One More Reason The DH Will Be Coming To The National League

I was totally against it for years but have come around to your thinking. Its about time the NL joins the DH party.

On a side note, wouldn’t you think Colvin could play LF tonight with Soriano as DH since there are lefties pitching the next 2 days and Lou already saying Nady will DH? That makes the most sense to me, but what will happen could be another story.

But as the AL is considered the better league due to the more potent offense the DH provides and the fact offense is king in the eyes of most fans, I guess it will happen someday. It will be a sad day in my mind, but then again, I have been called an old fogey, hanging onto traditions and I proudly say “YES I AM”

Kasey

So they want to change the National League to the American League philosophy of playing softball?

This is asinine, I understand why they are suggesting this but come on. Maybe they should have the trainers/nutrionalists helping pitchers get ready for the day they have to pitch. Cramping is preventable.

That and with the Cubs they have pitchers that actually can stroke the ball. Not to mention it will increase the payroll. And don’t say it won’t because if you suggest using Alf as a DH I can’t see it, I don’t care if he is a defensive liability, there are TONS of guys that can’t seem to strictly hit without playing the field as well. And wasting young talented players at DH is not an answer either.

Just because today’s MLB babies pitchers doesn’t mean they should change the no DH rule, Big Z will have heads rolling.

If this is David Eckstein instead of Ubaldo, this is a complete non-story.

…it seems like Soriano has really settled down defensively. He appears to have really cut down – almost elminated – the hop.

In any case, I would/will be disappointed by the introduction of the DH, but I could see it happening, too. The money that teams are paying out to starting pitchers is astronomical that it’s becoming simple risk management to limit potential injuries as much as possible.

If you can play the field you can swing a bat.

How bout we have designated runners cause we don’t want our aging veteran hitter to hurt himself running the bases.
ooooo and lets put one of those net things in front of the pitcher so he can’t get hurt on a hard hit ball back through the middle…..

expand rosters in both leagues by a couple players (say to 27) to make the union happy and get rid of the DH.

Use ghost runners for pitchers.

Join em. Get the DH.

Frankly the DH for the Cubs should be a nor brainer. Sori to DH and Colvin in LF. You have in one move added your best non starter hitter to the line up and significantly improved the defense. It is probably a touchy issue for Soriano but I don’t really care.
Perhaps Baker could get some ABs by playing 3rd?

thoughts on him back as a right hander out of the pen…gorzo for TW and someone else…do we match up well with the Giants?

SSIA

The “I hate the DH” crowd’s best argument is that the pitcher should be expected to hit? Guess what, THEY NEVER ARE WHEN THEY ARE A GOOD PITCHER. In high school it’s, “take it easy, dont get injured” in college it’s the same thing. These guys (a majority of them) have been really good at pitching for their entire lives, and there is a reason you keep the pitcher from risking too much in something they dont train in anyway.

For all of you purists out there, how about we go back to the days when noone had a glove? Or all we played were day games, oooo or the days of 15 homers winning the Silver Slugger?

The game is changing, the world is changing, the casual fan (the fans we need to for baseball to remain relavant) want more offense, that is what the DH provides, yes it protects the pitchers as well, but the main thing is it will provide more offense which means higher ratings, more tickets sold which equals higher profits. So what!? Its what we need so we can continue to invest in better stadiums, better tv contracts and better players.

Perhaps it is a standard part of NL pitchers’ contracts that they get rewarded for bunting? I don’t know but I doubt it, but there still might be some throw away incentives for winning a hitting award? Looking at the results it doesn’t seem to matter. That’s my biggest issue with the Pitchers hitting is that it matters very little to the teams, so little that it’s a farce. It actually makes sense to put more runners on base to get to that awful hitter.

Regarding the injury, it could have happened while he was fielding his position, too, but who knows? If pitchers are going to hit and run the bases then they should be required to train for it as if they were an everyday player. If they get in all their work and still get injured, then it’s just part of the game. At the same time, I doubt any team encourages its pitchers to run the bases aggressively. The Rockies pitcher could have suffered a bad break, that’s all.

Let’s have separate offenses and defenses. I’d hate to see a great fielder like Andres Blanco get hurt while trying to bat. Alfonso Soriano could get killed trying to play left fleld. How about designated runners, too?

