{"id":14914,"date":"2019-03-15T08:38:28","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T14:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/?p=14914"},"modified":"2019-03-16T11:57:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T17:57:52","slug":"changes-are-acomin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/changes-are-acomin\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes Are A’comin’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Yesterday, MLB announced a slew of rule changes to be implemented for the upcoming 2019 season and the 2020 season.\u00a0 For 2019, the changes include shortening the breaks between innings, reducing mound visits, modifying the trade deadline, and updates around the All Star Game.\u00a0 2020 changes include changes to the active roster, the minimum number of batters a pitcher must face, and increasing the time pitchers must spend either on the injured list or in the minor leagues when optioned.<\/p>\n

The breaks between innings will be reduced from 2:05 to 2:00 for local games, and from 2:25 to 2:00 for national games.\u00a0 This should remove between one and a half minutes to 7 and a half minutes of dead time from every game, shortening game times across the league.\u00a0 Of course, the fine print says that these changes are “subject to discussions with broadcast partners”, which means, nationally, FOX, ESPN, and TBS need to be aligned with losing over 7 minutes of their commercial inventory.\u00a0 Which, frankly, seems unlikely.<\/p>\n

The number of mound visits is being reduced from 6, which was first introduced last season, to 5.\u00a0 Since the limit of 6 affected exactly zero teams in 2018, this doesn’t seem to be much of a change and shouldn’t have much, if any, impact.<\/p>\n

The trade deadline is staying put on July 31st, but trade waivers, the archaic system by which trades enacted after the trade deadline, will be eliminated.\u00a0 Players may continue to be placed and claimed on outright waivers after July 31st, but players may not be traded after that date.\u00a0 This means buyers and sellers will need to make a final call on their season a month earlier than they do now.\u00a0 There is also some thought that this will help with the service time manipulation of young phenoms, as injured and ineffective players will no longer be able to be replaced from the outside over the final two months of the season.<\/p>\n

Voting for the All Star Game is being changed, with fan voting conducted in two rounds.\u00a0 Each team will nominate one player per position (three outfielders), who will be voted on by fans during the first, “Primary Round”.\u00a0 In late June or early July, the top three vote-getters at each position during the Primary Round will be voted on by fans to determine the All Star Game starters, in what is currently being called \u201cElection Day\u201d.\u00a0 Final details on the new fan voting format will be announced sometime in April.\u00a0 Bonus payments will be given to the top three vote-getters at each position per league during the Primary Round (top six for outfielders).\u00a0 Additionally, the prize money awarded to players on the winning All Star team will be increased.\u00a0 None of this really should have any effect on the game itself, unless the new bonuses and increased prize money is substantial enough to make the players take winning the exhibition more seriously.<\/p>\n

The big change is that, in the case of extra innings at the All Star Game, both teams will start the 10th\u00a0inning, and each subsequent inning, with a runner on second base, with re-entry substitutions allowed for the runners.\u00a0 This follows changes made in hockey and college football, where, when a game “ends” in a tie, you change the rules of the game to determine a winner.\u00a0 I’m not a fan of this type of change, as it fundamentally changes how the game is played.\u00a0 If it stays in the realm of exhibition games, where the goal is more to finish the game without anyone getting hurt, I can live with that.\u00a0 I would hate to ever see this implemented during regular season, or post-season, play.<\/p>\n

The final change for 2019 is an increase in prize money for the Home Run Derby, up to $2.5 million with the winner receiving $1 million.\u00a0 Maybe this reduces the number of players turning down the derby?\u00a0 As someone who doesn’t care about the derby, this does nothing to move my needle.<\/p>\n

The changes due to take effect for the\u00a02020 season\u00a0include the following:<\/p>\n

The size of the active roster is increasing for most of the season.\u00a0 From Opening Day through August 31st, and in the post-season, the roster size will increase from 25 to 26, while the minimum number of active players will increase from 24 to 25.\u00a0 The current rule allowing for a 26th\u00a0player for doubleheaders will be amended to allow for a 27th\u00a0player.\u00a0 From September 1st\u00a0through the end of the regular season, all teams must carry 28 players on the active roster, replacing the current 40 man rosters that allow for minor league players, whose seasons have come to an end, to enjoy an extended look.\u00a0 Limiting the number of minor league call ups in September may also exacerbate the service time manipulation issue.<\/p>\n

Another roster change is a cap on the number of pitchers that may be on the active roster.\u00a0 Teams must designate each of its players as either a pitcher or a position player prior to each player\u2019s first day on the active roster for a given season.\u00a0 That designation will remain in effect for the player, and cannot change, for the remainder of the season, including the post-season.\u00a0 Players not designated as pitchers may not appear in a game as a pitcher unless a game reaches extra innings, the player’s team is either winning or losing by more than 6 runs, or the player is designated as a \u201cTwo-Way Player.\u201d\u00a0 A player qualifies as a Two-Way Player only if he accrues at least 20 innings pitched and at least 20 games started as a position player or designated hitter, with at least three plate appearances in each of those games, in either the current season or the prior season.\u00a0 Given the next rule change, this change really makes no sense.<\/p>\n

Rule 5.10(g) will be amended to require that all pitchers must pitch to either a minimum of three batters or the end of a half-inning, with exceptions for injury or illness.\u00a0 The Players Association has agreed that it will not challenge the implementation of the amended Rule 5.10(g).\u00a0 This is intended to limit the number of mid-inning pitching changes, which tend to drag out games when pitchers only face one hitter.\u00a0 On its face, it makes sense, but I’m sure there will be some unintended consequences that will pop up requiring further massaging of the rule down the line.<\/p>\n

Finally, the minimum period of time for pitchers on the injured list is being increased from 10 days to 15 days, as is the minimum assignment period of pitchers who are optioned to the minors.\u00a0 The play here is to decrease the incentive of teams who use the disabled<\/del> injured list and their Triple A team as a way to effectively implement a larger pitching staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, MLB announced a slew of rule changes to be implemented for the upcoming 2019 season and the 2020 season.\u00a0 For 2019, the changes include shortening the breaks between innings, reducing mound visits, modifying the trade deadline, and updates around the All Star Game.\u00a0 2020 changes include changes to the active roster, the minimum number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[5041,1317,806,2803,2244,1667],"class_list":["post-14914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball","tag-all-star-game","tag-espn","tag-fox","tag-major-league-baseball-players-association","tag-mlb","tag-tbs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14914"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14920,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14914\/revisions\/14920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}