Now that the collective bargaining agreement is done and dusted, it’s time to contemplate how the game will look when the next round of talks rolls around.

Not the business of the game. I’m talking about the game itself, and there is a great deal at stake in that regard, because rules evolution will be a test of commissioner Rob Manfred’s publicly stated desire for cooperation with the Major League Baseball Players Association and also because it is apparent that technology will be implemented to a degree unimaginable not so long ago.

Remember the fuss about the introduction of video replay in 2008? Only “boundary calls” … and the reviews were initiated by the umpire crews. It took six more years for the managers’ challenge to come into effect. Now? It’s no longer a matter of if but when an electronic strike zone comes into play. The “ghost-runner” is here for extra innings. Bigger bases are on tap for 2023 (this year, they’re even repositioning second base in the minors, as Jayson Stark explains), as is a pitch clock and some sort of restriction on shifting. This spring, catchers and pitchers have been using an electronic device (PitchCom) that allows catchers to punch buttons on a wristband that sends verbal commands to the pitcher and infielders.

Feedback so far has been benign at worst, at least publicly, and players such as Zach Greinke, Mike Zunino and Corey Seager have given PitchCom enthusiastic thumbs up. The device almost eliminates the possibility of signs being stolen. It has noticeably quickened game pace. It might not be in full use in 2022 but it is here to stay, you’d imagine. After all, the most popular league in North America – the NFL – has used coach-to-quarterback communication since 1994 with little issue.

I have some feelings about these changes. I’ve never been a fan of managers or coaches having challenges in any sport, but by and large I’ll admit to having no issue with other aspects of baseball’s rules evolution. Catcher-pitcher communication seems a no-brainer. A follow-up should be even more stringent limits on visits to the mound.

My guiding principle with baseball rules changes is they shouldn’t take away or restrict the amount of thinking and strategy in the game. It’s what separates it from sports with spurts of continuous action. It’s one of the reasons I love the notion of using a “ghost-runner” on second base to start an extra inning. It forces managerial decision-making, which creates action, and that’s good. As Anthony Rizzo complained to a group of reporters a few years back: “We’re the only sport that doesn’t get excited about overtime.”

It’s also why I think the dialogue around the shift needs to be altered away from eliminating it to controlling it. How about not allowing infielders to play on the outfield grass, at least until the pitch is delivered? Or what about limiting the number of times a team can shift in a game or when it can shift. First to third inning? Fourth to sixth? Seventh to eighth? I can see some heads exploding out there, but, really, every sport regularly adjusts its defensive rules.

The game is changing, and we haven’t even dealt with accommodating real-time wagering into the equation, which is the financial motherlode for the sport. In some ways, baseball’s stoppages are perfect for in-game and props, so for consumer confidence the Majors can’t afford any more scandals involving video or electronic sign-stealing. Finding a balance could turn its contemplative nature from a weakness to a strength …

.acf-block-preview .br-snippet {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 200px 1fr;
gap: 20px;
width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 16px;
border: 1px solid #CECECE;
background-color: #FFF;
border-radius: 4px;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info a {
text-decoration: none;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-title {
color: #343434;
font-family: ‘roboto’;
font-size: 20px;
font-weight: 600;
line-height: 22px;
margin-bottom: 10px;
top: -3px;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-body {
color: #343434;
font-family: ‘urw-din’;
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 20px;
margin-bottom: 12px;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-link-title {
display: inline-block;
font-family: ‘urw-din’;
font-size: 16px;
list-style-type: none;
width: auto;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-link-title:not(:last-child):after {
content: ‘ | ‘;
color: #343434;
}

CLEARING THE BASES

• Kingston, Ont., native Matt Brash is giving a good account of himself as he bids for a spot alongside Robbie Ray in the Seattle Mariners rotation. Not bad for the “player to be named later” in a 2020 trade with the San Diego Padres, who made him a fourth-round pick out of Niagara University in 2019. Brash, whose calling card is easy 99 miles per hour velocity and a slider that defies bats and even description, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the sixth-best prospect in the deep Mariners system, has gone toe-to-toe with No. 3 prospect George Kirby this spring in a battle for a fifth starters spot. Brash, who has seven strikeouts and one walk in two spring starts, had 142 strikeouts with 48 walks in 97 1/3 innings at two levels and was a September call-up, although he failed to see action. He and Kirby have piggybacked off each other in Cactus League action and neither has given any quarter. The difference between his fastball/slider and other pitches might ultimately mean Brash ends up in the bullpen, but in acquiring Brash for a one-time waiver claim Taylor Williams – who was eventually waived again – Mariners general manager Jerry DiPoto might have pulled off a bit of a heist …

