Like the DH?? You're in Luck...

[Bob Alpacadaca]

I don't like it. But I'm amazed it hasn't happened sooner. Once interleague games became common to the point where there is one every day, it makes no sense to have two sets of rules.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Yeah I pretty much hate this but when I rage against the machine nowadays, it's for things much more important in life. The kids today, I imagine, don't give a single shit about this one way or the other. I'm with Methead and BG and think baseball has maybe achieved the worst of possible outcomes: fan apathy. While there are writers and fans who still rail against the devolution of this sport, it feels to me like the greater collective response (for those that even noticed) was a shrug.

[Methead]

Well don't get me wrong, I still care about Mets games. I watch as many innings as I possibly can, and I pay attention to players evolving through the system and things like that. It's true that I don't let Mets losses piss me off as much as they used to. But that's basically as far as it goes for me these days in terms of the larger MLB universe.

[Edgy MD]

Bob Alpacadaca wrote: I don't like it. But I'm amazed it hasn't happened sooner. Once interleague games became common to the point where there is one every day, it makes no sense to have two sets of rules.

It makes less sense, though, to have bad rules proliferate.

[The Hot Corner]

I am far less annoyed or upset by the universal adoption of the DH going forward. I think it is because I had come to view its adoption as an inevitable part of the new collective bargaining agreement.



Now the automatic runner in scoring position during extra innings, I truly hate; far more than I ever did the DH.

[Frayed Knot]

=metsmarathon post_id=85765 time=1644589059 user_id=83]
the arguments in favor of the dh just never rang true for me, in that pitchers were bad hitters and got hurt doing hitter things.

[Edgy MD]

I'm a little leery about philosophically accepting the DH on the notion that it's not as bad as other rules put in place since 2020. It half makes me suspect that Commissioner Manfred elected to institute those rules for the specific purpose of making the universal DH more palatable.

[Lefty Specialist]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Yeah I pretty much hate this but when I rage against the machine nowadays, it's for things much more important in life. The kids today, I imagine, don't give a single shit about this one way or the other. I'm with Methead and BG and think baseball has maybe achieved the worst of possible outcomes: fan apathy. While there are writers and fans who still rail against the devolution of this sport, it feels to me like the greater collective response (for those that even noticed) was a shrug.

Yeah, this is pretty much where I'm at. It's a bad idea, but I don't have the strength (or the ability) to fight it. 2020 kind of primed us for this anyway. Maybe DeGrom will get to pinch hit once in a while.

[Frayed Knot]

I think we still need to fight it.

Will it change anything? Almost certainly not. But it would help to keep reminding them that we're neither happy nor accepting of it.



Say a trend where anti-DH banners are a regular sight in NL parks. Banners get seen by other fans, by execs in their suites, and by TV cameras.

Keeping them humorous and clever would make more of an impact IMO rather than simple vented outrage, maybe like those Hunter Pence signs from a few years ago.

FMan's remark that 'You can't spell DUH! without DH' put this idea in my head. Come up with a few more and the idea will start to catch on, both at CitiField and

elsewhere and pretty soon you'll have the Alice's Restaurant anti-DH Movement and all you have to do is sing it next time it comes around on the gee-tar

[Edgy MD]

Amen and amen and amen.



I intend to go down noisily.

[Gwreck]

Rob Manfred has done more to ruin baseball than…anyone else in my lifetime?

[Frayed Knot]

Although let's not act as if Manfred is doing all this unilaterally.



The owners/execs have been increasingly leaning this way for years now - probably looking at the prices they're paying pitchers and getting fraidy-scared

of allowing them out of bubble-wrap any more than they have to.

And we know the union has long touted this as creating an extra job (which it doesn't) and a high-paying one at that (less true than it once was). Plus,

caters to the established veterans of their group and, as their long-time anti-PED testing stance showed, union bosses have shown they're more than

willing to dismiss what the younger rank and file thinks in order to protect the big boys in the room.

