It feels like it was about a month ago, but it also feels like, if not for some merciful higher power, we could still be watching the Braves circle the bases against the Pirates in Friday’s blowout in Atlanta.
In that eventual 20-1 schellacking, Wilmer Difo fell face first into the the highest ERA in MLB history for someone who has pitched at least one inning during the Braves’ eight-run eighth.
Shohei Ohtani notwithstanding, there’s got to be a way to fix this, no?
Beyond the Pirates’ individual issues, this whole concept is simply bad for the product. And the temptation to go there is too appealing.
Including starter Tyler Anderson, Difo was only the fourth pitcher the Pirates used in the contest. Even though there are nine relievers in the Pirates’ bullpen -- one of which is a 21-year-old Rule 5 pick that should pretty much only be used in situations at least vaguely similar to the one in which Difo was trusted this weekend.
But that eighth-inning -- much like many of Cut 4’s most celebrated moments -- was just a dumb, boring watch.
Willians Astudillo is fun when he’s making no-look, back-pick throws to first base or going viral in a clip that looks like Bartolo Colon’s home run trot in fast forward. Not when his 47-mph fastball leads to a week-long debate pitting The Ghost of Baseball Past against his entire active roster.
Wherever one might come down on that side of the debate, we all lose. There’s got to be a better way.
Every beer league softball player, little league parent and part-time umpire has seen first hand the benefits of the mercy rule. That’s a bit extreme for the major league product -- not because of the “integrity of the game” or the importance of the No. 9 that’s given every old-school baseball fan a tension headache during every doubleheader of the past two seasons.
But there shouldn’t be a major league team out there that can’t cover nine innings, especially when there are enough horses in the bullpen to literally have one guy cover a frame each.
Sure, “saving” some arms is really the only idea behind having a position player pitch. And as long as it's an option, major league managers are going to take advantage. But at the end of the season, is a reliever really in that much better shape having pitched in 74 games instead of 75?
It doesn’t have to be as crazy as a mercy rule. Simple roster construction would do the trick. Have 26 total players. No limits on how many pitchers and how many hitters, but only the players listed among the former are allowed on the mound. No other rule changes need to be made. Just say only pitchers can pitch and move on with the game.
YOUR TURN: Do you like it when position players pitch? If you think something should be done to change this, what would you do?
