titanrick

Really good post. That sums up my view of Elway perfectly. Lack of self-awareness, excess of confidence, too proud to admit he needs help in some areas (QB evaluation being the most glaring).

No, I don't believe a rule making it impossible to remove a pitcher is going to make guys like you watch baseball on TV. And I think the frustration of having a manager handicapped in what moves he can make to try to win a game is not worth the gamble.

Buuuuut if it never got resolved, wouldn't he still be older? Thanks for posting that, tt4life! I still haven't heard whether that remaining cap figure takes into account our rookie class. Don't we need to leave room to sign the rookies or could we theoretically sign someone for one year/$19M and then still be fine after the rookies are signed?

I am. You're right. And baseball fans will enjoy the reduction in commercial breaks, etc until that "exception" scenario costs them a game. To sit and watch a pitcher implode for your team is torturous enough, but to watch it in the future and realize it is against the rules to take him out of the game? My point is that the consequence of this proposed rule, although rare, is not worth the benefit they are seeking. People who think baseball is boring are not suddenly going to start watching it because of a couple fewer minutes in average game length (I think 15-20 mins is an exaggeration). And I fear they are risking alienating the fans baseball already has (like me) by trying to get fans that they have very little chance of drawing in.

I can't wait until they put in a pitcher who can't find the strike zone in a close game. Those close ups of the manager who has to watch him walk three straight batters and lose the game because it was against the rules to remove him... priceless. You expect the average game time to drop by twenty minutes? Really?

Regardless of whether we can come to an agreement with Kimbrel, it's incredibly encouraging that we're willing to add another salary that big at this point!

I agree. And cutting the time down a couple minutes is not what will bring them in. I'm curious about the details of the 3-batter limit. Are those official at-bats or could the pitcher give up two hits and issue an intentional walk in order to get lifted? Or does his arm start to hurt after two batters? Maybe an invisible blister starts bothering him? This just seems like such a radical change for such a small difference. Taking away warm-up pitches and commercial breaks would be much less disruptive to the strategy of the game.

I don’t think that changes my point. So if a televised game is coming down to the last out, I’m supposed to think people are wishing it ended four minutes sooner?

This bothers me too. Let's say the changes are unbelievably successful with no unintended consequences (a real stretch) and they cut 5-10 mins off the average game time. Do we really believe there are people out there who think, "I could go to a game today but it's going to take 3 hours, 10 mins. If it only took 3 hours, sure I'd go but I can't make that kind of commitment"? The fact is people who think baseball is boring and takes too long are not going to change their minds over an average of a couple of minutes. When the home team is making a comeback in the bottom of the ninth and everyone is on their feet, I guarantee there is no one thinking "Why can't this game have ended four minutes ago?" Baseball is boring when there are blowouts or disinterested teams. Guess what - that's the same in the NBA or the NFL. I could get behind the "no warm up pitches" thing though - those guys are already warm in the bullpen when they come in. No need for a commercial break there.

I think you meant error.

The minimum three-hitter rule for pitchers shocks me. I've read the MLBPA didn't agree so maybe this gets scrapped before next year. That's a huge change.

Anyone have a guess how much more we have in cap room? We have to save some for signing the draft picks. I'm guessing we're about done?

That makes logical sense as a fan. I just find it impossible to believe a GM would think that way.

It's interesting (and fantastic news) that we are signing guys on the first day, yet the consensus is we aren't overpaying. Says good things about JRob, Vrabel and the culture we are building.

The Giants are apparently testing the trade waters with OBJ. Although I was a hard pass on Antonio Brown, I'd welcome a trade for OBJ. Yeah, he's going to be almost as expensive but he's younger and his bone-headed antics are less team-killing than AB's.