Fangraphs: Rob Manfred and the Dangers of Unintended Consequences

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But if MLB keeps persisting with rule changes that won’t materially make the game better, they will end up with these consequences. Lindsey Adler touched on this Friday in her piece about shifts at Deadspin. Extreme infield shifts such as the “Ted Williams Shift” have been a hot topic in recent years, but there are myriadtypes of shift in the game. In The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2015, Jeff Zimmerman detailed the statistics on many of these shifts. In 2013 and 2014 teams employed “traditional” shifts — infielders up onto or near the grass, players crashing for bunts and the outfield “no doubles” alignment — 13,358 times in 9,722 games. Is that as high as the more radical shifts we’re seeing now? No. Is it going to be very difficult to legislate one type of shift but not all the others? Absolutely. These are the types of shifts that have been taught to every baseball player for generations. In my opinion, baseball is complicated enough already.

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. Instead, the goal should be marketing its best and brightest with the full force of their billion-dollar marketing machine. It’s time to stop blaming the rules. It’s time to stop blaming millenials. NBC tried this over the weekend regarding their Olympics TV ratings decline, only to have others note that Canadian broadcaster CBC saw a ratings uptick. The product matters, but the presentation and marketing of that product matter just as much. The bottom line is this: no rule change that MLB makes is going to lower the time of game or pace of game to a significant enough degree that the game is ever fast paced enough to compete with today’s other product offerings.

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We need to hear more about what’s awesome about baseball. Mike Trout is possibly the best baseball player in the last 50, 60, 70 years. Market him! Giancarlo Stanton has some of the most ridiculous power the game has ever seen. Market him! Make sure these guys are on every TV screen in America every night of the week. MLB has hinted at pursuing a more player-centric marketing strategy in the recent past, with their #THIS campaign. Consider this example: Even this video, however, represents less an attempt to celebrate certain players — identifiable here only by the names on their jerseys — and more to build on the lore of the game. MLB needs to make sure that players like Trout, Stanton, Kris Bryant, Mookie Betts, Jose Altuve, Bryce Harper, Clayton Kershaw, Jose Fernandez,Masahiro Tanaka, Kenley Jansen and more are known by every person in America, not just every baseball fan. It can happen. A month ago, I had never heard of Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles or Kyle Snyder. By emphasizing both the talents and stories of those athletes

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