Back in mid-January, the MLB submitted a proposal to the MLBPA arguing for multiple rule changes prior to the 2019 season. last week, the MLBPA responded with some changes of their own. There were multiple things involved in the proposal but today I am only going to focus on one that presents an opportunity for the St. Louis Cardinals to reduce some ‘roster crunch’ in the short term. The Designated Hitter.
Interestingly enough the biggest demand made by the Players Association was the universal DH. While I’m sure there are many pitchers who are in the National League who would miss hitting a lot, from an overall players’ perspective, the current makeup restricts the attractiveness of older players who can still hit to NL teams because they often lose defensive skills first.