Posted on 01/21/2016 3:37:59 PM PST by PROCON
Having it in the AL is bad enough...
Why not just remove the pitcher from the batting rotation. No need for a DH. Just bat 8 guys.
Thanks. Now if only I had a team to watch where ownership cared about winning . . .
FACT: The only league WITHOUT the DH rule in the USA is the National League. Little League, High School, College and the lower minor leagues all use the DH rule exclusively.
Gee, I wonder why pitchers' batting averages have gone down every decade?
Might it be that, because of all the DH's, pitchers don't take much batting practice?
Looks like a vicious cycle to me...
Back in my day, if Bob Gibson gave up a home run, the next batter KNEW he needed to kiss dirt to avoid being hit by an inside pitch
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
A lot of ‘so called’ fans call Bryce Harper a crybaby and loudmouth.
Remember very early in his career he was hit by a Pitch from one Cole Hamels, and ended up stealing home.(After the game Hamels indicated the HBP was intentional as BH needed some ‘schoolin’.)
The next time up he BUNTED the ball up the first base line.
Not a doubt in my mind that if the P would have went to field it, BH would have attempted to ‘place him in another portion of the stadium’, probably starting with spike marks up his back.
Sal Maglie wasn’t called ‘Sal the Barber’ because he wielded a razor.....
Same here, Braves fan.
I think that the NL has no choice. Today at the youth level, where they use the DH, kids become pitcher onlys at the age of 13-14. Unlike my day when college was the time that happened. So what you are getting is pitchers who have not hit since Little League stepping into the batters box their first time in the Bigs. The NL is looking at a flood of pitchers coming up who have never hit on a 90-60 field. Like I said, they will have no choice but to implement the DH. Also there is a trend in today’s MLB to use roster space for expanded pitching staffs, be it 6 starters with the Mets, or 7 guys in the bullpen. Managers would prefer the extra arms over the need for pinch hitters on the bench, especially in this day of Tommy John surgery paranoia. With the DH, they only need a back-up catcher and two other position players on the bench.
Hell NO!
Pitchers' BA has been going down every decade since 1900. The DH has only been around since the seventies.
You could take the DH away tomorrow...and pitchers' BA would continue to decline.
Why? Because a pitcher spending extra effort into refining his craft will bear greater dividends than investing extra effort into batting practice.
If you were a boxer, would you waste anytime learning how to wrestle?
And, FWIW, pitchers make lousy batters. I remember the Red Sox had a lefty one time they traded to the Yankees. Name of Babe Somebodyorother. Don’t know whatever happened to him...
Earl Wilson too. Red Sox traded to Tigers.
God I love baseball threads. And baseball.
Also, pitchers are generally less effective the more times through a line up. The more times a hitter gets a look at release point and timing of the delivery the better it is for the hitter. Eventually we might see someone finally try some sort of rotation where a pitcher only pitches once or twice to every batter. It will probably take a bad rebuilding team with maybe one or two guys that pitch crazy innings like knuckleball guys to take up the slack in blow outs.
Freegards
He was not an exception to the rule back then. He was just an exceptionally good hitter while most pitchers were just competent hitters in those days.
I can remember the days when pitchers were not automatic outs and even remember starting pitchers being used a pinch hitters on their off days. There have been and still are pitchers in the NL that can hit. Hang a curve on some of them and they will take you downtown.
Old baseball stats are my drug of choice.
I HATE the DH.
I grew up in the “Pitchers can’t hit” good old days.
.
There's no sport like Baseball.
There are Saber Metric guys who have already suggested that. Instead of just 'relief' specialists, you have a half dozen of 2-3 inning specialists. Keeps the innings and pitch count down on your best pitchers and does not allow the batters enough looks at each to get the timing and release point down while allowing the pitcher to go every 2-3 days instead of 5 days.
I agree that we will probably see that strategy tried soon.
I have no problem with that, but NO DH in the NL!
Once true free agency made it to baseball, the rent a player model was inevitable.
I did come up with a proposal to fix things within that construct and still allow the owners and players to make money.
1. MLB will be divided into two corporations: American League Inc. and National League Inc.
2. AL Inc. and NL Inc. will each have 15 subsidiaries to start, though each corporation can expand or contract to meet changes in the market or subsidiary directors. These subsidiaries will have names like Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, etc. They inherit the old records.
3. Each subsidiary will have dibs on a region. The Dodgers have L.A., the Rangers have Dallas. These regions will have dibs on new talent that grew up or went to school in said assigned region.
4. If a player’s contract is up, and he wants a better bargain, he can strike a deal with the region in the other corporation. A Dodger can become an Angel, etc. A low threshold of maybe two players per year will allow trades among the subsidiaries. One player per year from outside the U.S. can sign with any team and is then assigned to that team’s regions. The free agency betwen the leagues is needed to avoid anti-trust issues.
5. The schedule goes to 154 games. Only the top 8 teams are eligible for World Series play. The bottom 7 are in a Minor-League + bracket, with the top three teams each season being promoted to the regular majors, and the bottom three regular teams being demoted to the minor+ league. This is to maintain interest in teams that are mathematically eliminated from World Series play, and to provide incentive for mediocre teams to improve.
6. Naturally, no DH.
7. The top team in each League plays the other in a 7 game World Series.
That’s the thumbnail version, but you get the idea.
NO!
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