MESA, Ariz. — Baseball will change for managers and pitchers Thursday, when the three-batter minimum requirement goes into effect for spring-training games.
First-year Cubs manager David Ross has talked with bench coach Andy Green — the former Padres manager — about how to best operate under the new rule. And he expects the club’s stat guys to provide input for the season.
But until then?
“The main thing for me is you’re going to have those pockets in the lineup where you really don’t like a matchup, and inevitably somebody’s going to walk somebody, and you don’t like the matchup behind [that batter],” Ross said, “and now you’re really going to have to put your neck on the line and figure out if you feel like your pitcher can find his rhythm and throw strikes or if you want to walk a guy and put more baserunners on.