New Rules Wreak Havoc in Spring Training
ALSO: NEW BOOK UNVEILS HUNDREDS OF ASSUMPTIONS THAT WERE JUST WRONG
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
New Oakland centerfielder Esteury Ruiz stole 85 bases in 99 tries in the minors last year in only 114 games — and that was before the distance between bases was shortened . . .
With Manny Machado extended on an 11-year, $350 million pact, the San Diego Padres have three players who will turn 41 before their contracts expire (Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Yu Darvish) . . .
Lefty Brock Burke, who won the Rangers Rookie of the Year award after posting a 1.97 ERA last year, is the leading candidate to fill the team’s pressing need for a closer . . .
Even if the Miami Marlins reduce their penchant for losing one-run games, it’s not likely they can move up in an NL East race dominated by the Braves, Mets, and Phillies . . .
Speaking of the Phils, Rule 5 draft pick Noah Song, a right-hander who spent the last three years in the Navy, has a chance to make the 26-man varsity . . .
Braves beat writer Mark Bowman reports that 29-year-old Sam Hilliard, a journeyman outfielder obtained from the Rockies, has great speed, arm strength and power potential.
Leading Off
“Bring on the Chaos”
by Dan Freedman
I have a motto, one that I communicate to my kids as well as anyone I work with, and one that has served me well for over two decades: “Try never to make the same mistake twice.”
Because, in the words of Billy Joel, “We’re only human, we’re supposed to make mistakes.”
Mistakes are, for my money, the No. 1 way to learn anything. Try, do, screw up, figure it out, move on to the next one.
In my career, I have learned more from deals, or provisions, or contracts that I messed up than any that went perfectly well.
We have to feel that pit in our belly; we need to have a sleepless night or two; we have to get red with embarrassment when malfeasance is made public. These are the teachable and learning moments. They suck. And we wouldn’t wish them on anybody. But they happen. And we learn and we grow. And then we resolve never to make that same mistake again.
So, when the Red Sox vs. Braves spring training game ended with a “Clock Off” (h/t Mike Ferrin), I could not have been happier.
For those of you who missed the biggest story of the first week of the spring (other than Manny Machado’s $350M and Gavin Lux’s shredded ACL), Braves second baseman Cal Conley came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and the score tied. He ran the count to 3-and-2, and then got called out because he was not in the batter’s box, ready to hit, when the pitch clock struck 8 seconds.
Never mind that Red Sox catcher Eli Marrero was standing (not crouching) at that moment, the rule is that the batter must be ready. Per MLB, the correct call was made. And because the teams had decided against extra innings, the game ended in that most unconventional manner.
The announcers proclaimed, “This is mayhem…this is baseball in 2023.” In fairness, it is hard to tell if the announcers were being derisive or just descriptive. But either way, I don’t care. Bring on the chaos.
Let every game from now until March 29th have a moment of uncertainty; let there be pitchers and batters violating the pitch clock; let there be infielders with their feet on the outfield grass; let there be players taking a running start to field their position. And let the umpires call a violation on each and every occasion. That is the only way they will learn. Let them make mistakes, and then try never to make the same mistake twice.
When MLB announced the new rules, and further decreed that they would be implemented from day one of spring training, some people lost their mind.
Even if they were inclined to abide by the rules, some players and fans thought a slower implementation would be better for those who have been playing one way their entire lives.
I disagreed then, and disagree now. And, from the looks of things on fields from Florida to Phoenix, players are getting comfortable, and the rules are having their desired effect.
Other than baseball purists who want players wearing wool and traveling by train, who doesn’t prefer games ending in roughly 2½ hours?
Other than those same purists, who cares what happens in a meaningless spring training game where players who won’t sniff the big leagues this season are pitching, catching, and hitting in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth?
Let chaos reign for the next four weeks. Let’s get it all out of our systems. Let the players have a moment of embarrassment.
Machado – and his $350M contract – was the first player to take a called (not thrown) strike under the new rules. Do I think that is the last time he takes one of those? Probably not.
But maybe Jake Cronenworth or Xander Bogaerts saw that and thought to himself, “Never going to happen to me.”
Same for pitchers.
Last Sunday, over 16 games, there were 35 violations, 27 by pitchers. Did they all learn their lessons? I doubt it.
But maybe/hopefully, their teammates did.
Some pitchers, like the Guardians’ Cal Quantrill, have made an adjustment and sped up their routine.
New Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen, one of the players for whom the pitch clock was implemented, has been working all off-season to speed up his delivery, including changing his double-swivel to get going quicker.
