TAMPA, Fla. — Between watching these spring training games so far, or examining this latest set of rule change experiments for the minor leagues this year, it’s become abundantly clear that Rob Manfred’s geek patrol is running amok.
I know the commissioner has good intentions with all the safety precautions put in place for spring training, at the same time wanting to address the very real concerns about the length of games and lack of action on the field. But the institution of “rollover” innings for the first two weeks of the Grapefruit and Cactus League schedules was downright lunacy, and some of the “speed up” and safety experiments wreak of mindless meddling.