As I watched Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro get absolutely lit up in a home plate collision with Mat Gamel of the Milwaukee Brewers, I wondered to myself why this aspect of baseball was even necessary.

I’m obviously not the first person to suggest this, and I’ve read all the criticism of writers who have previously suggested such rule changes, but there’s generally minimal logic to be found in the dissenting corner.

Their arguments usually go something like this:

“You’re ruining the tradition of baseball!”

“It’s always been this way, so why change it now?!”

“You could get hurt doing anything! What’s next? No sliders?!”

This would be a straw man fallacy if these weren’t the most common arguments I actually see against the idea.

Oh, and don’t let me forget the best of all:

“It’s people like you who are pusssssifying Amurrrrricccccaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!”

Well, that’s great.

—–

Despite my mocking, I actually understand where they’re coming from. No, really.

I was raised on traditional, hard-nosed baseball where doing things like wrecking a second baseman and blowing up the catcher was just considered “playing the game the right way”. Hell, my great-uncle was initially reviled in Japan for busting up the double play, and I learned a lot of my baseball from a guy who taught my great-uncle how to play ball, my grandfather. So I don’t feel the “you just don’t understand” reasoning applies to me.

I do get it, but I didn’t grow up believing in statistical analysis either, yet I was drawn to it anyway because I sought out things like logic and facts, not tradition and romanticization.

In that same vein, I can’t see the logic or sense in continuing to allow collisions at home plate, and I’ll even take it a step further than others and add takeout slides as well.

—–

The hit on Jason Castro would be cited as a blow to the head of a defenseless player in the NFL, and would probably lead to a fine and perhaps a suspension. In the NHL, a player just got suspended for 25 games for an elbow/shoulder to the head of a defenseless player. Yet, in the MLB, for whatever reason, these actions are completely legal and legitimate.

Why?

In sports like football, hockey, basketball, and yes, even soccer, exerting physicality and strength over an opponent is not just “part of the game”, but an active and legitimate strategy that is frequently employed by dominant teams.

Physicality in baseball? Eh … not so much.

No matter how often people repeat this rhetoric about beanballs and intimidation or whatever, baseball never was and never will be a contact sport. Exerting one’s physicality on an opponent has minimal to no effect, especially in the modern game, so why even bother keeping this “tradition” alive?

Two roughly developed rule changes (that you can help me adjust) would instantly address the issues I have:

1) Treat home plate like any other base. The catcher may not interfere with the runner’s path to the base and the runner may not collide with the catcher.

2) A player sliding or diving into a base must do so directly in line with the bag unless attempting to avoid a tag. In essence, this eliminates the need for the neighborhood play, as there will no longer be batters sliding five feet out of the basepath trying to take out the legs of infielders.

—–

I can’t see how the product on the field would suffer with those rule changes implemented. People don’t watch baseball to see infielders get taken out or catchers blown up, because if that was the actual appeal of the sport, then they’d be out of business.

The reality is that baseball has been and always will be a finesse sport, regardless of how people try to twist it. As such, both rule changes would have a minimal impact on the actual game, but would help avoid a number of potentially horrific head, knee, and ankle injuries, which I think would both protect players and improve the quality of the product on the field.

Most importantly, it just makes sense.

Alan Casden will not be the next owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as he had his ownership bid rejected by Major League Baseball.

Casden, a Beverly Hills real estate developer, was not invited to Monday’s meetings between Dodgers bidders and two committees of major league owners.

The six bidding groups at the meetings: hedge-fund billionaire Steven Cohen and longtime agent Arn Tellem; St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke; Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and Los Angeles investor Tony Ressler; Los Angeles civic leader and investor Stanley Gold; New York media executive Leo Hindery; and veteran baseball executive Stan Kasten and Guggenheim Partners Chief Executive Mark Walter. Magic Johnson, who is a partner with Kasten and Guggenheim, was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict.

So it’s down to six, but three clear favorites have emerged.

