1-Man’s Opinion Column-“Wednesday” “Baseball’s new Boss”

Posted by on July 15th, 2015  •  0 Comments  • 

Baseball has a new boss, and it has nothing to do with the late Yankees legend George Steinbrenner, and not much to do with the ex-Commissioner Bud Selig.
The new leader is longtime MLB exec Rob Manfred, by way of Rome, New York, and is his plate ever full.
The All Star Game voting was one story, but it will not change, so the controversies will not go away.
The Pete Rose saga, washed up on the shores of the Ohio River again last night, with the ex-kReds icon awaiting an invitation to talk about his pat, while Manfred saying there was no urgency, and he was not ready to hear whatever Rose wanted to say, yet.
Manfred sure has a checklist of things to deal with. His proposed idea of the reduction of the schedule from 162-games to 154, to give players more days off, and open up the prospect for expanded playoffs, is still in the idea stage.
Whatever chatter that is taking place about the DH-and the National League, must be going on behind closed doors. Manfred likes uniformity, but not many other people are in favor of watching the DH in the NL.
There will be no dicussion of use of instant replays for balls and strikes, so I guess it remains an imperfect subjective science of the guys behind home plate.
The new leader is pleased with the pace of the game rules, that have pushed games from 3:05 to 2:58 this season, though there seems to be no policing of the ‘keep your foot in the batters box rule’.
The 1-game wild card play-in game was exciting next year, and the new leader does not see any change in that structured immediately. No best of 3-play-in…best of 5-second round..then best of seven after that.
There is talk, realistitc or not, about expansion, with Montreal at the forefront, followed by Charlotte, Las Vegas and even the Meadowlands-New Jeresey. But all that is tied to new stadiums which are needed in all those cities.
But for the first time in a long time, this All Star break, and its storylines were all about baseball issues. Not bad Bud Selig decisions, not PEDs, not probes or A-Rod lawsuits, not Biogenesis, or Union appeals about discipline of players.
Rob Manfred is dealing with lots of interesting issues, all of them about the grand old game. Refreshing isn’t it?.
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