November 18, 2014

Limiting Relievers

Tom Tango discusses limiting mid-inning relief appearances by putting the incoming pitchers them in a count hole:

So, how can we do this, without making it seem like some sort of gimmick? One thing we’ve talked about in eliminating mid-inning pitching changes is to start the incoming reliever with a 1-0 count to the first batter he faced (and then all future mid-inning relievers start with a 2-0 count). That’s a good way to take the pressure off the manager in bringing in mid-inning relievers.

Can we extend this idea for ALL relief pitchers and for EVERY batter? What would happen?

I’m not as opposed to early exits of starting pitchers as Tom believes fans to be. What I really dislike is the Tony la Russa style of changing pitchers for every batter. Rather than going the radical route of fooling with ball and strike counts, I’d rather extend an existing rule. Right now, a pitcher must face one batter (barring injury). Why not extend that to three batters, or the end of the inning? So if the pitcher gets three out of the inning quickly he’s fine. If he gives up three hits, well, he didn’t do his job.

I’m more concerned with keeping the game rolling along, so limiting mid-inning pitching changes is a time saver for me.

On the other hand, if the desired goal is keeping starters in the game longer, change the win qualification rule to seven innings from five. We saw that the save rule changed how pitchers were used. Changing the win rule might do the same thing.

6 thoughts on “Limiting Relievers

  1. Theron

    Rather than mess with the count, I like the idea of limiting the total number of trips to the mound in an inning to 2 (or 3 if you’re generous). If a manager or coach talks to a pitcher, they only have one more chance to make a pitching change that inning.

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  2. rbj

    I’d like making them face at least 2 batters, 3 is fine too. And if the pitcher can’t go 2/3 hitters because of an “injury,” he’s lost for the next 7 games if it’s not serious enough for a DL spot. And you don’t get to replace him for those 7 games.

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  3. pft

    The solution is simple. No warm ups or commercial breaks for pitching changes mid inning. 1 minute from call to the pen to 1st pitch.

    Also, end coaches visits to the mound except for injury or pitching change

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  4. M Scott Eiland

    I can see raising the innings required for a win to six (though I’d also change the rule so that no reliever who leaves the game before the point when the starter could get the win can get it, either–the Bumgarner “save” in Game Seven was stupid and counter intuitive). I like the idea that a reliever must face at least two batters unless the first batter he faces gets on base–doom to LOOGY/ROOGYs! I’m definitely for the “only the first reliever in an inning gets warmup pitches”, too. Get in and get going.

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  5. Lyford

    I’m not a fan of any those ideas. (Ok, no warm-up tosses works for me.) But none of them address the problem (to the extent that there is one.) The problem is not the events that happens two or three or even seven times a game – it is what happens constantly, from start to finish, and that’s the relative infrequency of pitches. If pitchers were throwing the ball every 15-20 seconds, the pace of the game would be such that no one would care how many pitching changes there were.

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  6. salvo

    I agree with Lyford—I don’t want to make any changes for the sake of time that mess with existing strategic options. There’s a consequence of using multiple relievers in an inning, and it’s that those pitchers are no longer available later in the game, something that becomes an issue in a game from time to time.

    Games could be 20 minutes shorter if umps enforced existing rulebook time limitations on deliveries and didn’t allow batters to wander out of the batter’s box after every pitch to adjust their equipment and take a bunch of practice swings.

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