He seems excited, not exercised, by the new challenge. These are athletes who can change their arm angle or their grip on the ball after a single bullpen session; there is no reason they can’t learn to pitch a smidge more quickly.
Spring training used to be about getting players into physical shape. This year it is about getting into mental shape –- dealing with the new rules. Let the players make all sorts of mistakes; let the umpires make all sorts of mistakes; let the announcers proclaim mayhem or bedlam or anarchy.
That way, when the games matter, when there is something to play for –- be it in April or October –- everyone is on the same page and on the same clock.
PLAY BALL!!
Dan Freedman is the Executive Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs at Lionsgate Films. His writing about baseball stems from his unique (?) perspective on the game, his desire for people to love the game as much as he does, and how the game often relates to life. His musings can be found at www.baseballcraziness.com. Follow him on Twitter @dffreedman or write dffreedman@hotmail.com.
Cleaning Up
‘Baseball Zeroes,’ With Different Title, Shakes Up Baseball Book Market
By Dan Schlossberg
Whenever an author’s book hits the market, it’s high time for celebration.
Lots of blood, soil, sweat, and tears goes into every book, no matter how long or how complicated, and there are constant battles with editors and publishers — especially the 30-something marketing department that despises the author’s suggested title.
So it is with my newest, an illustrated, 184-page paperback now called Baseball’s Memorable Misses: an Unabashed Look at the Game’s Craziest Zeroes.
Equipped with a zany forward from fellow baseball author Doug Lyons, plus a series of cartoons from the late Ronnie Joyner, this book’s original title was Baseball Zeroes.
Quick, short, and best of all: easy to remember.
On sale for just $14.99, the book spans everything from All-Stars to has-beens, emphasizing things most fans assume must have happened but actually didn’t. As Oscar Madison once said, to assume anything means making an ass of u and me.
These are some samples, each beginning the number 0:
0 Number of times Willie Mays led his league in runs batted in
0 Cy Young Awards won by Nolan Ryan
0 Pennants won by the Seattle Mariners
0 Winning seasons by the Seattle Pilots
0 Players who homered for their 3000th hit before Wade Boggs
0 Seasons with 400 total bases by Willie, Mickey, or The Duke
0 Teammates who homered more often than Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews
0 National Leaguers with consecutive All-Star Game MVP awards
0 Batting titles by Houston Astros before Jose Altuve
0 No-hitters by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Steve Carlton
0 Number of months Scooter Gennett had four homers before he hit four in one game
0 Rookies with 50-homer seasons before Aaron Judge
0 Players who cleared the Braves Field fences during that ballpark’s first 11 seasons
0 Wins by Anthony Young in 29 decisions as a starter
0 Weeks Wally Backman managed in the majors [Hired by Arizona during the 2004 off-season, he lasted four days before The New York Times revealed he’d been arrested twice. He was fired and replaced by Bob Melvin].
0 World championships for Tom Yawkey [He bought the Red Sox in 1933 and spent the next 44 years trying to build a World Series winner but never succeeded.]
0 Attendance at 2015 Oriole Park game [Spectators were barred in the wake of widespread unrest following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.]
0 Yankees-Dodgers World Series games missed by Pee Wee Reese [He played in all 44 games between the two New York-based teams between 1941 and 1956.]
Get the idea? If it didn’t happen but sounds like it should have, this tongue-in-cheek book is for you. Get it from amazon.com and decide whether to leave it in bedroom, the bathroom, or the living room.
It’s both a coffee-table book and a bathroom book, suitable for picking up any page and even reading it backwards.
And it’s loaded with anecdotes about The Good Old Days when there were zero divisions, zero playoffs, zero inter-league games, zero ghost-runners, and the main zeroes were posted on scoreboards by Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ writes baseball for Latino Sports, forbes.com, Sports Collectors Digest, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Memories & Dreams, and assorted other outlets. E.mail him at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
Erstwhile post-season standout Ian Anderson, vying with spring training roommate Mike Soroka for the final spot in the Atlanta rotation, is showing off a new slider with impressive results early in spring training . . .
Red Sox manager Alex Cora says the new, larger bases resemble pizza boxes . . .
Albie Pearson, the diminutive (5’5”) outfielder who scored the first run in the history of the Los Angeles Angels and won an American League Rookie of the Year award, died this week at 88 . . .
The odds are still against any team signing Trevor Bauer, the controversial former Cy Young Award winner.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Brian Harl [bchrom831@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.