How I’m Gong to Fix the Game – Part II

6. 12-man pitching staffs:

Too easy. They talk about speeding the game up. This is the biggest way right here. There is no reason for any staff, even in the National League, to carry more than 12 pitchers. I know Tony LaRussa is looking forward to the day when he can carry 8 position players and 17 pitchers, but we need to stop it now. The interminable pitching changes are what drag the game out. It’s a simple formula:

Starters – 5

Closer – 1

Relievers – 6

Total – 12

If you’re starting staff is so bad that they can’t go six innings on a regular basis, or you don’t trust them to, the answer is not more pitchers in the bullpen. It is to get different pitchers. If a starter is routinely throwing 100 pitches by the 5th inning and has to be removed, he shouldn’t be starting. He isn’t effective enough.

I’m not talking about changing the roster limit. That will stay at 25. There is no reason the union should be complaining about this. The ones this is hurting are the middle relief-type guys (yeah, I’m talking about you, Kyle Farnsworth) who bounce around for years, but aren’t really effective. Someone always wants to sign them, and use them, and all it does is lead to longer games, few position players available, and more irritation to the fan.

And, with 13 spots available to the manager, maybe they can carry that 3rd catcher they need. Yeah, you, Ron Gardenhire. If you’re going to DH your regular catcher, you need to make sure you have 2 backups ready to go in case of injury, no ability to hit, or ejection.

7. No pitching changes in the middle of an inning without a runner on base:

In a recent game, Tony LaRussa brought in a reliever to pitch the 9th inning. Not only did he warm up in the bullpen, but he got 8 pitches before the inning started. That reliever got one out. Then he made a pitching change and brought in another reliever who had been throwing in the bullpen, and he got 8 warm-up pitches. The second reliever got one out. Then he brought in a 3rd reliever who had been warming up in the bullpen and he got 8 warm-up pitches. And a single runner never reached base. Does anyone detect a pattern here?

That kind of thinking is ridiculous. And it just drags games out longer than anyone ever intended. I don’t mind a long game if there is action on the field, but when the majority of the game is spent on pitching changes, there is no enjoyment there. If there was a poll done, this would probably be the biggest complaint about the game most people have. And it doesn’t change the game at all. Having the DH in the American League doesn’t change the game, because every manager does it under the same rules. Having the pitcher hit in the National League doesn’t change anything because every manager uses the same rule.

So the fix is simple. If a pitcher starts an inning, he cannot be relieved if there are no runners on base. This does not count for injuries. I don’t want to make a mockery of the game with a lot of crazy rules, but this situation has gotten out of hand. I would like to take it farther and say that if the batter is not the tying run, then the change can’t be made. It might be extreme, but someone has to stop the insanity. That probably wouldn’t fly, but no pitching change without a runner on base is perfectly acceptable.

If that suggestion is to extreme, then let’s try this. If a pitching change is made in the middle of an inning, then the reliever gets no warm-up pitches. He’s been in the pen, the manger knows he’s coming in, and it isn’t necessary. I would say the only exception would be for the starting pitcher. We can work on this one, but I make one of those rules and stick with it.

8. 10-day rest rule for pitchers:

Pitch counts are here to stay, and young pitchers will have their innings closely watched. Let’s take it a step farther. Sometimes pitchers get tired. Sometimes a rookie has thrown too many innings, or a work horse threw too many pitches in back-to-back starts. We do want to protect the arms, and this is one way to do it.

Once a season, every pitcher can go on a 10-day rest, without it affecting anything. It’s not the DL, but the team can call up a young pitcher for that time. It has to be a pitcher for a pitcher. During these 10 days, the pitcher rests his arm. If there is any other injury, he must go on the regular disabled list. There are no rehabs starts in the minors allowed. If he’s okay to throw a game, he needs to do it in the majors.

After the 10-day rule, if the pitcher needs to rest again, he will have to go on the regular DL. Also, the pitcher must be activated back from the rest period before any other move can be made. That prevents a team from hiding him from 10 days, then switching him retroactively to the DL for another few days. 10 days only. No more, no less. If he spends less than 10 days on the rest period, the only way he can come off of it is if the pitcher who replaced him goes on the DL. And the pitcher who takes his slot for the 10 days has to be sent down to the minors, traded, or released. It’s a one-for-one exchange.

9. 7 day disabled list:

Much like the pitcher rest rule, sometimes a player has a minor injury or a nagging injury that just needs a few days. A full 15 or 21 days might hurt the team more than keeping him on the roster without playing. So same rules as the pitchers rest rule. This is for position players only. One trip a year. Any second trip is an automatic 21 days. The player who came up for him must be returned, released or traded. No rehab assignments. This is to heal, not get your timing back. All other rules for the disabled list apply.

10. No more posting system with Japanese players:

The Japanese leagues want to keep their league going and viable. I understand that, but by limiting each club to a certain amount of foreigners a season, they are effectively practicing discrimination. That would never work in the states. At least not anymore. If the Japanese Leagues don’t want to play by our rules, why should we play by theirs?

Japan is the only country in the world that charges major league teams for the rights to negotiate with one of their players. When they are a free agent!!! And that’s millions of dollars just to negotiate. It doesn’t include the actual contract agreed upon.  So we’re doing away with the posting system. Any Japanese player who wants to play will have to do two things. One is to register for the amateur draft, as discussed in the first part of this article. He will then be drafted and developed by a major league team.

 If he doesn’t want to do that, or isn’t drafted at the time, then he has to wait the requisite 5 years. After that, he is an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team anywhere. However, the player cannot be under contract to any team in any league at that time. Contracts will be honored, but free agents will be free agents, regardless of the country.

Some people might think this will hurt Japanese baseball. It won’t. They have strong, viable leagues, and the product is immensely popular in Japan. A lot of players will stay there because they want to, and mostly because they have to be good enough to play in the states. Do you think if the Dominican Republic had a summer league where the players were making millions of dollars a year, some of the Dominicans wouldn’t stay there and play? This will help the Japanese league, as there will be more players available for everyone. All they have to do is increase the limit on foreigners to 3 per season, and they will sign some top talent from other countries. That will improve the level of play in Japan without cutting into the cultural influences that have brought this about.

How I’m Gong to Fix the Game – Part I

Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.

 Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.

 Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.

 Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.

 Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.

 Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.

 Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.

 Someday when I’m the commissioner, I’m going to fix a few things about baseball as it is today. Some will say the game is fine as it is, and others will say the game is in need of big fixes. I don’t think either is true, just by itself. The game is fine, but there are some changes that need to be made. Nothing too major or drastic, but needed just the same.

This isn’t my annual (or actually, daily) tirade against the designated hitter, interleague play, artificial turf, and domes, to name a few. These are legitimate fixes that need to be made, or at the least, should be made. None of them are hard fixes, and even the union would be on for the majority of these. And that’s new for me.

So here are my 12 fixes for baseball:

1. Expansion to 32 teams:

Yes, it can be done, and should be done. There is no reason not to. This needs to be done, and should be the first issue addressed. Those who use the argument that it will further dilute the available talent are just proving they don’t actually know anything about the game. There have been dozens of studies done about the population base now vs the early 20^th century. X number of people in the country in Y year gives us Z percentage of players of the population. It goes up every year. There are more people available for 32 teams then there were for 16 teams 100 years ago.

And those who complain about the increase in offense and the lack of pitching are further proving their lack of knowledge of the game. The pitching is not any worse today because of expansion. The pitching (ERA, walk rates, home runs allowed) are worse today because of issues like scorekeepers refusing to give out errors, small ballparks that inflate offense, and the players themselves (strength, conditioning, etc – the other issue is for a different time). Normalize the errors and the ballparks back to an earlier time and the pitching isn’t that bad. It just proves the old adage that no one ever has enough pitching.

2. Realignment:

One of the main reasons we need expansion. 32 teams, 2 leagues, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division.

This eliminates the wild card, which is great. If you can’t even win your own division, you shouldn’t be competing for the top prize. And with 8 division races, no on can use the argument that there won’t be close races. There will be. Maybe not in each division, but it doesn’t always happen now. But it would happen more often with 8 divisions. Plus, this gets rid of the idiocy of one division having 4 teams while another one has 6.

This will change the playoffs also, as they will be seeded. Best record in each league plays the worst record, with the other two playing. The better record gets the home field advantage, and the best team remaining gets to keep it. In other words, if the team with the best record in the league loses its first round, the winner from the other division series gets the home field advantage. The format will stay the same as now. 5 game series for the Division Series, 7 games for the League Championships, and 7 for the Series. And no more coin flips. It gets decide on the field.

The schedule will change also. As much as I don’t like it, interleague play is here to stay. So we’ll keep it. Each division will play a division from the other league. 4 games each. A 2-game home and away series. Each team will also get a traditional rival that they will play 6 times a year. 3 home and 3 away. If the traditional rival is from the same division that the team plays that year, it just means 10 games against that team. A team will play each division in the other league once every 4 years. This also solves the problem of the unbalanced schedules, and everyone plays the same times (minus 6 games against their traditional rivals).

