Pitchless intentional walks could start this week

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. >> Pitchless intentional walks could start in spring training games this week.

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said the change, which the players’ association has said it will agree to for 2017, is among the rule changes that have been distributed to teams. Modifications to video review rules for this season include time limits for managers to request a review and for the review umpire in New York to make a decision.

Under the change to the intentional walk rule, a team can signal for an intentional walk without pitches being thrown. Manfred said Major League Baseball staff has been going over the changes with teams, and the new intentional walk rule probably will go into effect this week.

“As soon as we’re done with the clubs, we’ll start implementing the pitchless intentional walk,” Manfred said Tuesday before the opening game of the new spring training ballpark of Houston and Washington. “We need to give them a chance to at least look at the rules before we move ahead and implement it on the field.”

Wanting to speed the pace of play, management also discussed raising the lower edge of the strike zone from just beneath the kneecap to its pre-1996 level the top of the kneecap, the installation of pitch clocks and limits on trips to the pitcher’s mound.

The players’ union said it will not agree to changes in those areas this year. Under baseball’s labor contract, management can make unilateral changes to playing rules only with one year advance notice.

“The intentional walk with no pitches was a small change in a much larger package,” Manfred said. “We don’t think that particular change — we know how the math works — is going to have a momentous impact on the game. By the same token, every little change that makes the game faster I personally believe is a good thing for the game over the long haul.”

Source: Blanton, Nats agree to contract

WASHINGTON >> Setup man Joe Blanton and the Washington Nationals agreed to a $4 million, one-year contract, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The 36-year-old Blanton was a free agent after pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, when the right-hander went 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 80 innings across 75 regular-season appearances. He then went 1-0 and allowed only one hit in five scoreless innings in four games for LA during an NL Division Series victory over Washington.