Bill James speaks

Always good to hear from the granddaddy of modern sabermetrics. Possibly the most interesting thing he has to say is here:

If you were to be named commissioner of baseball tomorrow, what would be first change you make?

Well, the commissioner can't really make changes. He can organize the process leading to change. That's a petty answer. To give you the real answer, I'd try to do something about the game dragging in the late innings. We need to make the games snap along a little better, particularly in the late innings. There are more than six times as many pitching changes in a game now than there were two generations ago. That's a huge change in the game. And it's not a change for the better, in my view. Maybe it's a change for the better in terms of trying to win. But in terms of its impact on the fans, how the fans enjoy the game, I don't see that as a change for the better. So I'd probably try to organize some kind of move to see if we couldn't get an agreement to limit the number of pitching changes in the late innings.

This is the rule that I would adopt. I've thought about this for a long time, and I don't see why this doesn't work. One time per game, you get a free pitching change without restriction. Otherwise, when you put a pitcher on the mound to start an inning, he has to stay in the game until he's charged with a run allowed. In other words, you have a limit on how often you can put a pitcher out there, let him face one batter and "let's bring in somebody else."

I'm okay with this concept, though I think I'd add a proviso that subsequent relievers can be removed any time after they've completed three innings as well. Otherwise, especially in an extra-inning game, you'd be risking injury to someone who may not be equipped to go any longer. But in the interest of speeding up the game, I like the basic premise. I'd also be okay with limiting same-inning pitching changes in some fashion. Those are the ones that really drag things out. What do you think? Link via David Pinto.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on March 12, 2008 to Baseball