[Gwreck]

Frayed Knot wrote: as their long-time anti-PED testing stance showed, union bosses have shown they're more than willing to dismiss what the younger rank and file thinks in order to protect the big boys in the room.

It's not at all clear that an anti-testing stance favors established players over younger ones. The results of testing - (which the MLBPA was apparently in favor of back in 2004) certainly shows some big names (Palmeiro, Ramirez) getting caught but also far more marginal players or those trying to break in to MLB for the first time getting caught.



Also, the reference to “union bosses” is unclear here. Aren't they doing what the players what? The same way that Manfred is doing what the owners want?



Regardless, this is a bit off-topic from the abomination that is the Designated Hitter. If that's the extent of the rule changes, then the game will survive. The other changes that Manfred (in service of the owners) has pushed (7 inning games, phantom runners) are probably even more intolerable.

[Frayed Knot]

Don Fehr and his Lieutenants were adamant for a time that they would Never agree to players being subject to PED testing, comparing it at one point as a personal right akin to forbidding players from

smoking cigarettes in the off-season. But as time went on word started to leak out that a significant number of players wanted PEDs out of the game but felt intimidated against saying so to the union

often due to their lesser service time and/or lack of star status. It was thought that Fehr et al were more interested in protecting the Bonds / Clemens wing of the party with their bigger contracts and

more veteran status and so the 'little guys' either weren't speaking up or weren't being listened to. Eventually that changed but it took a while.



So I can certainly see the same type of pressure being applied towards newer players who might not want the DH from those aging stars most likely to benefit from a universal DH -- 'Hey, don't fuck

with my job rookie'. And, sure, the union bosses work for the union just like corporate boards work for the stockholders ... but they're going to listen to the big stockholders more.

I suspect the pro-DH wing of players is smaller and so, unlike the PED question, there is less likely to be a 'silent majority' here. But I still find it easy to believe that there is/was pressure to keep the

employment of Pujols and Miggy Cabrera types going and their contracts on the books.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Worth remembering that an entire team attempted to intentionally fail tests that were meant to be sealed, in order to help trigger mandatory testing.

[86dreamer]

Edgy MD wrote: Worth remembering that an entire team attempted to intentionally fail tests that were meant to be sealed, in order to help trigger mandatory testing.

I need help remembering - what is the story here?

[Gwreck]

They didn't all take PEDs; they refused to appear for the tests or some other procedural violation, which counted the same as a failed test.



Edit:

Found it. Sandy Alomar Jr. says it was a plan hatched by veteran players on the White Sox.

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/12/sports/baseball-the-white-sox-take-a-stand-on-steroid-tests.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/12/sports/baseball-the-white-sox-take-a-stand-on-steroid-tests.html

[Gwreck]

Frayed Knot wrote: union bosses have shown they're more than willing to dismiss what the younger rank and file thinks in order to protect the big boys in the room.

Interestingly, it was reported that MLBPA's executive subcommittee voted 8-0 against accepting the new deal, but it passed 26-12 when voted upon by the broader player board.



Seems the specter of those shadowy “Union bosses” aren't quite so all-powerful.

[seawolf17]

Dom hit two long home runs to right off Max this morning, as per some videos SNY shared on Facebook. That is *really* encouraging.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Or discouraging.



We can't be sure whether this reflects on Smith or on Scherzer.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Were they both off Max?

[Fman99]

=seawolf17 post_id=87150 time=1647446207 user_id=91]
Dom hit two long home runs to right off Max this morning, as per some videos SNY shared on Facebook. That is *really* encouraging.

[Edgy MD]

Even more optimistically would be that Scherzer is locked in, and no other batter could have touched those pitches.

[batmagadanleadoff]

This just in: Rey Ordonez rips a line drive single to left. He'll probably hit .400 this season.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Wow! Ordonez smashes another line drive single. Make that .500!

[nymr83]

I bet Ordonez is still playing in a beer league somewhere at 51 years old and making it look easy at shortstop (hey its all relative)