New MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred "Open" to Eliminating Defensive Shifts

Holy shite

What's the point of eliminating it?

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That's some serious bull shite.

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I think this was planned by him and selig, Bud: "ok, so you start out by saying the dumbest thing you can come up with. That instantly makes me look smarter and you have no way to go but up."

Seriously, next he'll be saying pitches can't throw inside and base runners can't lead off.

quote:

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That's some serious bullshite.

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I think it's awesome.

You should be able to put as many players on one side of the infield as you'd like, but this crap where the 2nd baseman is 100 feet into the outfield needs to stop.

The game is so boring.

Wtf? They should just make circles the players have to start in then.

That is just stupid

let's let this sink in the next time we discuss if baseball or football is more complex and which uses more strategy

baseball is contemplating banning putting defensive players in slightly different positioning than a traditional alignment

let's let this sink in

Has the guy ever watched baseball?

The Pirates shift more than anyone else and have structured their pitching staff around it. They focus on ground balls, and use the shifts to maximize what they get from a handful of good offense/limited defense infielders. they've gotten there through scouting and analytics, and it's played a critical role in them having some success as of late.

taking that off the table would be pretty tough to swallow, and would really limit the way smaller market teams can compete. they are able to keep together a competitive team by targeting guys whose skills aren't traditionally valued playing things conventionally.

my thought is that the game will evolve, and the value of hitters that aren't vulnerable to shifting will go up as opposed to dead-pull guys that just can't or refuse to adapt. I'm as much of a baseball purist as anyone, and I really like seeing the creative, analytically driven strategies develop.