Episode 2: How to Fix the...MLB

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:23 PM

I was gonna wait the full two weeks, but I'm only 2 hours short of the two weeks. So here it is...Episode 2 of "How to Fix the..."

Just like before (here are the rules):

In a series of episodes, the first being the NFL and now the second being the MLB, take this thread and "Fix" the MLB. Propose changes and allow others to discuss/critique/disagree/agree/modify/whatever. Your ideas can be as minor as a small rule change to major realignment. Go as in-depth or as shallow as you want. A suggestion - not one you have to follow, just a thought - keep one major idea per post so it's easier to see new ideas. When this thread has run it's course (two weeks or so), I'll (or someone - not mgom) can throw up an Episode 3.

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:26 PM

First up for me, is the All-Star game. One of my biggest pet peeves over the last several years is the joke of voting for All-Star players. Yeah, it's important to give fans the input. But, it shouldn't determine the starters or even guarantee the player the fans voted is there.

Either fake the results and make it appear to mean something; or adopt a 1/4 system (Umpires, Coaches, Players, Fans). Each group gets 1/4 of the vote. I just hate seeing guys that are there that have no business being there. It bugs me seeing guys on the ballot that have played little to no time at that position or have been injured.

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:29 PM

Next up...

Stupid Award system voting. What's up with guys getting Gold Gloves and only played 28 games at that position. What a joke. When players are getting bonuses because of these awards, it shouldn't be sportswriters voting for them. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the system.

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:32 PM

The third in the series of "Voting"...

Hall of Fame voting. How can a player be a HOFer one year, and then not the next year. Or a player not be a HOFer then all of a sudden he is. Are you to tell me that keeping a player of the ballot for 10 years and then on the 11th year putting him on it shows he's not as good as the rest, but still HOF worthy?

After a player is in, you're hardly going to remember that he was elected on his 13th ballot. Is someone that is elected on the 1st ballot more of a Hall of Famer that is elected on his 10th?

Sure, there are more deserving players. But...a Hall of Famer is a Hall of Famer. A player elected on his 1st is gonna sit right next to someone elected on his 10th ballot.

Erik W. · 12-13-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorseMoose

What's up with guys getting Gold Gloves and only played 28 games at that position.

Example?

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erik W.

Example?

1999 Rafael Palmeiro

TribeFanInNC · 12-13-2009, 12:35 PM

I would like to see the entry draft slotted to allow bad teams to draft whomever they please.

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

I would like to see the entry draft slotted to allow bad teams to draft whomever they please.

Definitely. I think it's a joke that players have so much power when it comes to who they play for. Sure, teams should have to pony up the dough...but when you're giving so much money to unproven guys that sure prevents you from signing others.

One example is Mark Prior. I fully think that the Twins would have drafted Prior had they known he'd sign (or been forced to sign). Am I glad they didn't...sure. But at the time, I can't say that I was completely sold on Mauer. Prior was a sure-fire Ace and Mauer was a QB in high school.

Then you have Stephen Strasburg (sp?). What if the Nationals didn't have to put as much $$ into him as they had to. What else could they do with that money?

The draft is broken, definitely.

Green & Gold Heart · 12-13-2009, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorseMoose

Next up...

Stupid Award system voting. What's up with guys getting Gold Gloves and only played 28 games at that position. What a joke. When players are getting bonuses because of these awards, it shouldn't be sportswriters voting for them. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the system.

Actually coaches and managers (or is it just mangers) vote for Gold Gloves. I'd rather see baseball writers voting for Gold Gloves, like they get to with MVP, Cy, and ROY. It couldn't be worse.

Green & Gold Heart · 12-13-2009, 12:48 PM

Fix the playoff schedule. Do it like OOTP does. As soon as the teams are determined, give them one day off for travel and then start the series. **** FOX.

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Actually coaches and managers (or is it just mangers) vote for Gold Gloves. I'd rather see baseball writers voting for Gold Gloves, like they get to with MVP, Cy, and ROY. It couldn't be worse.

Interesting...didn't know that. That's even worse than I thought!

I still think there should be a formula or something that you put stats into to determine awards.

I'd also do this:

Formula driven:
Gold Glove - Fielding
Hank Aaron - Hitting
Cy Young - Pitching
Rookie of the Year - Rookie

Formula Driven but some impact from voters
MVP - Any position/Any player

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Fix the playoff schedule. Do it like OOTP does. As soon as the teams are determined, give them one day off for travel and then start the series. **** FOX.

That was another that I wanted to mention.

