The constant quest to kill baseball

[Thelonebillsfan]

On 6/18/2021 at 10:25 AM, hrubes20 said:

Sorry, I thought it was understood I meant Spider Tack and the other newish designer grip enhancers.  Nobody gives a crap about sunscreen/rosin.  That doesn't add 200 RPMs to a pitch.

But then it gets down to the question of enforcement, which is why even the sunscreen/rosin combo had to go.  

The big thing is really that the enforcement is so slap dash, sudden, and yeah with all the guys taking their ***** out, pretty god damn embarrassing. People are laughing at the sport, it's not helping anything, doing it now just shows that they have no idea what to do, how to fix things, or how to even just enforce the rules they already have. It's a dart board and they're missing every single throw.

Basketball ratings are up after going down the last couple years, despite nothing major changing because they market their effing players. Why can't Baseball do that.

[beekay414]

27 minutes ago, Thelonebillsfan said:

The big thing is really that the enforcement is so slap dash, sudden, and yeah with all the guys taking their ***** out, pretty god damn embarrassing. People are laughing at the sport, it's not helping anything, doing it now just shows that they have no idea what to do, how to fix things, or how to even just enforce the rules they already have. It's a dart board and they're missing every single throw.

Basketball ratings are up after going down the last couple years, despite nothing major changing because they market their effing players. Why can't Baseball do that.

My guess? They don't wanna give the players the control that basketball and, to a lesser extent, football do. They want them to be good little workers while raking in all the money they can.

[Leader]

On 6/16/2021 at 5:42 PM, MWil23 said:

IMO grip enhancers are relatively overblown unless the spin rate is outrageous. Most pitchers use them for command purposes as opposed to spin rate, meaning most hitters are fine with pitchers having relative certainty of not getting pegged with a 96+ mph fastball.

Agree with this partially.....

Yes - grip enhancers can be very beneficial - especially early in the season in cold weather games - and the hot/sweaty games of mid summer - but Spider tack is a bit much IMO.

It *does* benefit the pitcher however - plus - while it may keep some hitters from getting plunked with a less than controlled pitch - their presence has led to greater reliance on flamethrowers.

If you remove the enhancers, you might get the pitchers to tone down the heat some for better control. Note I said "might"

Frankly, I think the game goes through too many baseballs now. Hell, if the thing touches the ground it's chucked out - whereas a slightly dirty ball (as opposed to brand new slick one) might not be a bad idea. I mean....haven't they been playing this game for awhile?

[GSUeagles14]

On 6/28/2021 at 10:24 PM, beekay414 said:

My guess? They don't wanna give the players the control that basketball and, to a lesser extent, football do. They want them to be good little workers while raking in all the money they can.

or lets use common sense. Say you market Mike Trout more, or Vald Jr. A guy who does traditionally doesnt pay attention tunes into a game for that player. Annndddd.... he sees him at the plate like what, once a hour? Or do you want him to tune in to see him catch that routine fly maybe every 30 min. If you watch baseball to see a singular player, youre gonna get real bored, real quick. 4

 

And since were concerned about owners not spending enough, im sure youre in favor of implementing a pay structure similar to the NFL's (except with guaranteed deals). Meaning a salary floor and a hard cap?

[Sllim Pickens]

On 7/4/2021 at 10:27 AM, GSUeagles14 said:

or lets use common sense. Say you market Mike Trout more, or Vald Jr. A guy who does traditionally doesnt pay attention tunes into a game for that player. Annndddd.... he sees him at the plate like what, once a hour? Or do you want him to tune in to see him catch that routine fly maybe every 30 min. If you watch baseball to see a singular player, youre gonna get real bored, real quick. 4

 

And since were concerned about owners not spending enough, im sure youre in favor of implementing a pay structure similar to the NFL's (except with guaranteed deals). Meaning a salary floor and a hard cap?

If people enjoy a player, they likely will watch more of their games and become a fan of that team.  Mike Trout may be the best player in MLB history and they do a poor job of utilizing him to expand the sport and draw in more fans. They also had one of the best players in the last 30 years in Pujols and now have Ohtani and some other fun players to watch.  Having a star brings casual people in to see others and become a fan.   During the juice days, plenty of people tuned into Cubs/Giants/Cards games to see those guys hit homers.  The sport benefited from having great players and marketing them.  

[ramssuperbowl99]

On 6/28/2021 at 9:24 PM, beekay414 said:

On 6/28/2021 at 8:55 PM, Thelonebillsfan said:

Why can't Baseball do that.

My guess? They don't wanna give the players the control that basketball and, to a lesser extent, football do. They want them to be good little workers while raking in all the money they can.

