Over on the Scout.com message board, there is a lot of angst over the use of the final, 25th spot on the St. Louis Cardinals active roster. As the season began, it was deployed in the traditional manner, on a position player, but as the club headed into a brutal stretch of consecutive games, manager Tony La Russa went to eight relievers and 13 pitchers overall.
With a short bench, starting pitcher Todd Wellemeyer made a pinch-hit appearance in a bunting situation on Sunday, following fellow rotation member Adam Wainwright in being called upon to hit on a day off this season.
A number of fans have been critical of carrying the extra pitcher, with some in favor of simply shifting the roster balance back from pitching to hitting, dumping a pitcher such as Brad Thompson (pictured) in the process. Others with a more radical and longer-term view want to see MLB rosters expanded beyond 25.
While the Players Association would likely be all for such an idea, ownership would surely be just as against bearing the additional costs inherent in adding another 30, 60 or 90 major leaguers in perpetuity.
Putting money aside, I am apparently in the minority, but I kind of like the fact the current roster size forces managers to make creative tradeoffs late in games. Others seem to enjoy what I feel are more robotic moves common in the American League due to the long-time deployment of the designated hitter.
For those who want to see change, a way to perhaps negotiate expanded roster sizes would be in dealing with the DH disconnect once and for all. While I obviously have a personal bias in one direction, I am even stronger in my opinion that the two leagues should have a uniform rule.
Show me another major sport anywhere that has such an important difference in basic rules between leagues. It is nutty – a three-year trial that never ended. Either adopt it universally or dump it.
I see this issue as the poster child of the reign of Bud Selig – the master of indecision and inaction.
Then again, if you would argue in favor of replacing this problem with inconsistent and self-governed umpiring, rampant unchecked use of performance enhancing drugs, inexplicable television broadcast territories that arbitrarily restrict fans from seeing their team’s games or any number of other broken parts of America’s Pastime, I couldn’t disagree.
The long wait for MLB to come to its senses and settle the DH experiment appears to be as likely as Bud Selig finding a new barber.
The obvious solution is to end the charade of a roster spot being taken by a player that only plays offense. Baseball is a game played by nine people on each side , each of the nine plays offense and defense . Other team sports allow continuous substitution , in baseball more thought and planning, along with seat of the pants intuitiveness ( or lack of ) goes into a well managed baseball game.
Ten players per side, to me means beer leagues !
On the other hand the players union would not want to give up 15 or so DH positions, in the past
DH was often a higher priced player. It will be interesting to take a look at the current DH’s and see how much offense they really generate. I would guess it isn’t that great.
Sure, it is more offense than the pitchers put up, but that was pretty exciting and upsetting in Cincy with one pitcher hitting a game tying pinch hit home run and another pitcher that was
0 for a long time , breaking the game open with a hit the day before.
Dump the DH !
This is kinda scary with 13 pitchers on the active roster. The expanded numbers of pitchers on the active roster will certainly be a big part of LaRussa’s legacy.
Baseball has made so much money in the last 15 years Brian, that there is probably a real fear of change. It makes sense to Rupert Murdock. When the Twins tried to break independent of Fox, he crushed them. We are immersed in politics whether we like it or not.
Brian, we can blame Bud Selig for a lot of things but the DH was pretty entrenched when he took the reins. I don’t like it and wish it had never been implemented but the American League was lagging behind the NL in attendance at the time and the NL kicked their butts in the All-Star game every year. They were trying something radical. Oh well.
What I would like to see MLB do is change the blackout rules for the Saturday Game of the Week from the regional games they now have. ABC used to (and probably still does) offer out of area regional games for a price.
Living in California, I rarely get to see any team but whoever the Dodgers or Angels are playing on a Saturday on Fox. I’d pay $4.95 to get to watch the Cards play their game, which is also on Fox and I’m sure thousands of others around the country would do the same every Saturday if they had a choice of three or four games outside their area. It makes no sense whatsoever to hold people captive for six hours every Saturday. What imbeciles came up with this plan?
Another thing they could do would be to tie my Saturday “choice” package into the Extra Innings package they sell to DirecTV and to the cable companies. They might double their subscribers. It’s too simple. It’s free money. How can they pass it up?
I am a fan of the National League and tend toward tolerance. I do not care if AL teams have a DH.
And I am supportive of the Cardinals. If Tony wants 8 relievers, he should have them, as indeed he does. Great job Mo!
As regards PEDs, they must be widely used in all competitive sports, professional and amateur, in keeping with the growth in pharmacological knowledge and player salaries. To adjust to public expectations, MLB has introduced more PED testing than most sports. Bud has been doing a good job in the hopelessly murky arena of PEDs.
And where did the story break about Boras’ educational background in sports pharmacology? Right here, at the Cardinal Nation, thanks to an intrepid poster.
I like that a 25 man roster requires some creativity and thought about when to make a move. I hate the DH for the same reason. The decision of when to remove a SP is easier, benches get used less.
If the MLBPA is too concerned, add one extra roster spot and eliminate the DH. It is a +15 for the PA, but would likely be less money to each player than is now used for the DH spot on the roster.
I agree that the DH rule needs reconciliation. It creates an unfair advantage to the AL during interleague and the World Series. They are built with more big time hitters in mind. The bullpen isn’t as important, except for a few at the backend because they get called on less frequently. I prefer no DH. Hope it happens.
I also have a major problem with unbalanced scheduling when there is a wild card. How can you compare the Cards and Mets when we don’t play the same teams, the same number of times. I think that is a real problem.
cfit, good point about interleague and World Series. Going to a balanced schedule would make divisions meaningless. Would you just take the top six teams in the post-season?
Some say that the AL gets the advantage in AL-NL matchups because their rosters are built with an extra clunky fielder. Some say that the NL gets the advantage because their pitchers get more practice batting. I’m happy to call it a wash and appreciate the uniqueness of each league rather than demanding uniformity for the sake of aesthetics.
Albert leads off with a hr. His back foot was touching inside chalk, 2 to 3 inches closer than Sunday. His front foot is normal, but if you watch he will tap it sneaking closer with every movement in a game of cat and mouse with the catcher. Ludwick was a little closer and more closed also. I am encouraged. Tip of the hat to McRae, if it is his work.
Anyone want to speculate on the 7 run threshold for Welly’s removal? Was it our 1 run with little signs of life?
Nutlaw, for more offense and to extend the playing life of aging kickers, I think the NFL should move the goal posts up ten yards to the goal line. But they should just try it in the AFC and keep the NFC the way it is.
Kickers only kick. Batters both field and hit. The NFL doesn’t require players to serve on both offense and defense.
The NFL and other sports also have a heck of a lot more crossover between leagues during the regular season than MLB does. Interleague play is very limited.
Your analogy is weak.