I guess hypothetically, that could happen, but, it probably never will. Usually when a pitcher gets to the point that the manager is going to pull him, they usually have a guy already warming up in the bullpen. Besides they use other stall tactics. (Catcher going to the mound. Infield huddles, manager/pitching coach comes out, impatient umpire breaks the meetings off, and then they signal for the change.... By then, they've wasted about 5-10 minutes.)
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
No, I'm not equating throwing at a batter's head with delaying the game. I'm equating the fact that a player has to be responsible for his own actions. Whether the manager told him to perform the action or not does not absolve the player of responsibility for said action.
With that said, you suspend the players to prevent it from happening again. If it were simply ejections, teams would perform the scenario presented all the time since it would be a pitcher who was going to be taken out anyway and a pitcher from the night before.
If a pitcher is thrown out of a game, or is injured, his replacement has all the time he needs to warm up.
The issue with the "delay" tactic it that is can be called a balk and you move the runners up. So instead, throw a couple balls behind the batter, get tossed, and the new guy comes in and loosens up at his leisure.
Sto Pro Veritate
I was refering to post #19 where the poster asked what can be done if a pitcher refuses to pitch. He made the comment that a pitcher can be called for a balk for refusing to pitch to a batter which is a false statement. If there is no one on base the pitcher has 12 seconds to deliver the pitch(8.04). If the pitcher does not do it then the umpire will call that unthrown pitch a "ball" and not a balk. (Of course as we all know this never happens.) If there are runners on base and in the umpires judgement the pitcher is delaying the game by throwing to an occupied base when there is no real intent to play on a runner then a warning will be given to the pitcher for "delay of game". If the pitcher continues to do this then he will be ejected and at the same time a balk will be called(8.05h). Again, I would be suprised if this rule has ever been enforced in the history of MLB.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info.../pitcher_8.jsp
In short, if a team desired to do what the OP suggested by prolonging the game in order to give a reliever time to warm up then it can be done by doing what i referenced above. However it is incredibly unlikely the umpires will make this call and even if the pitcher by his extreme actions forced it to happen, it would be considered very much "bush league" and most likely would result in a ball plunking someone on the offending team in the butt.
"Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it." Cal Hubbard
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |