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Doggone it! It looks like we dodge Chris Sale in this series with the White Sox. What a disappointment!

HOUSTON - Major League Baseball, alarmed by the game’s lack of action this season is considering making the most radical changes to the game in more than a century.

The owners spent time Thursday discussing and reviewing how the game has changed over the years, with offenses suffocated by a record number of shifts and pitching changes, leading to longer games and less production.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said that baseball will consider limiting the number of pitching changes in the future, as well as curtailing the amount of shifts, and even implementing a 20-second time clock for pitchers to deliver a pitch.

“Our view of the pitch clock is that we feel it’s been effective in the minor leagues,’’ Manfred said, “we really do. I think when you look at our experience with the effort we undertook last year, and you look month-by-month in terms of where we were in terms of game time, we did really well early and kind of regressed the second half of last year, and certainly this year.


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“Our evaluation of that is, the more we can have on the field, constant reminders so it’s in front of people’s minds, the better off we are in terms of continuing to move the game along. And I think the clock is probably the quintessential example of the reminder that keeps pace in people’s minds.

“And, quite frankly, the data shows that people don’t violate the 20-second. With or without a clock. It’s a reminder that moves things along.”

When asked if he would like to see the clock implemented perhaps as early as next season, Manfred didn’t hesitate.

“I would,’’ he said. “I said yes because there’s no temporal assigned to that.”

While pitch clocks might speed up the game, infield shifts already do - perhaps too much for Manfred's liking. Manfred said research indicated that there were 2,400 infield shifts just five years ago; this season, major league clubs are on pace for 28,000 shifts, limiting offenses.
“I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing,’’ Manfred said, “but it has ramifications for what people see when they buy that ticket to go to the ballpark. We just wanted to point out this whole series of changes that has occurred over time, very naturally, in the game and pose the question of whether or not we should be managing that change more aggressively.”

That's actually the reason Naquin split time between Cleveland and Columbus. Tito thought the defense needed a little work, and Naquin got a little better.

I think Lonnie's doing a fantastic job, though. His laser of an arm keeps everyone honest.

We do the best with what our team can afford.

On a side note, Ramirez for AL MVP or at least in the discussion?

Naquin also needed to learn discipline at the plate and cut down on strikeouts. He's improved in both aspects.

Agreed, he's got my vote for ROY.

Tom Hamilton's call on that was priceless. I won't ruin it by saying anything...gotta find that to post here.

And the video of the dugout was hilarious!