I don’t buy it. This all started from Hank Steinbrenner whining. I don’t think the owners want it, because payrolls would go up.

Everyone in the lineup should have to do this.
The DH sucks.

Protecting a pitcher from an injury? What else can do? Why not put in the batting practice screen so we don’t have to worry about pitchers being injured while being, well, a pitcher.

Because the odds of a pitcher being injured as a pitcher vs. as a batter are significantly greater. And proven over the years.

Here you go: the future of the American athlete.

I prefer baseball where everyone in the field has to hit. You play shortstop? You will be swinging the bat. You pitch? You should be swinging the bat.

Do you want the DH in the National League? Yes or no?

Many levels of baseball use this logic. And for the players union, instead of guys past their prime that only hit how about some youthful little shit that gets in the game to run for the pitcher that steals bases like Maury Wills? Your reward for your pitcher getting on is having some Olympic Sprinter come into the game. I like this more than some 38 year old striking out making 10 million a year.

He probably would have no-hit us LOL.

Second reaction: No, Castro would’ve broken it up with an infield single!

Ok Jimenez I guess but man I am beginning to think you not only think it’s needed but you secretly WANT the DH with the way you bring it up here. Do not want the DH ever.Ever.

Ever.

Ever.

Throw all the logic you want out there, it makes games take forever and will dilute bad pitching in the league even more. It takes a lot of strategy from the game and it sucks. I sure hope you believe it to be necessary, cause this seems to be a campaign of yours by now.

DH sucks and so do Grabow and Howry. All three should not be on this team any more at all. Ever.

It’s one of those polarizing issues that some, maybe most, will hate, but others will like. Since the AL and NL aren’t even real separate organizations at this point, I don’t see why one should have the DH, but the other doesn’t. It just reads like the last grasp at keeping both leagues completely separate, but if the powers that be really wanted to do that, they would get rid of interleague play. IP isn’t going by the wayside though, and with the apparent injury risk, I wouldn’t be opposed to the DH.

I will be honest though, I’m not opposed to it because I think it would help the Cubs out a lot.

Considering the lack of physical contact in the game of baseball, compared to say, I don’t know, a sport like hockey, baseball players sure have a lots of bumps and bruises that keeps them out of play.

The fact a pitcher who’s doing well this year has a boo-boo, is hardly the reason to bastardize the senior league.

But he suffered cramping in his left hamstring while running out an infield bouncer…

What’s next, tee’s for guys hitting below the Mendoza line?

Baseball is a game played by nine players. The DH makes it ten. That’s not baseball.

and this is the argument for the DH, it is both stupid and has very little to do with the “security” of a team’s investment. It undercuts the tradition and integrity of MLB.

Now, hear me out here—any damn player in MLB should be conditioned to run 90 feet. IT. IS. NINETY. FEET. This isn’t hockey, you’re not getting slammed up against a wall. Or being leveled by a cornerback. Or facing a guy running at you full speed with a mask, pads, and a long stick. You’re running on carefully landscaped (landscaped every inning!) dirt, in a straight line, 90 feet. I cannot think of a less physically demanding activity in a major sport. Maybe being the guy that picks up the kick stand in football.

Accidents happen, people. You’re just as likely to get a cramp running <90 feet as you are fielding a grounder. What a dumb argument for installing the DH—

Owner X: “Uh, sir, our athletes can’t concern themselves with the most basic of skills for our sport. We would prefer it if we coddle them as much as possible.” "
Bud Selig or Some Other Old Idiot: “Look, what do you want me to do? Change the rules and integrity for the entire league? Entire sport?!”
Owner X: “Well…yeah. That’s what we’re thinking.”
BSOSOOI: “Here’s what I can do for you. Make me commish for another 16 years, and I’ll give you one of three options—”
Owner X: “Uh-huh, we’re listening.”
BOSOOI: “One, we put a net in front of every pitcher. Permanently.”
Owner X: "Oooh, we hadn’t thought of—-
BOSOOI: "Two, we punish those using PEDs. Ever play Little League and some kid can’t run cuz he’s too fat or on crutches or in a wheelchair?
Owner X: “Uh-huh.”
BOSOOI: “Well, now we turn around and take those jerks—Tejada, Giambi, Manny, A-Rod, Milton, Gagne—and make them run the bases! It’s pure punishment! Running 90 feet makes you soooooo prone to injury and sacrifices your body years and years in the Majors!”
Owner X: “We do hate Milton.”
BOSOOI: “Okay, third, we install the DH in the NL.”
Owner X: “Yeah, we pick that one.”
BOSOOI: “Done.”

