Expanded rosters mean longer games
Teams exercise caution by loading up with unnecessary players
The Cubs added two more relievers to their bullpen Friday, giving them 10 and making you wonder if they have enough room in the enclosed pen for everyone to dance after home runs.
The archaic rule allowing rosters to expand in September usually leads to every team adding bullpen depth whether they need it or not, meaning more pitching chances, longer games and more empty stadiums in the ninth inning.
Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer spoke this week of “the balance between interrupting everyone’s routine by having too many guys down (in the pen) and making sure we have enough pitching to make sure guys don’t get tired.”
It’s a delicate balance, but the Cubs, like everyone else, tend to opt for “too many” over “interrupting routines” because you can never have enough pitching.
Baseball is the one sport that plays by one set of rules (25-man rosters) for five months and another for September (up to 40-man rosters) before returning to the original rules for the postseason. General managers say that it’s debated during their annual meetings every year, but nothing changes.
Teams like having extra players just in case, even if it’s someone whose only job is to come off the bench from time to time. The Cubs acquired outfielder Leonys Martin from the Mariners on Thursday even though they don’t really need another outfielder.
“I don’t love the rules in September, but if we’re going to play by these rules, having a guy who can pinch-run late in a game and steal a base or is more likely to score from second, it is really valuable,” Hoyer said. “Our roster has a lot of strengths, but that’s not one of them this year so he helps to fill a hole that we have.
“It’s going to be a really close race. We have really good teams chasing us, and you try and shore up every area of depth.”
Manager Joe Maddon said he’s OK with having call-ups in September, but would like to have a limited number available every game, like selecting 25 or 26 players every day from a 33-man roster and having the rest inactive.
“I don’t know what that number should be, but to have 33 guys on your roster and 33 available is kind of difficult to manage sometimes,” Maddon said.
Don’t look for the rule to change any time soon, even as MLB complains about games that drag on and on because of so many pitching changes.