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| Photo by Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times |
There are so many things to love about Major League Baseball.
The intricate set of rules. The anticipation of what will
happen next. The strategy and decision making behind every move. The mind-boggling
plays made on a daily basis. The innate ability to hit a tiny object hurdling
towards the plate at 95+ mph. That failing to get a hit 70% of the time is considered
amazing.
The fact that anything can happen in the playoffs. And
something always does.
It’s truly the greatest sport on Earth. (Sorry soc…football
fans.)
Which is why it pains me deeply to say that Major League
Baseball is home to the most idiotic thing in pro sports – expanded rosters.
The millisecond the calendar flips to September, the rules that
every team has been playing by for 5 months get flushed down the shitter.
At this point, many teams should be refining their big
league rosters. Not ballooning them to 40.
Yes, I know. Expanded rosters gives teams that were eliminated
in May a better look at their top prospects, which is especially important during
a rebuild. But like spring training numbers, September numbers on
non-contending teams cannot be trusted.
The one positive is that it gives fans a chance to see the
players who are waiting in the wings. To get excited about the future of the franchise.
(Provided, of course, that the player’s service time isn’t being manipulated.)
But calling up prospects can still be accomplished without
setting fire to the roster rules. (More on this later.)
The fact is, expanded rosters are an outright farce and a
complete blight on what should be the most exciting month of the season. It completely
ruins the integrity and watchability of the game.
Here are just some of the reasons why.
Everything’s bigger
in September
September is the most important month of the season.
It’s when playoff races really start to ramp up. When every
single win and loss is crucial. When division titles are claimed and wildcard
spots are won.
Can you think of another sport where, for the most crucial
month of the year, they just suddenly change the rules?
Imagine for the final month of the NHL season, you’re
allowed an extra defensemen on the ice. Or the nets get a foot wider. Or
offsides is no longer a thing.
Or if in the NBA, you’re now allowed 7 seconds in the key
instead of 3. Or you can goaltend all you want. Traveling? Don’t worry about
it. Take as many steps as you want. It’s April.
With so much on the line, does it make a lick of sense for
rosters to all of a sudden jump from 25 to 40? That the rules everyone played
by for the first 5 months no longer apply?
That’s a big, fat no
siree.
The roster crunch
There’s nothing more important than roster management. Each
front office will work diligently and meticulously all season long to add and
subtract players – agonizing over every move.
For example, sending relievers down with options in order to
give a taxed bullpen some fresh arms. DFA-ing or demoting players to make room
for promotions or traded players.
These are just some of the day-to-day decisions teams have
to make to manage a 25 man roster. Not 26. Not 27. Not 30. Exactly 25 men. It’s
almost an art form.
Then boom! September hits. And guess what? You don’t have to
worry about that shit any more.
Want to fortify your bullpen with extra relievers? Go right
ahead.
Want to bring up a 5th, 6th and even a
7th outfielder. Sure – no one’s stopping you.
Remember that player you had to DFA in July to squeeze that
extra arm in the bullpen? Well, he got picked up by another team. So he’s gone
now. Too bad you weren’t playing by September rules back then. Amiright?
Deadline depth
Thanks to expanded rosters on September 1, teams can add
playoff eligible depth to the big league club without being forced to subtract
from their 25 man roster.
The Yankees, for example, used expanded rosters to pick up
Andrew McCutchen and Adeiny Hechavarria at the August 31 waiver
deadline. At no point did Brian Cashman have to worry about making room for these
players on his roster.
Why? Because he suddenly had 15 extra major league roster
spots to play with.
Of course, the Yankees aren’t the only team guilty of this.
And “guilty” isn’t the right word since they’re playing well within the rules –
stupid as they may be.
Small vs. big markets
Guess what? Players who get called up in September ain’t
free. They get a bump in pay for major league service time.
While it’s a drop in the ocean for larger market teams like
the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs, it can be quite costly for the smaller
market teams, like the Athletics, Brewers and Braves.
This is an especially important factor when teams like the
Athletics and Brewers are competing against the Yankees and Cubs respectively
for a wildcard spot or division title.
The Cubs, for example, can afford the luxury of carrying
extra bullpen arms or employing specialty players like speedster, Terrance Gore
– he of the more career steals than plate appearances.
The Cubs acquired him from the Royals AAA club in August,
stashed him in their minors and then called him up September 1 to do one thing
and one thing only – be their on-call bag thief.
Non-prospects
The whole idea behind September call-ups is to give
non-contending teams (and even contending teams) a better look at their top
prospects.
Okay, fine. Except that’s not what actually happens.