fin

You should be able to DH for the pitcher and 3 position players. That will allow your best defenders to play without having to worry about hitting, and your best hitters to play without having to worry about fielding.

oh, protect your investment. Injuries are a part of the game, and I, for one, want my pitcher to be able to play baseball. It’ll happen, but I will never like it.

that if you think about the amount of runners LOB by our pitchers this year, more wouldn’t be for it. Of course that is also a result of out 6-8 hitters hitting while our 3-5 havent been as consistently. There have been a few intentional walks to castro in the 8 spot so the pitcher would come up for the 3rd out.

or in the case of most pitchers not hitting well is that it is part of the
strategy of the game… especially in the late innings…

And not only for the reason that it would (could) help the Cubs out by allowing Soriano to finish his career there. Not to mention Wrigley is a hitters park, give us another thumper in the middle of the lineup and we could score runs like a real team. The DH would prolong other career’s as well. Pujols could play well into his 40s if he stays healthy, Fielder, and Howard could stay in the NL longer too. It makes sense for the NL to consider this. It not only protects the pitchers but will level out the playing field with the AL as well.

install a pitching machine…

Here’s my reasoning…

1.) That way it pitches the perfect hittable pitch each and every time and then we don’t need to worry about the pitcher getting hit on a come backer.
2.) No rick of a wild pitch hitting a batter
3.) No more pass balls so the winning run can score…
4.) No more runners advancing with the wild pitch…

I could care less about it Soriano would make a good DH… He;s here for a few more years… Soriano is NOT a good reason for the DH in the NL…

when the AL continues to dominate we’ll no longer be able to come back with “but you don’t play real baseball.”

That gem of a deul between Gorz and Moyer the other night in Philly is exactly the type of baseball that owners, media, and the MLBPA want to discourage. And, the truth is, most fans seem to want ever more offense.

It’s easy to make a good case for or against the DH, and for many years I was in favor. Only in the last decade, when too much offense in the AL made games there unwatchable, did I begin to like the NL game better. Now, I’m 100% opposed to the DH.

But, as Al and others have said, the DH inevitably is coming to the NL to meet financial imperatives. This certainly won’t be the first or last time that decisions based on money have damaged the game. Watch for slot machines by the concession stands and blackjack tables in every stadium club in a few years, if a bad economy creates the need for new revenue streams to sustain current lifestyles.

…and specialize on everything. Your eight fielders? None of them bat. They spend their time working on their fielding skills. You have eight other guys to bat for them. Big guys who can run. Former NCAA running backs who didn’t make it to the NFL but can hit a baseball. Guys who can go up against the really big guy your opponent has blocking the plate as catcher.

The DH has already screwed up the American League. If the National League adopted it, I’d probably stop watching baseball altogether.

They get paid millions of dollars because they are World Class Professional Athletes, is it too much to ask that they have sufficient whole body strength/conditioning, and not just a World Class arm? Can they get off their butts during their off days and work out, run, work the machines, in other words, stay in top shape/conditioning?

The same argument can be used for not having QBs or Kickers in fooball try to tackle anyone. At a certain point this becomes professional wrestling, not a true athletic sport with true athletes.

Lets not let the million dollar babies get hurt or get their pants dirty, waaaa waaa waaaa

I’m looking forward to the day when a computer program will be created so that we can just program pitching machines to pitch like pitchers so that we can prevent pitchers from getting injured when they pitch too.

I see the way things are trending. Baseball is entertainment. I’m of the opinon that if this is what the people want, then give it to them. It will be a sad, sad day for me as that will be the day I become less of a fan of the sport.

The National League is not going to change their rules for a 135 years over Ubaldo Jimenez cramping up.

There is just no support among NL fans for the DH. Owners would face the kind of backlash you’re getting here times 100.

It’s just not going to happen. I’d bet the AL abolishes the DH before I’d bet the NL adopts it. It just isn’t popular.