Stars should align for smarter DL
Initial results are in for American League all-star fan balloting and among the top five vote-getters at the eight defensive positions, plus designated hitter, not one Blue Jays player is listed among 45 names. That is a problem.
The Jays’ Canadian fan base — when it is emotionally engaged — is a nation of online voters. This is a country that made sure Jose Bautista (twice) and Josh Donaldson won the award for most votes. It’s a fan base that got both Steve Delabar and Michael Saunders in as the final all-star in short-burst online voting. But in 2018 they are clearly not into this team.
Fan apathy is a big problem. Not apathy for baseball, but for this particular Jays brand of baseball.
It’s easy to place some of the blame on injuries. The Jays have had 11 players on the disabled list, including Donaldson twice — he returned to Toronto on Thursday, after rehabbing a calf injury in Dunedin. Others who have been DL’d this season include Stroman, Anthony Alford, Aledmys Diaz, Jaime Garcia, Randal Grichuk, Kendrys Morales, Steve Pearce, Dalton Pompey and Troy Tulowitzki, who has missed the entire season.
The problem with that argument is that up to and including Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers and Nate Jones of the Chicago White Sox, both DL’d Wednesday, there has been an average of 12 injury stints for each of MLB’s 30 teams this season. The Jays have only had 11.
The 10-day DL and the way it can be manipulated is part of baseball’s problem.
The disabled list is a necessary evil, but the 10-day DL is hurting the game. It’s too easy to look at a starting pitcher who is nicked up slightly and put him on the DL for basically one start.
As far as position players, you are able to wait a maximum of three days with him active, and if the player has not appeared in a game you can retroactively put him on the 10-day DL and he only sits out seven more days. For three of the 10 days he was active and a factor the opposing manager had to consider in making pitching changes and managing his bullpen. Ten days was actually seven days. The problem began when MLB allowed 30 general managers to sit in a room and decide 10 days, instead of 15, was a good idea. Sure, the decision made it easier for that small group of GMs to have 25 available players over 162 games, but it has not been good for baseball. GMs should have to work within the rules, not make them.
The total of 362 disablements averages out to roughly four per day. Here’s one possible solution that would add clarity for fans, teams and players.
The way it is right now, when a player is optioned he needs to remain in the minors for a minimum of 10 days. When a player is hurt he needs to stay on the DL a minimum of 10 days. If a player has no options, the temptation is to find an ailment and use the DL. That’s a problem.
The solution? Return the length of the disabled list to 21 days, where it stood for decades prior to the turn of the 21st century, and create a standard 28-man roster with 25 players available on the lineup card every day.
The 21-day DL would be the first choice for broken bones, severe muscle pulls and other injuries where the diagnosis and recovery time is clear. In the meantime, if there is a minor injury that would need a week or less, a team could continue to carry the player on the 28-man roster but leave him inactive for as long as it takes.
A player could be placed on the DL retroactively from the 28-man, but only backdated to the last time he was on the 25-man roster, even if he did not appear in the game. That way a player was not a factor in the opposing manager’s decision-making even though eventually that game was part of his DL time.
It has become a running joke with the Jays that when a starting pitcher fails to make it deep and the bullpen has to pitch most of the game, then the one reliever who pitches two or three innings had better pack his bags after the game because he’s likely to be optioned to make room for a fresh arm. That’s dumb and unfair. But with a 28-man roster, the team could deactivate that reliever for a day and replace him from among the three players who were sitting.
The way pitching staffs have expanded, it often leaves AL teams with a three-man bench. Recently, DH Kendrys Morales singled, representing the tying run in the ninth, but manager John Gibbons was unable to pinch-run for him because of his short bench. With the 25-and-three format, the previous day’s starting pitcher could always be deactivated and replaced by an extra position player.
The players’ union would like the three extra jobs with MLBminimum pay and days of service. The fans would love it because it would provide more roster stability and less angst about time lost to injuries. There would be more honesty and more of a chance for genius GMs to out-think their foes.