Rules for the Catcher

[Zurp]

While on random baseball stuff...

I thought Miggy Cabrera's hit on an Intentional walk attempt was one of the coolest things I've seen in baseball. I've always wanted to see a player do that, very clever.

Yeah - I was surprised he didn't step on home plate. That would suck to be him to take a risk like that and end up blowing it.

Ok.. how about this one: why do managers bother to announce starting pitchers? Is it done out of courtesy? Like, "I'll tell you who I'm starting if you tell me who you're starting." As far as I can tell, it only does two things: it tells us fans who's starting, and it helps the opposing manager to set up his line-up.

And why don't they do something like this: announce that their starting pitcher is some so-so middle-reliever. Maybe a right-handed pitcher. I believe that that pitcher has to pitch to one batter, barring injury. The opposing team might put 6 left-handed hitters in to face the pitcher. So after that first batter, the manager can switch pitchers, and maybe put in a right-handed pitcher. This new guy can be a true starter, and he'll be in there 5-6 innings or so. I realize that this trickery will only work once, but why isn't it tried? Maybe it would be considered "rude."

 

[Dryden]

The exchanging of lineups pre-game is required by rule, but the announcement of scheduled starters, usually a week in advance, is a courtesy to other managers and to the fans who plan to attend/watch the game.

I suspect if one manager begins to fudge his lineups or pitching rotation to obscure his intent until the moment the lineup cards are actually submitted at game time, then other managers will do the same, and the whole thing will devolve into anarchy and serve no purpose other than alienate and frustrate the fans -- actually, I guess it's surprising that MLB hasn't done this yet, then.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

With today's rotations it's not hard to figure out who's gonna start. I'm am extremely doubtful that announcing that Scott Linebrink is starting for the Padres will confuse Tony Larussa in to believeing that the Pads decided to skip Peavy in the rotation.

 

[Dryden]

With today's rotations it's not hard to figure out who's gonna start. I'm am extremely doubtful that announcing that Scott Linebrink is starting for the Padres will confuse Tony Larussa in to believeing that the Pads decided to skip Peavy in the rotation.

They should WWE it up to make baseball more entertaining. After the national anthem, each team trots five starters out and they stand facing each other along the 1st and 3rd base lines. Then, Michael Buffer makes a surprise introduction of two to much fanfare and fireworks, kind of like Iron Chef.

 

[Zurp]

They should WWE it up to make baseball more entertaining. After the national anthem, each team trots five starters out and they stand facing each other along the 1st and 3rd base lines. Then, Michael Buffer makes a surprise introduction of two to much fanfare and fireworks, kind of like Iron Chef.

That would be pretty funny. I guess that if that happened, though, they'd accuse Michael Buffer of fixing the games.

But seriously, maybe one team has six guys who can start games. Not a six-man rotation so much, but, theoretically, they always have 2 guys who might start a specific game. Then they announce so-and-so is the starter. He pitches to one batter, and then they put in the other guy. The other manager might say, "That son of a bitch! He tricked me into putting all my left-handers in the line-up!" Or he might say, "He just wasted a pitcher. What a dope!" Either way, you still have the one starter available for the next day, since he really only pitched to one batter.

Of course, which teams have 6 guys they are confident with? Many teams are lucky to have 5. Also, what's the roster restriction? 25? How many teams would be willing to waste one of those 25 on a decoy?

 

[Dryden]

Most teams already have 6 or 7 "starters," it's just that only 5 are designated starters and one or two are relegated to the 'pen for long relief. There are a few situational specialists, plus the closer.

I suppose a manager could "start" with everyone in the bullpen other than the closer, make some situational moves to try to force the opposing team into some double switches, benching starters, and generally shoot the batting order all to hell, then bring in the "starter" in the 3rd inning and pray the game doesn't go to extra innings.

It could actually be effective to start the game with a closer who can get 4 or 5 outs so that you can work on getting the lead at the start of the game while neutralizing most teams' best hitters in the 1-5 spots.