Commish: Pace- of- play rules coming
Major League ORLANDO, FLA.
Baseball will change rules to speed up games next year with or without an agreement with the players’ association.
Management proposed last offseason to institute a 20- second pitch clock, allow one trip to the mound by a catcher per pitcher each inning and raise the bottom of the strike zone from just beneath the kneecap to its pre- 1996 level at the top of the kneecap. The union didn’t agree, and clubs have the right to impose those changes unilaterally for 2018.
Players and MLB have held initial bargaining since summer, and MLB chief legal officer Dan Halem said this week he would like an agreement by mid- January.
“My preferred path is a negotiated agreement with the play- ers, but ifwe can’t get an agreement we are going to have rule changes in 2018 one way or the other,” baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday after a quarterly owners’ meeting.
Nine- inning games averaged a record 3 hours, 5 minutes during the regular season and 3: 29 during the postseason.
In other items of note: • Owners were told experts are looking into the specifications of baseballs after a record 6,105 home runs were hit this season.
• Owners were updated about team decisions on expanded protective netting, made after several fanswere injured by foul balls this year. MLB has not decided whether to change the league- wide minimums.
• Denis Coderre, theMontreal mayorwho pushed for MLB’s return to the city, was defeated last week in his bid for re- election. Manfred repeated that no decisions on expansion will be made until after Oakland and Tampa Bay resolve their quests for new ballparks.
Qualifying offers turned
down. Colorado closer Greg Holland, Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, third baseman MikeMoustakas and outfielder Lorenzo Cainwere among nine free agents who turned down $ 17.4 million qualifying offers from their teams Thursday.
Cubs pitchers Jake Arrieta andWade Davis also said no to the offers, as did Tampa Bay pitcher Alex Cobb, St. Louis pitcher Lance Lynn and Cleveland first baseman Carlos Santana.
If they sign with new teams, their old clubswould get an extra draft pick as compensation — possibly a much lower selection than a first- round pick in the past under the rules in baseball’s new labor contract.
Footnote. Manfred thinks Marlins fans should be understanding if the team’s newowners trade all- star slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Former New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter became the team’s chief executive officer when a group headed by venture capitalist Bruce Sherman bought the team last month in a $ 1.2 billion deal. Jeter said this week the Marlins must cut payroll and are listening to offers for Stanton, who won his first NL MVP award Thursday. “Look, I think that it’s important for new owners to come in, evaluate the state of their franchise, decide where they think they’re headed long term and kind of write with a clean slate,” Manfred said.