Owners look at changes to help speed up game

Major League Baseball owners and players are still negotiating innovations designed to improve the pace of play. Owners discussed the issue during two days of meetings that concluded Friday.

For those rooting for baseball to speed up the game, Commissioner Rob Manfred says: have patience.

Owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement in December, but they’re still negotiating innovations designed to improve the pace of play. Owners discussed the issue during two days of meetings that concluded Friday.

“We did review some rule changes largely related to pace of game that are being discussed with the players’ association,” Manfred said. “More to follow when those negotiations are complete.”

Manfred has pushed for faster games since he became commissioner two years ago. But the average time of a nine-inning game last season was 3 hours, a 4-minute increase over 2015. One playoff game took more than 4½ hours.

The new CBA, which extends labor peace to 26 years through 2021, addresses issues such as smokeless tobacco and World Series home-field advantage but not on-field rules.

“Given the really serious big economic issues on the table, I think it’s unrealistic to think that you’re going to get an agreement (regarding pace of play) when you’re doing the overall agreement,” Manfred said. “As is the usual course in the offseason, we’re turning to the playing rule issues now.”

Management would like to tighten restrictions on trips to the mound and introduce a pitch clock, which has been used in Triple-A and DoubleA the past two seasons. Players generally have resisted such changes, and many say there’s no problem with the length of games. Manfred disagrees. “Pace of play is an issue that ‘we’ need to be focused on,” he said. “The ‘we’ there is players, owners, umpires, everyone who is invested in this game.

“I don’t think there’s a magic bullet that is going to come one year to be the solution to pace of play. It’s going to be an ongoing effort to make sure our game moves along in a way that is most attractive to our fans.”

Herrera deal

The Kansas City Royals felt comfortable trading star closer Wade Davis in part because they had Kelvin Herrera, a two-time All-Star in his own right, ready to assume the job this season.

Now, they’re closer to paying Herrera like a star closer.

Kansas City and his representatives agreed to a $5,325,000, one-year contract that includes a $50,000 bonus for making the All-Star game again. The deal allows the sides to avoid arbitration and is a substantial boost from the $2.6 million Herrera made last season.

When the sides swapped proposed salaries last month, the Royals offered $5.05 million and Herrera requested $5.6 million.

Tobacco ban

Baseball players with big wads of chewing tobacco in their cheek are now a thing from the past at Busch Stadium.

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted to prohibit the use of smokeless tobacco products like chewing tobacco, dip and snuff at all sports venues, including Cardinals games at Busch Stadium. The measure provides no exemption for players or anyone else on the field or in the dugouts.