What If....

[bigh0rt]

Yeah I guess your right. The game is so pure anyways.

Is this supposed to be some sort of justification?

[RocketsDWM]

I just think there is some irony in that argument. That's all

[thedude]

There'd be less beanballs from AL pitchers. They should have ended the experiment a long time ago.

If the Pirates Owner hadn't been out of phone contact during the league meetings, the NL would have an DH right now.

[RocketsDWM]

There'd be less beanballs from AL pitchers. They should have ended the experiment a long time ago.

If the Pirates Owner hadn't been out of phone contact during the league meetings, the NL would have an DH right now.

Interesting. When was the vote on this?

[davidmarver]

I just think there is some irony in that argument. That's all

Yeah, real irony in trying to follow baseball's first rule in the rulebook. Call me when rule 1.01 reads "MLB players may not use steroids".

[Payne Dailey]

There'd be less beanballs from AL pitchers. They should have ended the experiment a long time ago.

But then you wouldn't have a sig.

I'd lose the sig to watch Pedro bat in the 90's. Good point by the dude about salaries. I would rather watch a 1-0/2-3 duel than some of the 14-16 BP games.

[RocketsDWM]

Great idea for a thread by the way.

[hersch223]

I agree, people always make the statement that AL ball is more exciting but I see it as an issue of fairness as opposed to entertainment. It's a huge advantage for the AL to have the DH, so even if it's more entertaining, it's cheap to the NL because they don't have it.

I disagree. From player management side it gives the NL a large advantage.

The AL needs to allocate money to field start 9 everyday players. The NL only needs to field 8 starting everyday players. So NL teams can spend more money on each individual player. This enables an NL Team X, which has the same budget as an AL Team Y, to outbid Team Y, and thereby get the best free agents.

While this sounds good in theory, it is, in fact, nonsense. How many NL teams do you see outbidding AL teams for hitters?

[davidmarver]

Who would you rather see bat: Ortiz or Ben Sheets?

Seems like an obvious answer to me. Thats what I mean by the best possible lineup.

Who would you rather see pitch: Sheets or Ortiz? With that 9th slot, you have to choose one or the other: Ortiz pitch and hit, or Sheets pitch and hit. Pretty obvious to me which one of those is the 'best possible lineup'.

I dont want to see the star pitcher go down with an injury because he was swinging a bat.

Because that's such a frequent occurance. The list of NL pitchers that have gone on the DL the past ten years due to injuries acquired while hitting is about as short as those in MLB who can outeat Red Sox 'player' David Ortiz.

[jealousblues]

I dont want to see pitchers bat and have the potential with injury by having them bat. Why not have the best lineup out there?

Good point, maybe we can Have Pujols hit all nine spots...
best line up and all