Each team will play the other teams in the league in the other divisions 18 times, and 8 times against the teams in their own division, broken down however the schedule makers want it.

16 games – interleague

6  games – traditional rival

54 games – division

84 games – league

160 games. That’s it. Everyone can deal with the loss of 2 games. Either that, or get rid of interleague play.

So the next question is how do the divisions break down, and which two teams are added. Easy. Portland or Las Vegas gets one team, and New Orleans gets the others. If you want to know why, ask me. Either both of those teams go into the American League, or one does and Colorado switches to the American. That is the best scenario to me, but I’m flexible. Here’s how they break out:

American

Pacific                        Western                      Central                        Atlantic

Oakland                       Kansas City                  Detroit                          Boston

Seattle                          Texas                           Toronto                        New York

Los Angeles                 Minnesota                     Cleveland                      Baltimore

Portland/Las Vegas      Colorado                       Chicago                       Tampa

National

Pacific                       Western                        Central                        Atlantic

Arizona                       St Louis                         Atlanta                         New York

San Francisco             Chicago                         Pittsburgh                     Philadelphia

San Diego                   Houston                         Milwaukee                    Washington

Los Angeles                New Orleans                  Cincinnati                     Florida/Miami

Alternatively, if Colorado doesn’t switch to the American League, then exchange them with New Orleans. Havana would actually be my first choice, but not yet.

Also, Arizona could go to the American, with Portland/Las Vegas going to the National.

Traditional rivals:

Oakland                       San Francisco

Kansas City                  St Louis                                   

Detroit                         Pittsburgh

Boston                         Philadelphia

Seattle                         Colorado

Texas                           Houston          

Toronto                       Atlanta

New York                     New York

Los Angeles                 Los Angeles

Minnesota                   Milwaukee     

Cleveland                    Cincinnati

Baltimore                    Washington

Portland/Las Vegas     New Orleans

Colorado                     San Diego       

Chicago                       Chicago

Tampa                         Florida

Those are just examples, and that can be worked on.

3. Draft choices can be traded:

We won’t get carried away on this one, and keep it limited. Any of the first 5 picks for each team can be traded. Only once. No packaging them later, for other picks. If New York trades for Arizona’s 3^rd round choice, they have to use it. And picks cannot be traded for picks. A draft pick has to be traded for a live body, or bodies.

We’ll call this the ‘Strausberg Rule’. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. The Nationals are not very good, and they need to build a farm team and respectability. Spending $10mil on one player, particularly a pitcher, is crazy. But if they didn’t sign him, and let him go somewhere else, Washington was going to be brutalized by the media and their fans. But they shouldn’t have to mortgage their future for one player.

Why not trade that pick for some minor league prospects that might help right away, without costing the budget of most African nations. Or dare say someone like Phil Hughes. The Yankees have money, and are willing to spend it. Would Phil Hughes be worth the right to draft Strausberg, as they have time to develop him, and pay him? Or could the Nationals package the 1^st pick, Adam Dunn and/or Nick Johnson for a farm team?

*** note --- this was written awhile back, so the names might not match, but the theory does

No team should be held hostage by one player. They should be able to trade this pick and improve their team, not give away the future.

4. The draft will be extended to foreign countries:

Players from traditional baseball playing countries will now be included in the draft. The countries affected will be Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (that means the defectors, but why should they get special privileges), Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela.  Any player from that country, at the age of 16 (or graduation from high school) or college players who want to play MLB will have to register for the draft and go through the process. Simple, no argument, problem solved, it’s fixed.

The only exception will be players who choose not to do this and sign with a league in a different country, or an independent league in the states. They must re-enter the draft each year, until 5 years have passed, then they are free to sign as free agents. This includes American players also. We’ll call this the J.D. Drew rule.

5. Classification of foreign leagues:

I’ll explain this one a little. There is always debate about whether or not Japanese players should be eligible for Rookie of the Year awards, and how their statistics from those leagues should be counted. Should Ichiro have been Rookie of the Year? Does he have over 3000 hits? We’re going to settle it once and for all, officially, and not leave it up to the writers to decide. Each foreign league will be evaluated and designated with either major or minor league status. This mostly concerns Japan, but so be it. If a league is considered to be a ‘Major League’, players coming from that league are not eligible for ROY awards. But their statistics will count. If a league is designated a minor league, then it will be no different than moving from the US minor leagues.  I don’t see this changing a lot, but it will make if official, instead to the ‘no one really knows’ policy that is in place today.

This is the first part of a 3-part series. I have lots of ways to change the game for the better. Stay tuned.