or was is just a bad throw?"

In this case, Mr. Demuth judged that Dellin's throw was just a bad one, and no matter where the runner was the result was going to be an error. Therefore, it was not interference, and the Astros scored and went on to win the game.

The lesson to be learned from the play, and from the words of Dana Demuth, is for players to just make a good throw. If the ball doesn't hit the runner, then the play can be made as normal. If the ball does hit the runner, assuming he's out of the baseline (as Correa was yesterday), interference will be called, the batter/runner is out, and the play is dead... no run scored.

Now, how can I talk about a rule and not at least touch on the "Chase Utley" rule, which was in full force yesterday?

You mean this isn't normal?

As a basketball official I have first-hand experience with this sort of thing.

What happened to Ruben Tejada last year, which prompted this new rule, is not something Major League Baseball ever wants to see again. I think we all can agree that we don't want to see a player get injured. By "injured" I'm not talking about a player getting a bruise from a hit by pitch, when I say "injured" I'm talking about something that keeps a player from returning to the game right away.

Something had to be done, and that something was not going to be hidden in the back of the rule book. It was going to be carried out to a tee, and players were going to be made aware of it right away.

So officials like myself are instructed to strictly enforce a rule, and I'm guessing the same was done to MLB umpires.

This is just another case of "don't hate the player, hate the game". Those fans that are up in arms over the new rule should take their gripes to the people that make the rules, not the people that enforce them.

Safety Netting, Slides and Streaming of MLB

Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred came up just short of President Barack Obama in his “change we can believe in” speeches when he was first elected to the position of Commissioner a little over a year ago but not by much. Manfred has changed the games in many ways including revamps to the collision at home plate rule, instant replay, all Game 162’s starting at the same time for optimal scoreboard watching, his pace of play rules and many other aspects of the game including expanding the brand beyond just the United States. Manfred is not stopping there though as Manfred, the league and the Players Union are close to implementing more changes for the better to the game.

No longer is Major League Baseball known as traditional or archaic. Expanded netting at all Major League ballparks will be implemented in some way, form or fashion in 2016 to keep the fans safe without restricting their viewing pleasure.  

No longer will your in-market games that are shown on Fox Sports or an equivalent be blacked out, they will not be streamed for your viewing pleasure as long as you have a cable subscriber. You have to watch the game on the computer or on your phone but in years past you were forced to just keep up with the score via Twitter. 

ESPN is going to televise every playoff team on Opening Day (between April 3^rd and April 4^th) including a Sunday night game between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets to open the season. 

Baseball is returning to Puerto Rico in 2016. This will mark the first time in five seasons the sport has traveled to the island property of the United States and this will also mark only the second time in the past 11 seasons. The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Miami Marlins will play a two-game exhibition series on Roberto Clemente’s birthday to honor the former legend. 

The “Chase Utley” rule is likely on the way as well after the Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman injured Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada on a take-out slide in the World Series. Also Manfred is looking at the instant replay rule that can penalize a player for sliding into 2^nd base feet first and coming slightly off the bag with the tag applied. MLB does not want more players sliding head first and risking further injuries so this ruling is likely to come before Opening Day 2016 as well. 

Change is coming ladies and gentleman and it’s going to be for better or worse. If Manfred’s first season is any indication of his next four seasons (and beyond) though I think the game will look drastically different in 2020, and it will likely be for the better. 

Manfred’s Hot Ticket Items for 2016

Earlier this week we praised Rob Manfred’s first season as the Commissioner of Major League Baseball and donned the season a success. You know us here at The Greedy Pinstripes by now, we take the time to celebrate what needs to be celebrated and we move on to the next one. Manfred can celebrate his successes in 2015 for now but soon he will have to begin focusing on the 2016 season. I wanted to make this a little easier for him, because I know deep in my heart he’s reading this either directly or having him read it for him indirectly, by laying out the hot ticket items that will be discussed, implemented or changed before the 2016 season.

The New CBA

The current collective bargaining agreement expires at the conclusion of the 2016 season and World Series, well like a month and a half later but who is counting, and it’s never too early to start discussing it now. The players will want this, the owners will want that and the sooner they begin to meet in the middle on the things the better in my opinion. Also this is going to be a huge factor in the decision making on a lot of the key note items below.

Minority Hiring in MLB

We touched on this once in its own post so we won’t spend much time here. MLB’s plan seems to be a long-term plan that begins at the bottom and works itself up. Major League Baseball has begun infiltrating the inner city’s youth and putting baseball academies, the RBI program etc. in trying to lure minorities to the game at a young age. That interest at a young age will turn many of those children, hopefully, into baseball players and then eventual managers, GM’s and owners. It’s a very long-term plan but it’s been in the works since the Bud Selig era so Manfred may end up getting the bulk of the credit for it.

Fan Safety

MLB will continue to talk about potentially adding nets down the first base and third base side of the fields much like they have behind home plate. This is already planning to be discussed at an owners meeting on November 18^th and 19^th. This seems to me to be a relatively small change and improvement to keep the fans safe. No fans, no revenue and no Major League Baseball.

Parity

Parity seems to be showing its ugly face in Major League Baseball and Manfred hopes it continues. The Top 9 teams in terms of payroll did not make the League Championship Series and the 13^th highest payroll, Kansas City at $128.1 million, and the 19^th highest payroll, the New York Mets at $109.6 million, made it to the 2015 World Series.

The Chase Utley Slide Rule

According to Manfred the whole “takeout the second baseman with a slide to break up the double play” or what am I referring to as the Chase Utley Rule was being talked about before the postseason. Preliminary discussions with the MLB Players Association have already taken place so this one is getting done one way or another.

Shortening or Changing the Schedule

There have been talks of going back to a 154-game schedule instead of the current 162-game schedule and there has also been talks of opening the season earlier to avoid November World Series games. Personally, being born on November 2, I like having World Series games being played on my birthday. I can remember AJ Burnett, my favorite pitcher (there is something about throwing a no-hitter with nine walks that intrigues me) pitching on my birthday with the Yankees on the cusp of clinching the 2009 World Series. That didn’t happen but it was still cool.

That’s just a few of the things Manfred will presumably talk about this winter, if I missed any please leave them in the comments section below or shoot me a tweet by following @GreedyStripes.