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Related: About this forumNew MLB Commissioner would eliminate defensive shifts to support more scoring
I'm surprised I'm the first to post this. It was reported end of January.
This is more horrible an idea than the DH ... and shocking, especially coming from the mouth of the baseball commissioner.
Where the fuck do they dig up these morons? First Selig. Now Manfred.
Cliff Corcoran of Sports Illustrated:
That idea has been floated before, but to hear it come out of the commissioner's mouth is shocking. Thats not just because it would be incredibly difficult to codify (for reasons included below), but because, even more than the idea of pitch clocks, banning shifts would fly in the face of the very nature of the game.
If the first rule of hitting is Wee Willie Keelers maxim to hit em where they aint, the first rule of defense is play em where they hit em. Defensive positioning is such a fundamental part of the sport at every level that its absurd to even consider limiting a teams ability to position its fielders however it wants. At every level, fielders come way in for the weaker hitters, move way back for the big boppers and shift around for the rare lefty. Are we to believe that major league hitters need more protection from defensive strategies than Little Leaguers?
http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/01/26/rob-manfred-defensive-shifts-mlb-commissioner
JeffHead
(1,186 posts)Baseball is a game of adjustments. Pitchers adjust and hitters adjust. The hitters need to adjust on this one. If the defense puts 3 guys on 1 side of the infield and 1 guy at shortstop I would bunt down the third base line every fucking time until they knock that shit off. Commissioner Manfred should leave well enough alone and let this iron itself out on its own, that is if most of the hitters swallow some pride and just "hit'em where they ain't"
Auggie
(31,230 posts)They want more scoring! Doucebags. Why not move the fences in 50 feet and make foul balls no longer count as strikes ... make pitchers throw only fastballs ... eliminate one position player ... wtf else???
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)certainly in a baseball thread.
madinmaryland
(64,934 posts)El Supremo
(20,365 posts)Fielders can play anywhere. That rule is as old as baseball. For an example. if a first baseman trades positions with an outfielder, they don't even have to tell the umpire. But they can't trade batting orders.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)Auggie
(31,230 posts)baseball hired an idiot. He certainly does not understand the game.
Fix The Stupid
(951 posts)Shouldn't the commissioner of Baseball, actually, you know, have played baseball before?
Because an idea like this can only come from someone who does NOT know the game or has not played it.
Craziness.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)I'm one of those fans MLB is losing and this doesn't help bring me back in.
Why eliminate one of the few things left that impact strategy? Defensive shifts are part of the reason I still have an interest.
frylock
(34,825 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)If the new commissioner's goal is to make people pine away for the good old days of Bud Selig, something I wouldn't have even though possible last year.
Is this where baseball is going?