Slide rule headlines changes in MLB rule book

[cigaretteman]

After a controversial 2015, Major League Baseball is changing the definition of a legal slide. The new rule for what will be considered “legal” headlines changes in the upcoming 2016 season.

Much like when they changed the rules regarding plays at the plate, it took some high-profile injuries to change feelings in baseball.


Last year, two shortstops were injured by legal take-out slides. Then-Cubs outfielder Chris Coghlan slid into Pirates shortstop Jung Ho Kang in September, breaking Kang’s left leg and tearing a knee ligament. In the NLDS, Dodgers infielder Chase Utley took out Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada, fracturing his leg in a slide.

The new rule doesn’t prohibit physical slides that create contact, but does prevent players from overtly looking for contact with a fielder and gives an umpire flexibility to make a judgement call.

From the New York Daily News:

According to new rule 6.01 (j), “slides on potential double plays will require runners to make a bona fide attempt to reach and remain on the base.” The rule also states that “Runners may still initiate contact with the fielder as a consequence of an otherwise permissible slide. A runner will be specifically prohibited from changing his pathway to the base or utilizing a “roll block” for the purpose of initiating contact with the fielder.”

While the Coghlan slide may still be open to interpretation, the Utley slide would almost certainly be deemed illegal.

30 second shot clock on mound visits
In addition to the new slide rule, there is another rule in place that will change how the game is played. Starting this year, managers will be given 30 seconds to talk to pitchers on a mound visit.

The clock will run on an in-stadium clock, much like the one used for pitching changes and inning changes. There is no direct penalty for going over the limit, other than a prodding from the umpire.
http://national.suntimes.com/national-sports/7/72/2656751/mlb-changes-slide-rule

 

[cigaretteman]

When Chase Utley’s slide broke Ruben Tejada’s right leg in Game 2 of a National League division series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Mets, the relatively common tactic of trying to break up a double play was put under a microscope, with many assuming that a change in baseball’s rules would result.

On Thursday, that change happened when Major League Baseball and the players’ union agreed to a reworking of the rules regarding slides, while potentially complicating matters by making “neighborhood plays” at second base reviewable.

“Our goal in amending the slide rule was to enhance player safety, reduce incidents of injury and to do it in a way that respects and preserves the bona fide hustle plays that are integral to our game,” Tony Clark, the executive director of the players’ union, said in a statement. “I am optimistic that this new rule will accomplish those goals.”

Under the new policy, designated Rule 6.01(j), a slide to break up a double play will have to include a bona fide attempt to reach and remain on the base. Contact with the fielder is permissible, but the runner cannot change his path to initiate contact or engage in a “roll block.”

The plays will be subject to video review, and if it is determined that the runner did not engage in a bona fide slide attempt, interference will be called, and both the runner and the batter can be called out.

As stated in the rule, a player performs a bona fide slide when he:

■ Begins his slide (makes contact with the ground) before reaching the base.

■ Is able and tries to reach the base with his hand or foot.

■ Is able and tries to remain on the base (except home plate) after completion of the slide.

■ Slides within reach of the base without changing his pathway for the purpose of initiating contact with a fielder.

Mets Manager Terry Collins said the combination of the new slide rule and the ability to review neighborhood plays, in which fielders are often given credit for simply being near the bag when they receive the ball during a double-play attempt, could have dangerous consequences.

“We’re making a slide rule that keeps you on the bag,” Collins said. “You’ve got to be near the bag. And now we’re making a decision on the neighborhood play that you’ve got to stay on the bag. You know what that’s going to mean? Someone is going to get their clocks cleaned.”

When asked why the decision had been made to make the neighborhood play subject to instant replay, which essentially eliminates it as a concept, Chris Marinak, M.L.B.’s senior vice president for league economics and strategy, said the play had been a source of frustration because of a perceived inconsistency about how it was applied by umpires.

“It’s one of the most controversial plays we have,” he said. “It’s a product of history, rather than a product of the rule book.”

Regarding Collins’s safety concerns, Marinak said the sentiment among those behind the rule changes — members of the commissioner’s office, the playing rules committee and the players’ union — was that the new rules on takeout slides more than compensated for whatever safety was lost in making the neighborhood play reviewable.

“When it comes to safety for the middle infielders, we feel like the net result between the two rule changes is a positive,” Marinak said.

Asked about the changes, Yankees third baseman Chase Headley said he felt that even with the rules defined, there was room for debate as to what would qualify as a bona fide slide.

“It’s always interpretation of how things will be called,” Headley said. “I’d like to send them 50 slides of mine and let them tell me which ones are legal and which ones aren’t. I’m not sure you’re going to be able to tell what’s O.K. just by reading the rule.”

For many in baseball, any rule change is met with skepticism, but the dispute over Utley’s slide and a Chris Coghlan slide that ended the season of Jung Ho Kang of the Pittsburgh Pirates seemed to result from ambiguity over whether the intent was to break up the play or harm the opponent. Many people close to the game reacted strongly, with even a hard-nosed competitor like the Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez seemingly accusing Utley of a dirty play.

Martinez said on Twitter: “If you tell Utley to teach kids to slide on second base? Would he teach them the way he slided tonight?”

It remains to be seen how often slides and neighborhood plays will end up under review, which could hamper the effect of pace-of-game changes that M.L.B. also announced Thursday, including limit coaching visits to the mound to 30 seconds and shortening the breaks between innings by 20 seconds. To some, the nature of the game is at stake based on how the new rules are applied.

“The most important thing is taking an unnecessary injury out of the game,” Headley said. “But hopefully it still allows for a good, hard slide to break up a double play. It’s called hardball for a reason.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/s...es.html&eventName=Watching-article-click&_r=0

 

[LuteHawk]

The change is good for MLB. Nobody needs to go into
second base with a football style block which maims the
defensive player.

 

[GarryO37]

It think the rule change is appropriate. It's one thing to slide in a way that it breaks up a double play, but what Utley did was malicious. An appropriate slide off the bag would have broken up that double play and not injured Tejada.

Baseball used to sort itself out, and Utley would have been quickly corrected. But it's not the world we live in anymore.

 

[JRHawk2003]

No, its not appropriate....and the shot clock thing is a joke

No one cares that NFL games are now nearly 4 hours at times

 

[93hawkeye]

No, its not appropriate....and the shot clock thing is a joke

No one cares that NFL games are now nearly 4 hours at times

I care. I don't watch them partly because they're too long

 

[The Tradition]

 

[JRHawk2003]

I care. I don't watch them partly because they're too long

Too long is a subjective term. Its not longer than a football game, its not a lot longer than a basketball game.

People have short attention spans.

 

[SSG T]

Too long is a subjective term. Its not longer than a football game, its not a lot longer than a basketball game.

People have short attention spans.

Yeah, given the overall length of a game, and the lack of action between plays, I'm not sure how anyone could complain about baseball without making the same complaints about football. Basketball and hockey are different animals, as the stoppages or far shorter and actual game action a far bigger chunk of the game time.

 

[dandh]

That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the title. I was thinking - what are they gonna use a slide rule for?

 

[cigaretteman]

That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the title. I was thinking - what are they gonna use a slide rule for?

I actually had to take a class on the use of those things back in my college days!