Though, I'd like to see the DS be 7 games instead of 5. Why is one 5 and the other two 7? Doesn't make sense to me. I'd also like to see less of a focus on scheduling or television reasons (that'll never happen). Why are there playoff games on at 3pm (or earlier)?

Green & Gold Heart · 12-13-2009, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorseMoose

That was another that I wanted to mention.

Though, I'd like to see the DS be 7 games instead of 5. Why is one 5 and the other two 7? Doesn't make sense to me. I'd also like to see less of a focus on scheduling or television reasons (that'll never happen). Why are there playoff games on at 3pm (or earlier)?

I remember the A's/Twins Division Series in 2006 being on at like 11:00 in the morning! It was ridiculous.

MorseMoose · 12-13-2009, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

I remember the A's/Twins Division Series in 2006 being on at like 11:00 in the morning! It was ridiculous.

Exactly. I went to the games too and missed all of my classes those days. I couldn't remember what time the games were at so I was going to cite that as an example, but I know there have been some 3pm games recently.

mikev · 12-13-2009, 01:05 PM

Fix the financial setup. Regardless of the reason, cheap owners or bad markets or whatever, there's just no excuse for one team to have a $30M payroll while others have $150M payrolls.

Hard slotting for draft picks -- another spot where the financial disparity between teams comes into play, but the lesser teams continue to miss out on the top players because they can't (or won't whatever) afford to give 8 figure signing bonuses to guys who have never played professional baseball.

International FAs should be subject to a draft instead of going to the highest bidder.

Russ · 12-13-2009, 01:29 PM

The draft slotting is a priority for Bud. It will be changed with the next CBA.

jaxmagicman · 12-13-2009, 02:45 PM

My biggest pet peeve in Major League baseball is the way they do TV.

Limit the number games that the Yankees, and Red Sox get on tv. There are enough games, get other teams involved. Give a gurantee of every team getting on national TV at least 4 times a year.

Ktulu · 12-13-2009, 03:26 PM

Speed up the damn game somehow, screw tradition. Put a clock on the pitchers, if they don't throw the ball within 20 seconds it's an automatic ball. If the batter steps out of the box (one foot out should be sufficient) it's a strike. Limit the number pitchers on the 25 man to 11 so there aren't 20,000 pitching changes in a game, no more one batter "specialists". Let's play some baseball already.

Move to a balanced schedule, all teams play for the same playoff spot (wildcard) so every team should play everyone the same amount of times.

Increase the first round of the playoffs to 7 games. You play 162 games and now you're gonna play a best of 5? Seriously?

norva13x · 12-13-2009, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ktulu

Speed up the damn game somehow, screw tradition. Put a clock on the pitchers, if they don't throw the ball within 20 seconds it's an automatic ball. If the batter steps out of the box (one foot out should be sufficient) it's a strike. Limit the number pitchers on the 25 man to 11 so there aren't 20,000 pitching changes in a game, no more one batter "specialists". Let's play some baseball already.

Move to a balanced schedule, all teams play for the same playoff spot (wildcard) so every team should play everyone the same amount of times.

Increase the first round of the playoffs to 7 games. You play 162 games and now you're gonna play a best of 5? Seriously?

A balanced schedule would make divisions worthless, and I love the divisional races and I like the wild card a lot. Though if they ever expand I hope they adopt the NFL structure of 4 divisions of 4 teams each in each league and only the division winner makes it.

Also, increasing the first round to seven games is fine as long as they get rid of the insane amount of off days in the playoffs and maybe add some double headers into the regular season because the World Series goes WAY to late as it is.

mlyons · 12-13-2009, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorseMoose

Interesting...didn't know that. That's even worse than I thought!

I still think there should be a formula or something that you put stats into to determine awards.

I'd also do this:

Formula driven:
Gold Glove - Fielding
Hank Aaron - Hitting
Cy Young - Pitching
Rookie of the Year - Rookie

Formula Driven but some impact from voters
MVP - Any position/Any player

You can barely even get the majority of baseball writers and commentators to acknowledge the existence of stats beyond average/HR/RBI for hitters and wins/ERA/K for pitchers. How could you possibly think they could even agree on formulae for those awards, let alone ones that are any good?

12-13-2009, 12:23 PM	#1
MorseMoose Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 6,023 Blog Entries: 4 Infractions: 1/1 (1)	Episode 2: How to Fix the...MLB I was gonna wait the full two weeks, but I'm only 2 hours short of the two weeks. So here it is...Episode 2 of "How to Fix the..." Just like before (here are the rules): In a series of episodes, the first being the NFL and now the second being the MLB, take this thread and "Fix" the MLB. Propose changes and allow others to discuss/critique/disagree/agree/modify/whatever. Your ideas can be as minor as a small rule change to major realignment. Go as in-depth or as shallow as you want. A suggestion - not one you have to follow, just a thought - keep one major idea per post so it's easier to see new ideas. When this thread has run it's course (two weeks or so), I'll (or someone - not mgom) can throw up an Episode 3.

