20-second pitch clock to be used in spring training games
Major League Baseball is unilaterally starting the use of pitch clocks for spring training games.
With the sport looking for ways to speed the pace of play, pitchers generally will have 20 seconds to deliver to the plate when teams play exhibition games in Arizona and Florida beginning this week. The intention is to get players and umpires accustomed to the clock in the event MLB makes the rule change for the upcoming regular season.
“We will start getting ready for the possibility that we’re going to use the pitch clock on opening day,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said Sunday at spring training media day in West Palm Beach, Fla. “We have to get going.”
After the 2016 and 2017 seasons, players rebuffed management’s proposal for a pitch clock. Owners have the right to implement one this year without consent, but Manfred has been reluctant to initiate on-field modifications without agreement from players and their union head, Tony Clark.
“We’re still hopeful that we’re going to make an agreement with Tony on pace-of-play initiatives,” Manfred said. “I just think that whether it’s by agreement or otherwise, the only prudent course for us at this point is to be in a position to proceed if in fact we have an agreement or decide to do it … under our collectively bargained right to do that.”
Manfred said the rules involving the clock will be “phased in” and won’t start immediately with ball and strike calls. But there will be a “functional” clock in Grapefruit League and Cactus League games. Management’s proposals have said a clock would not be used after foul balls. Pitch clocks have been used in the high minors since 2015.
Moustakas, Brewers closing in on a deal
Mike Moustakas and the Brewers are nearing a deal that would keep the third baseman in Milwaukee for a guarantee of $10 million, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement will be subject to a successful physical. The sides were negotiating a deal that would include a mutual option for 2020, the person said.
Moustakas’ deal would be his second in a row for one guaranteed year on the free-agent market. He rejected a $17.4 million qualifying offer from Kansas City after the 2017 season and returned to the Royals in midMarch for a one-year contract that included a guaranteed $6.5 million. He earned an additional $2.2 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances, raising his total earnings in the deal to $8.7 million.
Moustakas, 30, hit .256 with eight homers and 33 RBIs in 54 games for Milwaukee, which acquired him from the last-place Royals on July 27. He had a .251 average overall last year with 28 homers and 95 RBIs.