Cohen is widely considered one of three favorites to buy the team, along with St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and a group led by Magic Johnson and veteran baseball executive Stan Kasten.

Steven Cohen appears to clearly be in the lead, but why?

There are several bidders offering $1.5 billion for the Dodgers. But who has the cash? Remember when Rick Caruso bailed? That wasn’t about the parking lots not being included, as Caruso so meekly claimed (how many teams own their own parking lots?). It was about Caruso not having the cash. MLB kicked out Jared Kushner because he didn’t have the cash either. He wanted to buy the Dodgers with too much debt. Been there, done that.

As expected, all of this comes down to money. Not so much total money bid, but who can give Frank McCourt the most money right now. As such, it appears that the three with the most are Cohen, Stan Kroenke, and Magic Johnson/Stan Kasten.

—–

Now I was going to write about the ownership situation in further detail, but Mike Petriello has already said a lot of the things I wanted to say.

I’ve been pretty apprehensive about Cohen since the first time we talked about him, arguing that a hedge fund guy under investigation from the SEC who’s had his own nightmare divorce which stretched over two decades isn’t exactly the ideal owner to follow up Frank McCourt. Besides, while it doesn’t bother me so much, I know the idea of another East Coast import (a Mets fan and recent buyer of a minority share in the club, Cohen currently lives in Connecticut) who has reportedly never even been to Dodger Stadium won’t sit well with any of us.

Yup. Do not want.

Then there’s Kroenke, who has some appeal. He’s clearly got a ton of experience in sports ownership, having owned parts or all of the St. Louis Rams, English soccer club Arsenal, and basically every professional Colorado sports club that isn’t the Rockies or Broncos, including the Nuggets (NBA), Avalanche (NHL), Mammoth (NLL), Rapids (MLS), and Crush (AFL). Beyond the teams themselves, his groups own the Pepsi Center in Denver and launched Altitude (a regional sports network which carries his Colorado teams) & TicketHorse, a ticketing agency for all of his teams.

He wrote a lot more on Kroenke, including finding an article from 2010 which talks about Kroenke’s management style, most of which paints him in a positive light.

Of course, the primary worry with him is that the Dodgers might be secondary to getting an NFL team in Los Angeles, as I mentioned previously.

—–

So basically, Magic Johnson’s group is still my favorite, but I’m starting to realize that Stan Kroenke brings a ton to the table as well. The worry is Steven Cohen because of a few black marks on his personal record, because I’m not convinced he’s actually interested in the team, and because he resembles Dr. Evil from “Austin Powers“.

NFL veteran Jarrad Page, who showed up to the Los Angeles Dodgers open tryout, was signed to a minor league contract by the team over the weekend.

Page, 27, played football and baseball at UCLA. He pursued an NFL career and played for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2006-09, for the New England Patriots in 2010 and for the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings last season. He was not expected to be retained by the Vikings.

Page, an outfielder, attended the Dodgers’ open tryout on March 1.

He played baseball at UCLA in 2004-05. In 2005, he hit .149 with one home run and 48 strikeouts in 101 at-bats.

Obviously he’s an outstanding athlete, but the concern of everybody has to be whether or not he can hit.

I’d love to see him make it, but it’s admittedly a long shot.

—–

In injury news, Andre Ethier and Justin Sellers appear to be alright.

Outfielder Andre Ethier and infielder Justin Sellers resumed workouts on Sunday, an indication that their Saturday ailments were relatively minor.

Honestly, Sellers’ situation wasn’t as important because he’s a utility guy, but if Ethier’s injury became a lingering issue, it would cripple the offense. Hopefully this really is the end of it.

—–

Trayvon Robinson was not so happy about being traded by the Dodgers.

Trayvon Robinson was riding the team bus in New Orleans last July when his cellphone rang. The caller was DeJon Watson, the Dodgers’ assistant general manager.

“I’ve got good news and bad news,” Watson said. “You’ve been traded to the Boston Red Sox.”

“What’s the good news?” Robinson replied.

