2015 MLB Season

[Meacon Keaton]

So if David Ortiz hits 500 home runs (he's currently at 470), you don't think he should make the Hall of Fame?

[Your Mom]

Too many pitchers are getting hurt hitting and running bases now. I enjoy the strategy in NL ball but I also enjoy healthy pitchers. Either way they need uniform rules

[GhostMachine]

Ortiz is a bad example, because he's actually played 1B. Though I believe he's only played about a season and a half worth of games at first base. I'm talking about players who never play a position and are purely a DH.

What I'm saying is that a DH shouldn't go into the Hall of Fame over a position player in most cases.

[Your Mom]

It's not either/or is it? Not like they say "well we chose a DH so fuck 3B this year!"

[Meacon Keaton]

The most games David Ortiz has played in the field, in a season, is 70 games at first base and that was back in 1998. Every other year he's played somewhere between 10-35 games in the field, which I'm assuming were interleague games.

I'm not quite sure if DH-only guys exist at the moment. I'm struggling to think of any if there are.

[gunnar hendershow]

The DH is a benefit for everyone. It keeps pitchers out of harm's way, it extends the careers of countless ballplayers which is always a good thing for those guys, and in the day of yearlong interleague it makes less sense to have 2 separate sets of rules. And once they put in the DH they could never get rid of it, so there's only one way to go with the rule.

The idea that a DH can't play defense has been proven wrong many times. In a lot of cases the DH can play the field, but is a bigger benefit to the team by just hitting and letting either superior defensive players be in the field or give the manager more flexibility with his bench. A lot of teams have taken to use the DH to just put in a guy for matchups too, as opposed to having an 8 or 9 spot in the lineup be a nearly guaranteed out. There are very few "career" DH.

I love watching NL games, the extra strategy from the managers in regards to his pitching usage is fun to watch. But there are more important things than some old-timey baseball tradition. And at the end of the day extending players' careers should probably take precedent.

[DMN in the House]

The idea of protecting pitchers in that way bothers me in the same way that over-protecting QBs does.

They're players, they should hit. I'm fine with the AL having the DH, but it's a bad rule in the first place. It's not like baseball is some overly violent sport.

[Draevyn]

The idea of protecting pitchers in that way bothers me in the same way that over-protecting QBs does.

They're players, they should hit. I'm fine with the AL having the DH, but it's a bad rule in the first place. It's not like baseball is some overly violent sport.

It's still hard on muscles and joints. It's not about violence as much as it's about the fact that pitchers arms go through enough with just that one position let alone batting as well.

[DMN in the House]

My heart bleeds purple Kool-Aid.

Play the damn game. Like I said, it's not exactly the NFL, where you need to protect the defenseless guy because of concussions/etc. With the continued specialization of pitching in baseball, there is absolutely NO reason why they shouldn't be able to go out there for 2-3 ABs a game.

[Maxx]

You could argue that specialization is specifically why they shouldn't be out there. They spend all their time focusing on pitching, can't spend much time taking batting practice, as such, compared to position players they're grossly under-qualified to be swinging at big league pitches.

Personally, I don't care either way. I like each league having different rules though, its a fun quirk and if you're a pitcher worried about hitting, avoid signing with the NL.

[EddieG]

They're players, so they should hit.

A QB is a player, so he should do a punt return, or maybe a stint on the D-Line.

No, he's a pitcher, his job is pitching, just like you wouldn't expect a first baseman to pitch.

[DMN in the House]

They're players, so they should hit.

A QB is a player, so he should do a punt return, or maybe a stint on the D-Line.

No, he's a pitcher, his job is pitching, just like you wouldn't expect a first baseman to pitch.

That's a horrible comparison.

QB's don't, traditionally, field punts. Nor do they play on the defensive line.

Pitchers, however, particularly in the National League, hit. In fact, all players on the field, in the National League, hit.

There is absolutely no comparison between the sports in that regard. There is nothing that EVERY football player on the field does (outside of get hit, I guess), while there is something that EVERY baseball player on the field in a given league does.

If you want to make an argument for getting rid of it, go ahead, I guess, but they're all going to ring hollow, to be honest.

[HC]

Both sides of the coin offer fair arguments.

The NL is traditional, a richer game strategically, and keeps the game shorter.(Important as people complain about baseball's long runtime and the DH does nothing but inflate that)

The AL brings more offense, gives more guys a chance to shine, and spares us the comedy of the Bartolo Colons of the world trying to get a hit.

I find the injury concern to be minimal, even as someone whose team lost their ace to an at-bat. I don't think it's quite the epidemic the Max Scherzers of the world would have you believe (he just wants to get out of it, much like I'm sure Jon Lester would like to ban base stealing if he could ), and Wainwright himself (as well as Mad-Bum) has spoken against the DH implementation. That said, with more interleague play uniformity is probably inevitable, and there's no way the DH ever goes away completely, so the NL will almost certainly implement it eventually.

Edited May 13, 2015 by HeadChuck McGill

[gunnar hendershow]

If I were an AL team who had to play my last 3 games of the season without my DH and I lost out on a playoff spot because of it I'd be pretty pissed. When they went to interleague year-round I had thought they'd at least make the DH mandatory in every interleague game regardless of ballpark.

[GhostMachine]

Until they decided to introduce relievers, pitchers were intended to pitch an entire game. Even if it went into extra innings. Closers didn't even exist until the 1970s. I'm surprised a lot more pitchers didn't have shortened careers and tons of injuries prior to things changing.

Personally, I think one solution that could save careers in the AL would be to have Catchers platoon at DH and Catcher. There have been plenty of players at the Catcher position who have had shortened careers or moved to other positions because of the toll it takes on the knees. Darren Daulton and Mike Piazza are pretty good examples.

[Meacon Keaton]

The issue with that is that a lot of catchers aren't good enough offensively to take up the DH spot.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run last night that went over the seats in Dodgers Stadium and out of the park. Word is it still hasn't landed.

[Twist]

The issue with that is that a lot of catchers aren't good enough offensively to take up the DH spot.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run last night that went over the seats in Dodgers Stadium and out of the park. Word is it still hasn't landed.

I heard it broke the space time continium and when it landed it caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

[Meacon Keaton]

God the Cubs are still the Cubs. Bullpen really shat the bed today.

[Your Mom]

[Your Mom]

I'll take it