BRADENTON, Fla. _ The three-batter minimum that will go into effect on Thursday was designed by Major League Baseball to speed up games. No longer will there be a parade of pitching changes in the later innings, basically eliminating the term LOOGY (left-handed, one-out guy) from the baseball vernacular.
The loss of the LOOGY shouldn't impact the Pirates too much given the limited left-handed options they currently have in their bullpen _ they could conceivably begin 2020 with all righties _ but there will be an interesting chain reaction as a result of the rule.
"The rule is going to change how people build their lineups and how managers manage their bullpen with right-left splits," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "There are a lot factors that come into play."
What are some of those factors? Let's take a look.
