Ballpark Travel

When the rules changes were announced on March 14th, there really wasn't anything too earth shattering, but it does feel like some substantial changes are building during the next CBA negotiation at the conclusion of the 2021 season - expansion (possibly globalism), fewer games, shorter games and fixing free agency all will be hot topics and to the league office's credit, Commissioner Manfred has done a tremendous job of being open in discussing the future of professional baseball. For this round of changes, however - there were some interesting small adjustments. 1. Changes to encourage faster games: Inning Breaks are reduced by 0:05 in regional broadcast games and 0:25 in national broadcast games. For a national game, that is somewhat significant savings of 7+ minutes, but just shows the commitment to faster games. Maximum mound visits reduced from 6 to 5. I have a hard time remembering a game without playoff implications where this was an issue, but this rule def...

In recent years, WAR (Wins Above Replacement, read more HERE ) has become one of the most discussed statistics in player evaluation. With the release of Moneyball last November and another amazing success story of the Oakland A’s (and the lowest payroll in the MLB, $49 Million) winning the AL West on the final day of the season statistical analysis could not be more in vogue. In order to earn a playoff berth this year, the A’s had to beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. At the conclusion of the 2011 season, Albert Pujols was easily a top-5 player and the main contributor to the team that just had won the World Series. Deservedly so with this status, he signed a mega contract that will pay him $240 Million dollars over 10 years. The Angels, as can any team that spends a substantial amount of money on one player can argue that by adding a star caliber talent, it will ultimately make the whole team better and provide an opportunity to win a World Series. The question raised is h...