Major League Baseball continues to discuss ways to limit the use of relief pitchers, which is wonderful news to those of us who believe that watching a turnstile spin on the mound is the definition of tedium.
Officials are concerned about the slow pace of the game, which is why the number of mound visits without a pitching change is now limited to six and why intentional walks no longer require a pitcher to throw four meaningless pitches.
Those ideas are meant to address the difficulty the sport is having attracting younger viewers, many of whom find the game about as exciting as “Beowulf.’’
But the bigger problem, one that has helped suck interest out of the game, is the tanking phenomenon. Last season, eight teams were set up to lose in the name of amassing draft picks, saving on payroll and (hopefully) winning later. Tanking has had a negative effect on the game, attendance and TV ratings.
That’s a polite way of saying, Who in the hell would pay good money to watch a bad team when that money could be used for a vacation, college tuition, a house down payment or a SpaceX ride to the moon? Ponying up $300 for a family of four to watch a game, eat a hot dog and park isn’t cheap.
Cubs fans have no complaints about tanking. It helped their team win an elusive World Series. It had been elusive in the way a Yeti is elusive, so plenty of people would have sacrificed a relative if it meant a championship after more than a century of failure.
It’s likewise hard to carp about the rebuilding White Sox, who have had one of the best farm systems the past few years.
But if you’re a responsible baseball fan, one concerned about the health of the sport, you should be worried about what’s going on. Baseball isn’t dying yet, but it is having trouble breathing.
We’re seeing the effects of tanking in the current free-agent market. The Sox, coming out of their rebuild slumber, are one of just four teams interested in shortstop Manny Machado, an extremely talented player who is only 26. As recently as last season, there were predictions that he and outfielder Bryce Harper each would command offers worth well more than $300 million.
That apparently hasn’t happened. There have been two reports about the Sox’ offer to Machado, with one saying it’s worth $175 million over seven years and another saying it’s worth $250 million over eight years. There has been similar confusion and intrigue with the other teams reportedly involved in the Machado sweepstakes – the Phillies, Padres and Yankees.
Talk of collusion has cropped up, and it might be playing a role here. It’s possible that the teams pursuing Machado are saying to each other, “Why should we give him $300 million when we know you won’t?’’
But the bigger issue is the pitiful number of franchises in the running for a talent as big as he is. Four teams are interested in a four-time All-Star who has averaged 31 home runs, 90 runs batted in and .282 in seven seasons? One who had a career-high .905 OPS last season? Really? Organizations that used to worry about what their fan bases would think if they didn’t at least take a shot at a big-name free agent are content to count their savings through rebuilding.
It means that agents such as Scott Boras can’t play the card they used to play, the one that said plenty of teams were interested in their clients, which is how bidding wars started.
What’s going on with Machado and Harper feels less like a bidding war and more like two guys at the prom hoping someone asks them to dance.
This isn’t good for MLB, which could find itself involved in a labor war in a few years. Again, tanking is OK in the micro sense. If one team’s fan base is willing to put up with enthusiastic losing in the hopes of a championship down the line, that’s fine.
It’s not so fine when more than a quarter of the teams are tanking. Mix in the leisurely pace of the game, which used to be a draw for my generation but isn’t for a younger audience, and baseball has a serious problem on its hands.
It cuts right to a fundamental question: Why do we watch sports?
We watch to be entertained. When the team you watch is going through a three- or four-year rebuild, it’s hard to be entertained. It’s even harder to be entertained when your tanking team is playing another tanking team, which isn’t an unusual occurrence these days. Add to that the blur of relief pitchers coming in and out of games (3.4 per game last season), and you’re practically begging fans to stay home and take up model railroading.
Penalizing teams for earnestly failing two or three years in a row might be the answer. Maybe that involves losing draft position or having to pay a loser’s tax. But something needs to be done.
Remember when the offseason was entertaining, when the hot stove was actually hot? This offseason been reduced to waiting to get the smallest whiff of news on the Machado and Harper fronts.
If baseball isn’t careful, it will die by its own boring, tanking hand.