• The Detroit Tigers will provide the Blue Jays opposition Thursday in Dunedin, and while there’s a sense they on an upward trajectory, it will be interesting to see how they combine higher expectations with the twilight of Miguel Cabrera’s career. Manager A.J. Hinch has acknowledged that the addition of Javier Baez and his desire to get more at bats for switch-hitters Jeimer Candelario – not to mention Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene being on the cusp – could very well mean that the 40-year-old Cabrera finds himself hitting sixth, at best, over the final two years of his contract, which guarantees him $644 million. That’s something Cabrera’s done just eight times in 1,188 starts over 19 Major League seasons. Cabrera, who is coming off a season of career-worsts in slugging and OPS, was in the third spot for 101 games as recently as 2019 and made 90 starts in the cleanup spot in 2021. For his career, Cabrera has batted third or fourth in over 92 per cent of his plate appearances, according to MLB.com’s Jason Beck. He has 490 plate appearances out of the fifth spot … and just 33 out of the sixth. Hinch believes Cabrera’s openness to move primarily to designated hitter this spring to allow Torkelson playing time at first base is indicative of Miggy’s realistic assessment of the situation …

• We’ve always known that Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos was unafraid to ask his peers for advice. So it isn’t surprising that he told us on Blair & Barker that he’d spoken to New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein about how they approached the task of repeating as World Series champions. Cashman has won four World Series – including three consecutive, from 1998-2000 – while Epstein won two World Series with the Boston Red Sox and one with the Chicago Cubs and is now with the commissioner’s office as a consultant. Cashman was never afraid to bring in players with a thirst to win to add to the core of his teams, including players with baggage (real or imagined) such as David Justice. It never hurts to freshen up a team around the edges. And, yes, Anthopoulos admitted that he had also remembered discussions with Pat Gillick, the architect of the Blue Jays’ back-to-back titles in 1992-93. Gillick, of course, turned over much of the roster after ’92. “I’d be lying if I didn’t think about Pat,” Anthopoulos said. I wonder if subconsciously this didn’t make Anthopoulos a little more comfortable pulling the trigger on a Matt Olson trade instead of getting hamstrung waiting for Braves franchise icon Freddie Freeman to agree to a deal …

• Ladner, B.C.’s, muscular Tyler O’Neill broke out in 2021 and he’s beefed up by signing with agent Scott Boras as he gets close to big paydays with the St. Louis Cardinals. O’Neill, who has gone to an arbitration hearing with the Cardinals after filing a $4.15-million request compared to a $3.4-million team offer, says he’s open to a multi-year extension, despite going to arbitration and telling reporters he was disappointed by the team’s “lack of urgency …”

THE ENDGAME

MLB Network analyst and former Colorado Rockies G.M. Dan O’Dowd calls the Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette “unique talents that come around once in a general manager’s career,” and I asked him a while ago how you go about deciding to give a player one of those gut-busting, franchise and market-altering contracts that both can reasonably expect. “You need to believe in the trajectory of the player,” said O’Dowd. “You need to believe that he will get better. And you need to believe in the person; his maturity in life and in the game.” I don’t know what to make of Bichette’s measured take-down of the Blue Jays formula for determining pre-arbitration pay as he explained his reasons for forcing the team to renew him for 2022; whether it’s an indication of a rift or merely somebody standing on a point of principle, knowing a humungous payday approaches. Mostly, at this point I’m prepared to simply enjoy Bichette trying to win a batting title and Guerrero bidding for a most valuable player award and the Blue Jays trying to win a World Series. I’ve covered Blue Jays teams that have let franchise players walk or over-clubbed with commitments to young players. This is different. Ownership is in a way different place, and this is a front office able to take care of its own. Maybe progress has been made on one or both fronts. Maybe the Jays are further ahead with Guerrero because his service time demands it. Maybe silence is golden. Maybe nothing has happened, and we’ll have to wait until next off-season. But I know this: among the many reasons for this team to bust down the door in 2022 is to prevent the contractual statuses of these once-in-a-lifetime pair of talents from becoming an issue.

Jeff Blair hosts Blair & Barker, which can be heard from 10 a.m.-noon ET on Sportsnet 590/The Fan, and Blue Jays Talk following every Blue Jays regular-season game.

More from Sportsnet

As Fowler finally joins Blue Jays, current outfield mix comes into focus

Advertisement

After off-season changes, Merryweather hoping to make impact for Blue Jays

.acf-block-preview .br-related-links-wrapper {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
gap: 20px;
}

.acf-block-preview .br-related-links-wrapper a {
pointer-events: none;
cursor: default;
text-decoration: none;
color: black;
}

Source link