As shifts suppress offense, time has come to consider a rule change?

[jojo]

Outlaw bunts and be done with it.

BABOOM!!!

[jojo]

Outlaw bunts and be done with it.

Outlaw making fans sit through craptastically boring at bats by pitchers too while we're at it.

[jojo]

Hardcore fans, which is the majority on RZ, don't mind low scoring games.

Every night though? The current version of baseball is aesthetically unpleasant even for diehards. There is a difference between great pitching and inspiring defense and the abject offensive futility that we're currently being subjected to....Judy hitters who can't even make contact and "routine put outs palooza". This isn't even small ball. It's the confluence of a pitching environment with a general lack of bat skills. Evolution had better hurry up on this one or we'll be watching soccer and lacrosse played by a lost generation.

[TOBTTReds]

Players will adjust in due time. The game has changed a ton throughout the years. I'm not concerned. Beat the shift the other way and they'll stop shifting. Easier said than done, but:

Maybe better hitters will result from the shift, and in the end, we'll have a better game.

[Norm Chortleton]

Outlaw making fans sit through craptastically boring at bats by pitchers too while we're at it.

Why not just have offensive/defensive units like football then? In effect, 9 designated hitters and 9 designated fielders?

[westofyou]

NL 35 years ago .

.261/.325/.385/.709, 1 hit batter every 200 ab, 1 HR every 46 ab, 1 SAC every 70 ab, 1 SB every 44 ab

NL 2013

.251/.315/.388/.703, 1 hit batter every 98 ab, 1 HR every 38 ab, 1 SAC every 90 ab, 1 SB every 68 AB

[Rojo]

If you're an old fat guy who can't run out a bunt, maybe you're not an athelete. Try golf.

[Raisor]

If you're on old fat guy who can't run out a bunt, maybe you're not an athelete. Try golf.

I'm not that old

[Roy Tucker]

It's a creative thought, but naaah. Last time they got creative, we got the DH.

Let the game itself adjust. It will happen.

[westofyou]

Eliminating the shift a bandage for a phantom wound

Fans like offense. That's what professional writers such as Buster Olney and Tom Verducci are saying as well: We dwell in a low-offense valley, and they miss the offense.

Olney suggested "perhaps lowering the mound again, or changing the composition of the ball." Verducci wants to outlaw the shift. The terrible, painful irony here is that they fail to recognize that such remedies for the current lack of offense are no different from the use of drugs to get the same effect. What doesn't seem to have occurred to those asking for more offense is that they are requesting the manipulation of scoring levels by artificial means, which is exactly what Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez supposedly did.

Instead of outlawing the shift, maybe we should just give batters a fourth strike. Assuming that's out of the question, the real solution here is not tinkering with the rules, but a generational change. Hitters like Paul Waner, who made hard contact and shot for the foul lines instead of the middle of the field, will return to us. I can't wait to see him and his fellows. So hands off, sportswriters. It will be a different kind of baseball than you're used to, but just as good -- and when it happens, you can still ***** about how all these triples mean that we need more home runs.

[IslandRed]

Between the endless shifting and league wide inability to make contact, the games have been relentlessly boring. Watching less and less.

As the article said, low-scoring wasn't so bad when the game moved along. But a 2-1 game with 20 strikeouts that drags out to three-plus hours, with most of the time spent watching the hitter and pitcher fidget? Yawn, even to me.

[Rojo]

This isn't even small ball. It's the confluence of a pitching environment with a general lack of bat skills. Evolution had better hurry up on this one or we'll be watching soccer and lacrosse played by a lost generation.

I think this is it. I think of Uggla, an unskilled hitter who was left high and dry when the grip-and-rip offensive tide went out. Batters need to adjust their game, GMs need to adjust their rosters and managers need to adjust their strategies.

A few years ago, on ESPN classic, I caught a mid-80's Cards-Cubs game. The hitters -- McGee, Herr, Sandberg -- all stood fairly upright and stung the ball to all fields. It was fast-paced, with a lot of baserunners, pressure on the pitcher, etc...

[Rojo]

As the article said, low-scoring wasn't so bad when the game moved along. But a 2-1 game with 20 strikeouts that drags out to three-plus hours, with most of the time spent watching the hitter and pitcher fidget? Yawn, even to me.

As Bill James put it, "drain the inaction" out of the game. Sitting threw 4 hours of nibbling and fidgeting, strike-outs and walks waiting for three-run blasts can be pretty boring as well.

[*BaseClogger*]

I can't find the tweet, but Brandon McCarthy's suggestion to improve the game was to limit pitchers to 15 seconds between pitches. Not only would it speed up the game, but he believes pitchers would fatigue quicker, resulting in less effective stuff...

[westofyou]

I can't find the tweet, but Brandon McCarthy's suggestion to improve the game was to limit pitchers to 15 seconds between pitches. Not only would it speed up the game, but he believes pitchers would fatigue quicker, resulting in less effective stuff...

They could start by enforcing the rules

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info.../pitcher_8.jsp

8.04

When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call “Ball.” The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball.

The intent of this rule is to avoid unnecessary delays. The umpire shall insist that the catcher return the ball promptly to the pitcher, and that the pitcher take his position on the rubber promptly. Obvious delay by the pitcher should instantly be penalized by the umpire.