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Originally Posted by attackemu
I think there's actually a bit less strategy without the DH. Pinch-hitting for pitchers is pretty much automatic. It's usually very clear when to do it and when not to do it. If things like double-switches, which are also pretty obvious, are what that argument refers to, color me confused.
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But there's practically no meaningful pinch-hitting in the AL. How could there possibly be more strategy with next to no meaningful pinch-hitting? That makes no sense. Practically the only time I see pinch-hitting in the AL is just to get some time for a backup or bring in a starter who is having a day off but you find yourself down so you bring him in. Those are the no-brainers. What's not a no-brainer is having to decide whether you should give up a pitcher who is pitching well for a better hitter. Now I'll give you that it's become less of a problem with pitchers pitching so few innings, but that's another problem.
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Originally Posted by Skipaway
Why can't baseball be like football, where you always find whoever best for a job to do that job. Football has advanced away from the amateurish "one player, several roles" for a long time.
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This is my nightmare. Damn football. If only more Americans preferred soccer, hockey or basketball to football.
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Originally Posted by CBL-Commish
They're mutually exclusive because it's too hard. Do you really think that pitchers choose to hit like crap? Of course not. They just can't devote the time and effort necessary to become good hitters and good pitchers at the same time. If it was possible, someone in the past 25 or 30 years would have done it. But since 1980 the highest OPS for a pitcher (min 100 AB) is .679, and the average is .363.
Of course the game doesn't require them to be good hitters, because the compromise required for that to happen would be a serious decline in their pitching ability.
Players work out all the time, they hire personal trainers, personal nutritionists, they go to winter ball to hone their skills, they go to crazy offseason boot camps to stay in top shape, guys like Nolan Ryan would ride the bike for hours after a 120-pitch start, some of them take dangerous, illegal drugs to boost their performance... yet you argue that pitchers can't hit just because they they can get away with it? I find that notion ridiculous.
If there was a pitcher who could pitch 200 innings to a 3.50 and put up an .850 OPS he'd make $25M a year. The incentive is there - it's just an impossible goal.
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Not all pitchers work that hard on their pitching and even the ones that do I'm sure could find some time to work on their hitting if they really wanted to. The thing is they wouldn't get to bat much anyway and most are so far away from having a replacement level OPS that most probably figure it's not worth even trying. If even one pitcher got consistently decent at hitting while not seeing his pitching noticeably suffer, I'm sure at least some other pitchers would try to see if they could do it too. Of course, it would help if pitchers in the minor leagues and the AL hit because then we'd have a better chance at seeing someone do that. As it is, it's hard to blame them for feeling it's just not worth the effort.