The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cubs executive sees advantage of adding DH
Milwaukee has quietly become a title contender.
No modern-day baseball owner is as outspoken as former A’s owner Charlie Finley, who decades ago proposed using orange baseballs, playing World Series games at night and using pinch hitters in the pitcher’s spot in the lineup.
The orange-balls idea never flew, and World Series games now are played too late for most younger fans to watch.
But the pinch-hitter thing worked, at least in the American League. Finley argued back in the early 1970s that fans wanted to see more offense.
“I can’t think of anything more boring than to see a pitcher come up, when the average pitcher couldn’t hit my grandmother,” he said. “Let’s have a permanent pinch hitter for the pitcher.”
Though Finley wasn’t very popular with his fellow owners, the once-unthinkable idea was adopted in 1973 when the designated hitter came into existence. Only the AL was ready to make the biggest rule change in modern baseball history. The more traditional National League owners stayed the course.
Forty-five years later, I can’t think of anything more boring than to listen to another debate on whether it’s time for the NL to conform with the times and make the DH a universal rule. The arguments for each side never have changed, and the debate was basically irrelevant because NL owners never came close to wavering from their traditionalist stance.
Yet here we are again, thanks to Commissioner Rob Manfred, who hinted there was movement on the DH discussion during last week’s owners meetings in New York.
“That is a continuing source of conversation among the ownership group and the dialogue actually moved a little bit,” Manfred said.
There was no indication from Manfred that a change is imminent, but he already has said the lack of action in baseball is a concern and a universal DH theoretically would lead to more offense. The NL had a pathetic .243 average heading into the weekend, averaging 584 strikeouts per team to only 557 hits.
So if baseball is seeking a solution for its lack of offense, the NL’s adoption of the DH seems a simple remedy.
The Cubs are one of the more progressive teams when it comes to rules changes, and Manfred named club President Theo Epstein to a reconstituted 16-member competition committee in 2017. That gives the Cubs a prominent role in any discussions on a DH, defensive shifts or other changes that may be proposed.
“The game changes over time, so it’s important to be thoughtful of how it changes,” Epstein told me after his appointment. “You can sort of steer changes that make it continue to be a compelling product for fans. If it’s going to change anyway, better to be thoughtful.”
Epstein wouldn’t divulge his views, though he told fans at the 2016 Cubs Convention that he wished his team could have a DH.
“We have so many hitters coming, who wouldn’t mind a DH and an extra lineup spot to get another bat in there?” Epstein said. “But it’s above our pay grade. It’s really an issue for the commissioner and the owners.”
The 2018 Cubs would benefit from a DH, and it would give fans more opportunities to complain about Joe Maddon’s lineups. Would Maddon use Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ or Tommy La Stella as his primary DH? The possibilities are endless.
As a “traditionalista” who prefers the NL rules, I hope it doesn’t happen. But at this point I wouldn’t bet against it. Old-school thinking is dead.
Charlie Finley would be so proud.
Brewers: Is it too early to give Brewers general manager David Stearns the executive of the year award? In a division with the big-spending Cubs and perennially successful Cardinals, Stearns quietly has built a championship-caliber club.
Lorenzo Cain looks like the best free-agent signing of the offseason, and he already has assumed a leadership role in the Brewers clubhouse. Christian Yelich, acquired from the Marlins for prospects, was hitting .302 with an .844 OPS heading into the weekend series with the Phillies.
Stearns also got a bargain-basement special with a two-year, $15.5 million deal for Jhoulys Chacin, who was 6-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 15 starts. That’s five more victories than Yu Darvish, who got $126 million from the Cubs.
The Brewers have melded quickly, and manager Craig Counsell has used his dominating bullpen deftly to offset a rotation that lacks a true ace. Like Stearns, Counsell doesn’t get much credit, but Cain said he’s a big reason for the team’s success.
Sano: Kudos to Twins third baseman Miguel Sano for the way he handled his demotion to Single-A Fort Myers.
It’s one thing to be demoted but another to get sent all the way to Class A. Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said the unconventional move was done to put Sano, a 2017 All-Star, in “the most supportive environment” possible.
“I’m not mad, I’m happy because I’m struggling,” Sano told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “You know, this is an opportunity they gave me. I know they love me here and everything. Everybody here is trying to help me. It’s a chance to go there and work, and I’ll come back soon.”
Accountability matters. Well done.