Still, the initial news of the trade “really hurt me,” he said. The Crenshaw High alum was hitting .293 with 26 home runs for the Dodgers’ triple-A team, one step from taking the field for his hometown team.

“Everything they told me to do, I did it,” he said. “I didn’t disrespect the uniform.

“I always tried to wear the Dodger jersey the way Jackie Robinson did, with a lot of pride and courage.”

Understandable. I think most of us were wondering what the hell the Dodgers were doing.

In any case, hopefully Trayvon channels his anger into a productive career.

MLB and the MLBPA recently agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement that will ensure labor peace through 2016. In light of the recent troubles of the NBA and NFL, this seems like a welcome change of pace. However, with this CBA comes a lot of changes to the MLB, and I don’t think all of them are positive.

So while both the MLB and the MLBPA tout to everybody how proud they are of themselves for avoiding a labor dispute, everybody from the mainstream media to the basement bloggers seem to be in agreement that there is significant reason to worry about what has just transpired.

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Draft

2. The current system of draft pick compensation will be replaced with the following
system:

A. Only Players who have been with their Clubs for the entire season will be subject
to compensation.

No more trading for Type A and Type B players with the intent of offering them arbitration and getting compensation picks when they hit free agency.

I always thought these types of moves awarded the intelligent and creative GMs, so this is a definite loss in my mind.

B. A free agent will be subject to compensation if his former Club offers him a
guaranteed one-year contract with a salary equal to the average salary of the
125-highest paid Players from the prior season. The offer must be made at the
end of the five-day free agent “quiet period,” and the Player will have seven days
to accept the offer.

Draft pick compensation is no longer associated with performance at all, which is a welcome switch given the stupidity of how players attained their Type A and Type B designations.

Basically, draft pick compensation is now determined by how much his current/former team wants him back. I like it.

C. A Club that signs a player subject to compensation will forfeit its first round
selection, unless it selects in the top 10, in which case it will forfeit its second highest
selection in the draft.

D. The Player’s former Club will receive a selection at the end of the first round
beginning after the last regularly scheduled selection in the round. The former
Clubs will select based on reverse order of winning percentage from the prior
championship season.

If I’m understanding this correctly, the team that signs a compensation player pays a higher price than the team losing the compensation player receives. Quite frankly, I don’t agree with the subtle message this is sending to teams. Basically that the MLB prefers that you let marquee free agents go over signing them to improve your club.

e. Rule 4 Draft

1. The draft will continue to be conducted in June, but the signing deadline will be moved
to a date between July 12 and July 18 depending on the date of the All-Star Game.

Love the deadline switch, because now drafted players can get into their team’s system earlier and actually play ball.

2. Drafted players may only sign Minor League contracts.

There has been a lot of complaining about only being able to sign minor league contracts, but I have personally never understood the incentive to sign these contracts from both the team and player’s perspectives. For the team, it occupies a 40-man roster spot for a relatively unknown talent. For the player, the team rushing them to the major leagues because they are taking up a 40-man roster spot is a detriment to their overall development.

3. Signing Bonus Pools

A. Each Club will be assigned an aggregate Signing Bonus Pool prior to each draft.
For the purpose of calculating the Signing Bonus Pools, each pick in the first 10
rounds of the draft has been assigned a value. (These values will grow each year
with the rate of growth of industry revenue.) A Club’s Signing Bonus Pool equals
the sum of the values of that Club’s selections in the first 10 rounds of the draft.
Players selected after the 10th round do not count against a Club’s Signing
Bonus Pool if they receive bonuses up to $100,000. Any amounts paid in excess
of $100,000 will count against the Pool.

B. Clubs that exceed their Signing Bonus Pools will be subject to penalties as
follows:
Excess of Pool Penalty (Tax on Overage/Draft Picks)
• 0-5% 75% tax on overage
• 5-10% 75% tax on overage and loss of 1st round pick
• 10-15% 100% tax on overage and loss of 1st and 2nd round picks
• 15%+ 100% tax on overage and loss of 1st round picks in next two drafts

Up until now, nothing has been too bad, but this is one of the major changes that makes me dislike the new CBA.

