BRADENTON, Fla., -- Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association jointly announced a series of rule changes Thursday that will be implemented over this season and next. Additionally, changes were announced for All-Star game voting, rules, and compensation, beginning this season.
The rules going into effect this season:
• The Aug. 31 trade deadline has been eliminated and July 31 will be the universal deadline. Players may still be placed on outright waivers and claimed by other teams after July 31, but can not be traded.
• Teams will be allowed to make a maximum of five mound visits, down from six last season when the limit was first instituted. Teams will also be granted one more visit per each extra inning.
• All inning breaks will last two minutes regardless if the game is televised locally or nationally. Breaks had been two minutes and five seconds for local broadcasts and 2:25 for a national game.
MLB retains the right to shorten the breaks for local and national games to 1:55 in 2020.
The following changes will go into effect in 2020:
• Both starting and relief pitchers must face either a minimum of three batters or pitch to the end of a half-inning. The exceptions would be incapacitating injury or illness.
• The active roster limit will increase to 26 from 25 from opening day through Aug. 31, and in the postseason. The current rule allows for a 26th player for a doubleheader and will amended to allow for a 27th player.
Meanwhile, the limit from Sept. 1 until the end of the regular season will be cut from 40 to 28.
• The number of pitchers a team may carry on the active roster will be capped at a number to be determined by a joint committee of MLB and the MLBPA. Clubs must designate each of its players as either a pitcher or a position player prior to each player’s first day on the active roster for a given season. That designation will remain in effect for the player, and cannot change, for the remainder of the championship season and postseason.
No player on the active roster other than those designated as pitchers by the team may appear in a regular-season or postseason game except in the following scenarios:
Players designated as a “Two-way player.” A player qualifies for that distinction only if he accrues at least 20 major-league innings pitched and at least 20 major-league games started as a position player or designated hitter (with at least three plate appearances in each of those games) in either the current season or the previous season.
Following the ninth inning of an extra-inning game or in any game in which his team is losing or winning by seven runs or more when the player enters as a pitcher.
• Subject to input from the joint committee, the minimum placement period for pitchers on the injured list would increase from 10 days to 15 days, and the minimum assignment period of pitchers who are optioned to the minor leagues would also increase from 10 days to 15 days.
All-Star Game changes that go into effect this year:
• Fan voting will be conducted in two rounds. During the “primary round,” each team will nominate one player per eligible position (three outfielders), who will be voted on by fans. In late June or early July, an “Election Day” will be held in which the top three vote-getters at each position in each league during the primary round (including the top nine outfielders) will be voted on by fans during a prescribed time period to determine the starters. Further details on the new fan voting format will be announced in April.
• Bonus payments will be given to the top three vote-getters at each position in each league during the primary round (top six for outfielders). Additionally, the prize money awarded to players on the winning All-Star team will be increased.
• Both teams will start the 10th inning of the All-Star Game, and each subsequent inning, with a runner on second base with re-entry substitutions allowed for runners.
• Total prize money for the Home Run Derby will increase to $2.5 million with the winner getting $1 million.
PERROTTO'S VIEWS
A lot to unpack here -- to use a Clint Hurdle line -- but let's do our best.
I like the one trading deadline quite a bit, though, I'd move it to Aug. 15. That would give teams another couple of weeks to determine whether they would be buyers or sellers.
Cutting the number of mound visits to five is fine and dandy. The fewer confabs the better.
Inning breaks being cut is another one I like. It will move the game along more quickly.
The three-batter minimum is too gimmicky for my tastes; it's messing with the fabric of the game, though I understand the rationale of hoping it also improves pace of play.
The roster rules are fine by me. With teams bullpenning more than ever, the 25-man limit had become antiquated. It will also be nice to watch baseball in September without a cast of thousands playing.
Pushing the injured list limit back to 15 days is a welcome change. GMs were pulling too many shenanigans with the 10-day IL.
As far as the All-Star Game changes? They really make no difference to me. The popular players will still beat the deserving players in the voting too many times, but that's fine. The fans are certainly entitled to see who they want.