The current collective bargaining agreement that has allowed
Major League Baseball to go another four seasons without a work stoppage is set
to expire after the 2016 MLB season. While there are no indications that a work
stoppage or strike is imminent and while all signs point to continued labor
peace between the players and the league in 2017 and beyond that doesn’t mean
this set of negotiations is going to be a walk in the park for either side. The
biggest ticket items over the last two CBA’s were steroids and with testing
stronger than it’s ever been, and whether it’s working or not saved for an
entirely different blog post, the new big ticket items will be luxury tax
thresholds, profit sharing and whether the designated hitter position would
come to the National League as soon as the 2017 season when the new CBA takes
effect.
What would it mean if the National League got the DH
position? Well almost immediately offense would go up around the NL which would
bring more casual fans to the ballpark and in front of their televisions which
has been one of Commissioner Rob Manfred’s ultimate goals in his year-plus as
being the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. This is just my opinion but I
don’t feel that I’m that far off base but National League baseball has a slower
tempo to American League Baseball and at times it can be extremely boring. Sure
the suicide squeeze by the 8th hitter in the lineup in the bottom of
the 8th inning is one of the most exciting plays in baseball but
we’re talking about the casual fan and trying to attract people who are not
currently watching the game, not the hardcore fans that know this can happen.
By the time the bottom of the 8th come along those fans have changed
the channel or gone to bed. Having an automatic out in the 9th spot
four or five times a night and sometimes in the 8th spot as well as
you sacrifice defense and fundamentals for offense can be boring, predictable
and is not a good selling point when trying to sell newcomers to the game.
Secondly this would allow National League teams and their
fans to enjoy having one player play for the team for their entire career.
While this doesn’t happen nearly as much as it used to or as much as it should
it would increase slightly with the DH in the National League. Too many times
have we seen players who have lost a step in the National League be forced to
come to the American League because of the DH position. This would also open
the potential pool of teams vying for a DH candidate from 15 teams to 30 teams
which would in turn extend players careers who still have the ability to hit
but lose out to a simple numbers game, see Raul Ibanez and Jason Giambi as
recent examples of this.
I know I am may be a bit bias since I am an American League
fan and a fan of the New York Yankees but I think the DH is good for baseball
and is good for everyone involved. No one watched the NFL team that flirts with
0-16 and no one watches the NBA team that is flopping in order to gain the
possible first draft pick overall, why should they watch a pitcher who (and
this is generalizing all pitchers, I understand that some pitchers actually can
hit consistently) is 85-90% of the time going to strikeout or make an out? If I
wasn’t a fan of MLB and I started watching a National League team while trying
to get into the sport I would likely get frustrated pretty quickly as a novice
fan. “Why are they taking so-and-so out with only 80 pitches in the 6th
inning? He’s only down by one run” or “Why are they leaving in so-and-so to bat
when the team is down by only one run and there is a base runner in scoring
position, we could have scored there if you pinch hit so-and-so!” It’s
frustrating, it’s not helping the sport in my opinion and it’s a progressive
thing to do. The hardcore “never change what isn’t broken” fans won’t agree
with this but the sport doesn’t have to try and lure those fans in, they are
already here. What the sport needs, assuming Manfred really wants to grow the
sport and the brand, is more offense, less pitchers hitting and the DH position
in the National League.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)