They could, but the MLB doesn't directly get paid any time Mike Trout does a sandwich ad because they didn't also pay him for his image rights. When Manfred says "the MLB has no reason to promote Mike Trout", what he's literally saying is "Mike Trout isn't sharing any of his Subway money with me, so screw him". You watch, that's going to be the next thing the owners want.

My take at this point is to have Congress take away their non-compete exemption.

 

[GSUeagles14]

7 hours ago, Sllim Pickens said:

If people enjoy a player, they likely will watch more of their games and become a fan of that team.  Mike Trout may be the best player in MLB history and they do a poor job of utilizing him to expand the sport and draw in more fans. They also had one of the best players in the last 30 years in Pujols and now have Ohtani and some other fun players to watch.  Having a star brings casual people in to see others and become a fan.   During the juice days, plenty of people tuned into Cubs/Giants/Cards games to see those guys hit homers.  The sport benefited from having great players and marketing them.  

 it’s like you completely ignored the time issue. As I already mentioned, mike trout bats once every hour, or 45 min or whatever it is. There’s a ton of downtime between ab’s and even then you’re more likely to see him record an out then anything else. If you don’t like baseball, hearing casually about mike trout likely isn’t going to turn you into a fan. 
 

out of curiosity, do you have viewership by year at least during the time of the hr chase and the decade before/after? Closest I could find is World Series ratings but I don’t think it’s fair to base solely on that. If we did though, baseball was dropping in popularity even in the middle of quite possible the most exciting seasons in recent history.

[Sllim Pickens]

12 hours ago, GSUeagles14 said:

 it’s like you completely ignored the time issue. As I already mentioned, mike trout bats once every hour, or 45 min or whatever it is. There’s a ton of downtime between ab’s and even then you’re more likely to see him record an out then anything else. If you don’t like baseball, hearing casually about mike trout likely isn’t going to turn you into a fan. 
 

out of curiosity, do you have viewership by year at least during the time of the hr chase and the decade before/after? Closest I could find is World Series ratings but I don’t think it’s fair to base solely on that. If we did though, baseball was dropping in popularity even in the middle of quite possible the most exciting seasons in recent history.

Baseball had dropped in popularity prior to the HR chase, and thats what bounced it back.  The strike killed baseball for a while and its still recovering.  I was a casual fan during the HR races, and I would watch complete games at that time because I didn't want to miss an AB. 

Yes the timing is an issue, but the point of my post is that it will bring people in to see and like other players too.  Get people excited to see Vlad and they will also see Bichette, Springer and others.  They come to watch Trout and get to see Ohtani and Rendon and maybe some young guys coming up.  The marketing of a great player is to bring people in and then others help keep them around. 

Marketing a player isn't hard to do.  It isn't overly expensive for the owners.  There is just no reason to not do it.  Peyton Manning was on SNL, Tom Brady is in commercials everywhere.  Promote them more on social media etc.  It will improve viewership, it will attract more fans and will help the game grow.  

Even the young guys, its harder to get people excited because the draft to MLB takes so long, especially the highschool kids but they could have national games when top prospects play each other like they do highschool basketball.  They can get people excited for the next great stars in the league like they do in other sports.  I am still a somewhat casual fan and this year I am more excited about the Tigers prospects than the MLB club.  So many Tigers fans don't care and have a dreadful outlook because unless they dig, they wont find much about the prospects and don't realize how bright the future could be.  

Again there are so many ways to attract fans and it doesn't entail spending big money on them, but it would give them more power, which as someone above mentioned, the owners don't want that.  Even though it would likely make them more money in the long run. 

[Slateman]

What if they got rid of the DH, but your lineup can only have 8 hitters? 

[Texansfan713]

baseball in the early 2000's were at its best. 

 

[Mesa_Titan]

Hopefully some of the new rules in 2022 changes some stuff. Taking the shift away is going to be real nice.

[Thelonebillsfan]

Owners. Don't. Care.

[MWil23]

10 hours ago, Thelonebillsfan said:

Owners. Don't. Care.

One of my former teammates got to AA in 2009 then had to “retire” because he needed the job and benefits with a starting salary of $45K a year. Lefty in the low to mid 90’s. 

In 2009, I turned down an invitation to a minor league club because not just the salary, but the lack of insurance post surgery that I’d have to pay on my own (COBRA) while playing for the A affiliate team. Sad that we are here 10+ years later.

You know who else doesn’t care? The MLBPA. The “I had to grind so they do too” attitude is nauseating.

[Danger]

Honestly? Baseball just lost it's luster to me around 2014-2015. 

The current Phillies team just feels like there's no heart and soul. They're all too professional and robotic.

[biggio7]

On 7/24/2021 at 9:42 PM, Danger said:

Honestly? Baseball just lost it's luster to me around 2014-2015. 

The current Phillies team just feels like there's no heart and soul. They're all too professional and robotic.

Thank Girardi for that.