12-13-2009, 12:35 PM	#7
TribeFanInNC Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 4,019	I would like to see the entry draft slotted to allow bad teams to draft whomever they please. Last edited by TribeFanInNC; 12-13-2009 at 12:37 PM.

12-13-2009, 01:05 PM	#15
mikev Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 4,014	Fix the financial setup. Regardless of the reason, cheap owners or bad markets or whatever, there's just no excuse for one team to have a $30M payroll while others have $150M payrolls. Hard slotting for draft picks -- another spot where the financial disparity between teams comes into play, but the lesser teams continue to miss out on the top players because they can't (or won't whatever) afford to give 8 figure signing bonuses to guys who have never played professional baseball. International FAs should be subject to a draft instead of going to the highest bidder. __________________ Global Unified Baseball Association - Vice Commish and Oakland Oaks GM

12-13-2009, 01:29 PM	#16
Russ All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Essex HON! Posts: 1,924 Blog Entries: 1 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	The draft slotting is a priority for Bud. It will be changed with the next CBA. __________________ If you don't love Russ, you don't love America. This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

12-13-2009, 02:45 PM	#17
jaxmagicman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Retired defloration-maker living in Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 7,801	My biggest pet peeve in Major League baseball is the way they do TV. Limit the number games that the Yankees, and Red Sox get on tv. There are enough games, get other teams involved. Give a gurantee of every team getting on national TV at least 4 times a year. __________________ See ID Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with the permission of Minor League Baseball. All rights reserved.

12-13-2009, 12:26 PM	#2
MorseMoose Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 6,023 Blog Entries: 4 Infractions: 1/1 (1)	First up for me, is the All-Star game. One of my biggest pet peeves over the last several years is the joke of voting for All-Star players. Yeah, it's important to give fans the input. But, it shouldn't determine the starters or even guarantee the player the fans voted is there. Either fake the results and make it appear to mean something; or adopt a 1/4 system (Umpires, Coaches, Players, Fans). Each group gets 1/4 of the vote. I just hate seeing guys that are there that have no business being there. It bugs me seeing guys on the ballot that have played little to no time at that position or have been injured.

12-13-2009, 12:29 PM	#3
MorseMoose Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 6,023 Blog Entries: 4 Infractions: 1/1 (1)	Next up... Stupid Award system voting. What's up with guys getting Gold Gloves and only played 28 games at that position. What a joke. When players are getting bonuses because of these awards, it shouldn't be sportswriters voting for them. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the system.

12-13-2009, 12:32 PM	#4
MorseMoose Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 6,023 Blog Entries: 4 Infractions: 1/1 (1)	The third in the series of "Voting"... Hall of Fame voting. How can a player be a HOFer one year, and then not the next year. Or a player not be a HOFer then all of a sudden he is. Are you to tell me that keeping a player of the ballot for 10 years and then on the 11th year putting him on it shows he's not as good as the rest, but still HOF worthy? After a player is in, you're hardly going to remember that he was elected on his 13th ballot. Is someone that is elected on the 1st ballot more of a Hall of Famer that is elected on his 10th? Sure, there are more deserving players. But...a Hall of Famer is a Hall of Famer. A player elected on his 1st is gonna sit right next to someone elected on his 10th ballot.

12-13-2009, 12:48 PM	#10
Green & Gold Heart Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 5,242	Fix the playoff schedule. Do it like OOTP does. As soon as the teams are determined, give them one day off for travel and then start the series. **** FOX.

12-13-2009, 03:26 PM	#18
Ktulu Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: BC Posts: 4,456	Speed up the damn game somehow, screw tradition. Put a clock on the pitchers, if they don't throw the ball within 20 seconds it's an automatic ball. If the batter steps out of the box (one foot out should be sufficient) it's a strike. Limit the number pitchers on the 25 man to 11 so there aren't 20,000 pitching changes in a game, no more one batter "specialists". Let's play some baseball already. Move to a balanced schedule, all teams play for the same playoff spot (wildcard) so every team should play everyone the same amount of times. Increase the first round of the playoffs to 7 games. You play 162 games and now you're gonna play a best of 5? Seriously? __________________ "The ice is getting even more thinner, my friend!" Last edited by Ktulu; 12-13-2009 at 03:27 PM.