MLB Changes The Rules For 2016
By Fred Owens
This afternoon MLB and the MLBPA issued a release announcing that they had agreed to changes to the rules. The big rule change is the one governing sliding in to a base. The question is will it work?
After the injury to Jung Ho Kang and again after Utley crippled Tejada I wrote how we got to the situation we were in and summed up my piece by writing. “Sliding into a player and flipping him into the air six feet away from the bag even if it doesn’t injure him should not earn high fives in the dugout. It isn’t funny, manly or being a hard nosed player; it’s needlessly dangerous. Stop it.” Now they have – or at least they’ve started to – yet some think this will be more dangerous; that makes no sense at all.
The New Rule is an Old Rule
In last year’s posts I pointed out that any slide that lacked the intent to reach the base safely was in violation of the rules. The 2014 version the MLB rules spelled it out clearly.
"Rule 6.05 (m) A preceding runner shall, in the umpire’s judgment, intentionally interfere with a fielder who is attempting to catch a thrown ball or to throw a ball in an attempt to complete any play: Rule 6.05(m) Comment: The objective of this rule is to penalize the offensive team for deliberate, unwarranted, unsportsmanlike action by the runner in leaving the baseline for the obvious purpose of crashing the pivot man on a double play, rather than trying to reach the base. Obviously this is an umpire’s judgment play."
In the 2015 rewrite changes were made to wording but not to the intent as rule 5.09 was simply a reworking of 6.05(mm) and its comment.
"5.09 Making an Out (a) (13) A preceding runner shall, in the umpire’s judgment, intentionally interfere with a fielder who is attempting to catch a thrown ball or to throw a ball in an attempt to complete any play; Rule 5.09(a)(13) Comment : The objective of this rule is to penalize the offensive team for deliberate, unwarranted, unsportsmanlike action by the runner in leaving the baseline for the obvious purpose of crashing the pivot man on a double play, rather than trying to reach the base. Obviously this is an umpire’s judgment play"
Yet MLB, players and pundits said that the rule had to be changed so they did. Now we have a new rule with big changes.. . do we?
Next: What's Old Is New If You Change The Words?