Sure, some prospects get called up, which is also great for
the fans. But I’d say the majority of teams use expanded rosters to
significantly boost their bullpens.
Take Rays pitcher and 2018 September call-up, Adam Kolarek. If
you can find him on the Rays’ prospect depth chart, let me know. I stopped
looking after the top 50.
Basically, if you’re a bullpen arm and you’re breathing,
you’re getting called up. Actually, I don’t think you have to be breathing.
Which leads me to my next point.
Bottomless bullpens
So what happened to all that pace of play talk? September
call-ups significantly slow the game down, especially when teams bulk up their
bullpens.
With all the measures MLB is taking to speed up games, for
some reason putting a stop to the revolving door of relievers isn’t one of
them.
When the Rays played the Blue Jays this past September, Buck
Martinez stated that they had 16 relievers in their bullpen. I just dismissed
it as a classic Buck blunder.
16 relievers? C’mon, Bucky. This is bad, even for you.
But then I looked it up.
The Rays had 16 fucking relievers. That’s a “1” followed by
a “6.” Double the normal amount. There are no words for how fucking absurd this
is.
In 2015 vs. the Dodgers, the Rockies set a major league
record by using 13 different pitchers in one game. I’ll let you guess what
month this was.
That wasn’t the only record set that game. The Rockies and
Dodgers combined to use 58 players, 24 of which were pitchers. Can’t imagine
that was a fun experience for the fans.
At what point does it stop being baseball and just become a
parade of random bullpen dudes?
Bailing out bad
bullpens
Typically, the faster you knock the opposing starter out of
the game, the better. Getting into their bullpen early gives your team the
advantage.
But that advantage disappears entirely once September
begins. Instead of squaring off against 8 relievers (only 6 of which are likely
available), you’re facing 12 or 13. Or even 16 if you’re the Rays.
This, of course, isn’t as relevant today due to the rise of
openers and bullpening. But it does still bail out teams that employ shaky
bullpens.
Fuck strategy
Whether it’s bullpen management or lineup construction, one
of the amazing things about baseball is the strategy involved. Expanded rosters
negate any kind of real strategy.
If a manager only has one lefty in his pen, he has to be very
strategic in terms of when to fire that bullet. But if he has 6 lefties at his
disposal thanks to expanded rosters, there’s zero strategy to speak of. He can
use his lefties willy-nilly.
A few Septembers ago, when Joe Girardi was managing the
Yankees, he brought in lefty after lefty just to face Blue Jay, Ryan Goins.
Ryan friggn’ Goins.
No offence to Goins, but no one’s ever confused him with
David Ortiz.
But that’s the world of expanded rosters – where managers can
bring in lefty specialists to face a .228 lifetime hitter.
Then there’s the strategy involved in lineup construction.
A manager, if he has the right pieces, will often alternate
lefty-righty batters to force the opposing manager to use multiple relievers in
an inning. An opposing pen with 6 lefties and 8 righties, for example, will completely
negate this strategy.
So how do we fix this?
Solution 1
One thing standing in the way of limiting September call-ups
is the MLBPA. For good reason, they want to see more players getting paid. Not
less.
So solution numero uno is teams can call up as many players
as they want, but only 25 are allowed to be active at a time.
Every player, whether active or inactive, will still get
paid for major league service time, so the MLBPA should have no complaints.
This theory has already been floated about, but it has one major
flaw. Teams will just activate and deactivate players from one game to the next
to beef up the bullpen or address another need.
As well, teams will deactivate the starting pitchers who
aren’t starting that day to squeeze in even more players to the active roster.
That’s why the active roster should follow the same rules as
the playoffs. Before each series in September, teams must submit their 25 man
roster. And it cannot be changed (baring injury) until after the series is
over.
This way, if your bullpen gets killed in game 1 of the series,
you can’t just remake it the next day with 7 new arms.
Solution 2
Solution 2
Start the minor league season 3 weeks later and have
expanded rosters in April instead of September. However, rosters will be capped
at 30.
It would almost be like an extended spring training.
Yes, seasons can still be lost in April. But they cannot be
won.
You know when they can be won? You guessed it. In September.
Teams and fans can get a better look at prospects while
games still mean something, which is a much better test than meaningless
September baseball. If you truly want to test a player’s metal (or wood in the
majors), see how they play in April.
Another benefit of pushing the minor league season back a few
weeks is that the season will finish towards the end of September. Meaning, if
you need to rehab a player on your major league roster before the playoffs,
there are still minor league games to do so.
Personally, I’m leaning towards the first option because it
keeps the rules the same for all 6 months of the season, relatively speaking.
Follow @RyanGrosman
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