Quick Hit: Pace of Play Rules Tweaked Again

Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred has been in the top position overlooking the league for a little over a year now and the amount of change he has brought the league is astounding. I’ve listed his accomplishments and changes many times on the blog and you all probably know them by heart by now but one I haven’t paid much attention to is the pace of play changes.  Manfred wants to shave some time off the games and he did just that in 2015 but the Commissioner is far from done. Manfred announced more changes to his pace of play rules for the 2016 season and I bring them here to you today as an FYI.

MLB and the MLB Players Association have not finalized these plans yet, keep that in mind, but the two sides are working towards an agreement. Since these have not been finalized we do not have the entire and complete list to bring to you but we can confirm, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post anyway, that the league is trying to eliminate the slow walk to the mound and/or all the stalling tactics many managers use to give their relief pitcher a few more throws in the bullpen. The possibility of a time limit for making a pitching change has also been discussed. Also MLB is going to shave off another 20 seconds of commercial time in-between innings. Last season the fans had to wait 2:25 seconds during commercials and this season it will go down to 2:05 at the end of every half inning. The idea would be that the batter would be in the box with 20 seconds left on the commercial break timer while the pitcher would be required to throw the pitch once the timer hits zero.

I think the most important thing here is that Manfred is shaving time off the game without noticeable changes to the sport and game itself. This is keeping the purist happy, the traditionalist, the hardcore fans, the casual fans and the new fans alike happy and content I think. The best sort of change is change for the better but, and maybe this is the ignorance is bliss in me talking, the second best change is the change that you don’t notice. Well done Manfred and well done MLB. 

FYI: Complete List of Arbitration Eligible Players

The non-tender deadline has come and gone and the next major milestone, aside from the General Manager Meetings and the Rule 5 Draft, is the arbitration process. All told there are 162 players eligible for salary arbitration eligible this season including seven for the New York Yankees. Some players will sign new deals before they are eligible to officially file for arbitration on January 12 and many will avoid the entire arbitration court process altogether. Here is the complete list with the most important players, the Yankees players, listed first for your information.

NEW YORK (7) — Dustin Ackley, 2b-of; Nathan Eovaldi, rhp; Didi Gregorius, ss; Ivan Nova, rhp; Michael Pineda, rhp; Adam Warren, rhp; Justin Wilson, lhp.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BALTIMORE (8) — Brad Brach, rhp; Zach Britton, lhp; Ryan Flaherty, 2b; Miguel Gonzalez, rhp; Manny Machado, 3b; Brian Matusz, lhp; Chris Tillman, rhp; Mark Trumbo, of-1b.

BOSTON (3) — Joe Kelly, rhp; Robbie Ross, lhp;Junichi Tazawa, rhp.

CHICAGO (4) — Avisail Garcia, of; Dan Jennings, lhp; Nate Jones, rhp; Zach Putnam, rhp.

CLEVELAND (6) — Cody Allen, rhp; Lonnie Chisenhall, 3b-rf; Jeff Manship, rhp; Zach McAllister, rhp; Bryan Shaw, rhp; Josh Tomlin, rhp.

DETROIT (3) — Jose Iglesias, ss; J.D. Martinez, of; Andrew Romine, inf.

HOUSTON (6) — Jason Castro, c; Josh Fields, rhp; Evan Gattis, dh; Marwin Gonzalez, inf; Dallas Keuchel, lhp; Luis Valbuena, 3b.

KANSAS CITY (7) — Drew Butera, c; Lorenzo Cain, of; Louis Coleman, rhp; Tony Cruz, c; Danny Duffy, lhp; Jarrod Dyson, of; Mike Moustakas, 3b.

LOS ANGELES (4) — Kole Calhoun, of; Garrett Richards, rhp; Fernando Salas, rhp; Hector Santiago, lhp.

MINNESOTA (6) — Eduardo Escobar, ss; Casey Fien, rhp; Kevin Jepsen, rhp; Tommy Milone, lhp; Eduardo Nunez, inf; Trevor Plouffe, 3b.

OAKLAND (7) — Yonder Alonso, 1b; Brett Lawrie, 3b; Jarrod Parker, rhp; Josh Reddick, of; Fernando Rodriguez, rhp; Evan Scribner, rhp; Danny Valencia, 3b.

SEATTLE (3) — Anthony Bass, rhp; Charlie Furbush, lhp; Leonys Martin, of.

TAMPA BAY (10) — Alex Cobb, rhp; Hank Conger, c;Logan Forsythe, 2b; Brandon Guyer, of; Desmond Jennings, of; Jake McGee, lhp; Logan Morrison, 1b; Erasmo Ramirez, rhp; Rene Rivera, c; Drew Smyly, lhp.

