MLB to crack down on obstruction in bid to encourage base-running
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Corbin Carroll just got a little more dangerous. Same for Bobby Witt Jr., Elly De La Cruz and the rest of baseball’s fastest players.
Major League Baseball wants umpires to crack down on obstruction, and the commissioner’s office went over its plans during a call with big-league managers this week. The increased emphasis is only on the bases and not at home plate.
The focus is on infielders who drop a knee or leg down in front of a bag while receiving a throw, acting as a deterrence for aggressive base-running and creating an increased risk of injuries.
“I think with everything, they’re trying to make the game a little safer to avoid some unnecessary injuries,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner said Friday at the team’s facility in Florida. “The intentions are always good. It comes down to how it affects the players and the games. I’m sure there will be plays where one team doesn’t like it or one team does.”
With more position players arriving at spring training every day, the topic likely will come up more and more as teams ramp up for the season.
“We’ll touch on that. We’ll show them some video of what’s good and what’s not,” Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “You know, it’s going to be a little adjustment.”
Making obstruction a point of emphasis fits in with an ongoing effort by MLB to create more action. Obstruction calls are not reviewable, which could lead to some disgruntled players and managers as enforcement is stepped up, but it also means it won’t create long replay deliberations.
A package of rule changes last season — including pitch clocks, bigger bases and limits on defensive shifts and pickoff attempts _ had a dramatic effect. There were 3,503 stolen bases in the regular season, up from 2,486 in 2022 and the most since 1987.
MLB changed a different baserunning rule this off-season, widening the runner’s lane approaching first base to include a portion of fair territory. MLB also shortened the pitch clock with runners on base by two seconds to 18 and further reducing mound visits in an effort to speed up games.
“When a pitcher gets the ball that clock’s going,” Bochy said. “So yeah, you have to adjust with what’s been thrown at you as far as the rules.”
EXPECTATIONS FOR OAKLAND A’S
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is confident the Oakland Athletics will be playing in Las Vegas starting in 2028.
“The reality of the situation is that whenever you’re leaving a market where you’ve been for decades and you’re going to make a move to a different city where there’s not a stadium, that’s a really difficult undertaking, and it’s not going to be seamless, smooth,” Manfred said. “There’s going to be bumps along the road.”
The team reached an agreement with Bally’s and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip, and the Nevada Legislature approved US$380 million in public financing last June towards the $1.5 billion stadium the team wants completed for the 2028 season. MLB owners unanimously approved the move in November.
No ballpark renderings have been released, and there has been speculation a nineacre site might not be sufficient.
“I am confident that the deal in Las Vegas is solid and that the A’s will build a stadium in Las Vegas and play there in 2028,” Manfred said. “We believe the parcel is adequate for a major league ballpark. I think the delay in the renderings is due to the discussions between Bally’s and the A’s as to how the ballpark and what else is going to happen there is going to be most efficiently designed to make it the best possible experience for fans.”
The team’s lease at Oakland Coliseum extends through the 2024 season. It’s unclear whether the A’s will play 2025 home games in Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco or a minor league stadium in Las Vegas. The A’s met with the City of Oakland on Thursday about extending the club’s lease beyond this season.
“I believe it is important to work collaboratively for the good of our public, and that includes the workers, the fans, and the taxpayers,” Oakland Vice Mayor and Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan said.
Manfred said the 2025 venue is a complicated decision.
“There’s conflicting considerations that kind of point you at one direction or point you to another direction. So it’s not an easy choice as to where it’ll be, but I do think they have been thorough in terms of exploring their alternatives,” Manfred said. “The schedule gets finalized July-ish. We need to know before that exactly where they’re going to be, because it will impact travel issues, whatever, if they’re not in Oakland.”
PHANTOM INJURED LIST
Last week, Manfred suspended former New York Mets general manager Billy Eppler through the 2024 World Series for directing staff to fabricate injuries to open roster spots during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
“I’ve read a couple of comments from players that we’re following up on about that issue,” Manfred said. “If in fact it is more widespread, it concerns me. It is a form of cheating, and I think that it’s incumbent on us to try to figure out if it’s more widespread. But the fact ... that you allege that somebody else was doing it is not a defence if we catch you. Everybody has their own personal responsibility on these issues. However it happens, you get caught, you’re going to get disciplined.”
New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman said: “It’s been something that I’ve heard discussed and, you know, people have been accused of over the course of time, but I couldn’t tell you what’s fact and what’s fiction.”
FREE-AGENT SIGNING DEADLINE?
Heading into Friday, pitchers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, designated hitter J.D. Martinez and outfielder Cody Bellinger are among the dozens of free agents still without contracts.
“We would prefer to have a free-agent signing period, ideally probably in December with a deadline that drove people to make their deals, get things settled. We actually made proposals to that effect, to the MLBPA. They were not warmly received,” Manfred said, referring to a mid-agreement proposal in 2019.
“One of the tactics that’s available to player representatives is to stretch out the negotiation in the belief that they’re going to get a better deal,” Manfred said. “That’s part of the system right now. There’s not a lot we can do about it. But certainly from an aspirational perspective, we’d rather have two weeks of flurried activity in December, preferably around the winter meetings.”