On August 14th, Major League Baseball’s owners elected Rob Manfred as the new commissioner of baseball. Manfred graduated from Harvard Law School and has been the chief operating officer since 2013, a role in which he reported directly to Selig. He assisted the former Commissioner in a variety of ways including: labor deals, the Dodgers bankruptcy, drug testing, and revenue sharing. Manfred is best known for negotiating with the players association; he brought an unprecedented reign of peace to the sport.
Manfred’s experience will play an important role in enhancing, growing, and developing the game.
Five Challenges Facing Commissioner Manfred
Challenge #1: Commissioner Selig’s decision to reward the winner of the All Star Game with home field advantage helped draw attention to an exhibition that was losing viewership. The “this time it counts” promotional strategy captured attention from fans across the globe.
But times have changed. This years ASG drew 12.1 million viewers, the most since 2010. It’s a time to celebrate athletic accomplishments, not to influence the outcome of the World Series. Baseball should revert back to 2002 when the exhibition had no implications on home field advantage.
Challenge #2: Clearly state which rules and are not reviewable. Instant replay is not resolving controversial calls because the rules don’t clearly define what is and isn’t reviewable.
For example, it’s early April and the Pirates lead the Cubs 2-0 in the 8th inning. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out. Nate Schierholtz grounded to the 2nd basemen Neil Walker and the Pirates turned a 6-4-3 double play.
Replay showed that Walker’s throw to SS Jordy Mercer was wide of the second base bag and replay showed Mercer did not touch the bag. Cubs manager Rick Renteria argued the call, and the ruling was overturned. The Cubs scored their first run of the game.
The instant replay rule states that the neighborhood play at second is not reviewable. The ‘neighborhood play’ is defined as “any time when an infielder may leave the bag a fraction of a second early in order to avoid getting drilled by the oncoming baserunner.” On the flip side, a force play is reviewable. A force play is also a neighborhood play so its unclear as to whether the neighborhood call is reviewable.
Make the force play and neighborhood call at second base non-reviewable. Bad call are apart of the game. This will also help speed up the game.
Challenge #3: The average game is 3 hours and 3 minutes. MLB needs to quicken the pace of games by speeding up the review process with clearly defined rules and better-trained review umpires. Eliminate the initial mound visit. Pitching coaches like to slow the game down in an attempt to “buy time” for bullpen pitchers to warmup. I have no problem with a game that takes over three hours, as long as it involves offense. Remove the unnecessary sideshow.
Challenge #4: Eliminate the MLB draft. Right now, Major League Baseball gives teams a “bonus pool” to spend on its top 10 round amateur draft selections. The more picks a team has, and the earlier it picks, the larger the pool.
The MLBPA has an obligation to represent its current players, not its future membership. Removing draft eligible players from the open market greatly reduces their earning potential. It also limits them to work for a specific team without choice. Between the reduced signing bonuses and minimal wages minor leaguers earn, teams have more leverage when negotiating extensions. If Michael Brantley, for example, had signed a contract at fair market value when he entered the league, then he would have had more leverage when negotiating terms with the Indians. He ended up signing a team friendly $25M/4 year deal plus an option with Cleveland.
Imagine graduating from college with an accounting degree. You’re talented and brilliant. Instead of being drafted by any of the “big four” you’re drafted by a law firm. The law firm tells you that your office is in Mexico and that if you don’t want to go back to school, you need to accept a $50,000 per year offer. The chance of being promoted is less than 15%, and in the event you do, you’ll be promoted to an office in New York City.
A Cuban player that establishes residency in any third world country may sign as a free agent. The Cuban player is eligible to receive millions of dollars early in his career while the amateur is limited to an amateur bonus pool draft system.
The rules create an incentive for human traffickers to move Cubans to third world countries. In turn, they demand huge fees from players like Yasiel Puig under the threat of violence.
Instead of a draft, the MLB should place a total limit on what each team can spend on scouts, evaluators, team personnel, and players for each year. Players would then be compensated according to ability, and signing bonuses would be allocated more efficiently. Players would have the ability to freely negotiate with all 30 teams and would receive an offer closer to fair market value.
Challenge #5: Grow the fan base. The majority of baseballs fans are older middle age white men. MLB needs to make the game available on apps through mobile devices in order to attract a younger fan base. Fans in Iowa, for example, don’t have their own MLB team and cannot watch the Brewers, Cubs, Royals, Twins, and White Sox on MLB.tv because Iowa is within the “broadcast territory” for those six teams. Get rid of the restrictions and let the game be available to younger people.
Create incentives for middle-aged men to take their son or grandson to a game. Teams should offer promotions where kids can run the bases with Dad or play catch on the field after a game.
Most importantly, make sure kids from all socioeconomic backgrounds are able to realize the benefits of playing baseball. The biggest determinant of becoming an avid baseball fan is to participate at the youth level. MLB should continue to grow organizations such as Little League Baseball and Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI). African American stars such as Jimmy Rollins and Andrew McCutchen should talk to young minority groups. Mike Trout could easily inspire young people to participate in Little League Baseball. MLB needs to work with the players to promote the game at the youth level.
MLB should leverage the star power of players like Deter Jeter and Clayton Kershaw to inspire kids to exercise outside and be healthy. The NBA and NFL has a Play 60 campaign to inspire todays youth. Baseball needs to do a better job of reaching out young kids.
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Main Photo Credit: Apardavila Via Photpin CC