TEXAS (7) — Robinson Chirinos, c; Jake Diekman, lhp; Mitch Moreland, 1b; Jurickson Profar, 2b-ss; Tanner Scheppers, rhp; Shawn Tolleson, rhp; Tom Wilhelmsen, rhp.

TORONTO (8) — Brett Cecil, lhp; Jesse Chavez, rhp; Steve Delabar, rhp; Josh Donaldson, 3b; Drew Hutchison, rhp; Aaron Loup, lhp; Ben Revere, of; Michael Saunders, of.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ARIZONA (6) — Welington Castillo, c; Patrick Corbin, lhp; Rubby De La Rosa, rhp;Randall Delgado, rhp; Daniel Hudson, rhp; A.J. Pollock, of.

ATLANTA (3) — Shelby Miller, rhp; Arodys Vizcaino, rhp; Chris Withrow, rhp.

CHICAGO (6) — Jake Arrieta, rhp; Chris Coghlan, of; Justin Grimm, rhp; Hector Rondon, rhp; Pedro Strop, rhp; Travis Wood, lhp.

CINCINNATI (3) — Aroldis Chapman, lhp; Zack Cozart, ss; J.J. Hoover, rhp.

COLORADO (4) — Nolan Arenado, 3b; Charlie Blackmon, of; DJ LeMahieu, 2b; Adam Ottavino, rhp.

LOS ANGELES (6) — Luis Avilan, lhp; Yasmani Grandal, c; Chris Hatcher, rhp; Kenley Jansen, rhp; Justin Turner, inf; Scott Van Slyke, of.

MIAMI (8) — Carter Capps, rhp; Jose Fernandez, rhp; Dee Gordon, 2b; Adeiny Hechavarria, ss; Tom Koehler, rhp; Bryan Morris, rhp; David Phelps, rhp; A.J. Ramos, rhp.

MILWAUKEE (3) — Wily Peralta, rhp; Jean Segura, ss; Will Smith, lhp.

NEW YORK (8) — Lucas Duda, 1b; Josh Edgin, lhp; Jeurys Familia, rhp; Matt Harvey, rhp; Jenrry Mejia, rhp; Addison Reed, rhp; Ruben Tejada, ss; Carlos Torres, rhp.

PHILADELPHIA (3) — Freddy Galvis, ss; Jeanmar Gomez, rhp; Jeremy Hellickson, rhp.

PITTSBURGH (8) — Francisco Cervelli, c; Jared Hughes, rhp; Jeff Locke, lhp; Mark Melancon, rhp; Jordy Mercer, ss; Chris Stewart, c; Tony Watson, lhp; Neil Walker, 2b.

ST. LOUIS (4) — Matt Adams, 1b; Seth Maness, rhp; Brandon Moss, of-1b; Trevor Rosenthal, rhp.

SAN DIEGO (4) — Andrew Cashner, rhp; Derek Norris, c; Drew Pomeranz, lhp; Tyson Ross, rhp.

SAN FRANCISCO (2) — Brandon Belt, 1b; George Kontos, rhp.

WASHINGTON (5) — Danny Espinosa, 2b; Wilson Ramos, c; Anthony Rendon, 2b-3b; Drew Storen, rhp; Stephen Strasburg, rhp.

FYI: Seven Yankees Can Block Trades This Winter

With all the talks thus far this winter that the New York Yankees and Brian Cashman are being the most aggressive team in the league thus far the team could potentially have an entirely new identity in 2016. Brian Cashman is said to be listening on almost everyone, with the one exception being named by name being Luis Severino, including his closer Andrew Miller who does not have a no-trade clause written into his contract surprisingly. Seven members of the New York Yankees do have full or partial no-trade clauses and can veto any trade this winter that Mr. Cashman comes up with, those seven men are listed below for your reference. This is FYI.

Alex Rodriguez
Mark Teixeira
CC Sabathia
Carlos Beltran
Masahiro Tanaka
Jacoby Ellsbury
Brian McCann

Do the math Yankees family. That leaves Greg Bird, Aaron Hicks, Dustin Ackley, Robert Refsnyder, Didi Gregorius, Chase Headley, Brett Gardner, Michael Pineda, Luis Severino, Ivan Nova, Nathan Eovaldi, Adam Warren, Justin Wilson, Chasen Shreve, Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, Bryan Mitchell and a slew of prospects and young guys that can be used at Cashman's will.