Capping draft spending ends the financial incentive for many two sport talents and high school talents to take baseball up as a profession. I just find it depressing for the sport as a whole because the financial advantage was the biggest advantage that baseball had to lure talented athletes with multiple options into the sport.

The current excuse for this going around the internet is that there aren’t an exorbitant amount of two or three sport athletes in every draft class, so this will affect a clear minority. Even assuming that’s true, which it seems to be, the thought of losing even one Matt Kemp or one Zach Lee (for purely Dodgers related connections) is too much for me.

Of course, that doesn’t even address the high school talents who are now increasingly likely to opt for college baseball over starting their professional career early. Now there’s little doubt that this CBA is wonderful for college baseball and the NCAA, but I honestly have absolutely no interest in providing more talented indentured servants to the NCAA overlords so that they can make increasingly more money off the backs of those players. As you might expect, that aspect is a huge negative for me as well.

—

On the bright side, there are rumors that the draft cap will be set anywhere from $4 million to $11 million depending on team market size and team performance, so there’s potential for this to not be disastrous. However, I believe the concept behind capping draft spending is a significant loss for the MLB, not to mention the amateur athletes who are the ones that truly get the shaft.

5. Competitive Balance Lottery

A. For the first time, Clubs with the lowest revenues and in the smallest markets will
have an opportunity to obtain additional draft picks through a lottery.

B. The ten Clubs with the lowest revenues, and the ten Clubs in the smallest
markets, will be entered into a lottery for the six draft selections immediately
following the completion of the first round of the draft. A Club’s odds of winning
the lottery will be based on its prior season’s winning percentage.

C. The eligible Clubs that did not receive one of the six selections after the first
round, and all other payee Clubs under the Revenue Sharing Plan, will be
entered into a second lottery for the six picks immediately following the
completion of the second round of the draft. A Club’s odds of winning the
lottery will be based on its prior season’s winning percentage.

In theory, this is supposed to be a good thing because it gives extra picks to poorer teams. Like baseball welfare. However, with the new draft spending rules, I have to question how much of an impact these extra picks will actually have, if anything significant at all.

Instead of making smaller market teams jump through hoops to improve their squads via the draft, the MLB should have just left everything as it was, because many smaller market clubs had already been realizing that draft spending was one of the best methods to begin with. Now that angle is stripped from those smaller market clubs and the rules trying to force competitive balance ironically only limit the poorer clubs.

D. Picks awarded in the Competitive Balance Lottery may be assigned by a Club,
subject to certain restrictions.

If that means draft pick trading, I’m excited.

E. Top 200 prospects will be subject to a pre-draft drug test and will participate in a
pre-draft medical program.

Basically, the MLB is saying that they care about preventing drug use, but only to the extent that it’s financially viable for them to do so.

So if you suck, feel free to roid up all you want. Not that I expect these tests to catch any of the players with intelligent advisers.

International

f. International Talent Acquisition

1. By December 15, 2011, the parties will form an International Talent Committee to
discuss the development and acquisition of international players, including the potential
inclusion of international amateur players in a draft or in multiple drafts.

2. For the 2012-13 signing season, each Club will be allocated an equal Signing Bonus
Pool.

3. For each signing period after 2012-13, Clubs will be allocated different Signing Bonus
Pools, based on reverse order of winning percentage the prior championship season
(i.e., the Club with the lowest winning percentage the prior season shall receive the
largest Pool).

4. Bonus Regulation of International Amateur Players

A. Beginning in the 2013-2014 signing period (July 2, 2013 – June 15, 2014), Clubs
may trade a portion of their Signing Bonus Pool, subject to certain restrictions.

B. Clubs that exceed their Signing Bonus Pools will be subject to the following
penalties in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 signing periods:

Excess of Pool Penalty (Tax on Overage/Draft Picks)

• 0-5% 75% tax
• 5-10% 75% tax and loss of right to provide more than one player in the next signing period with a bonus in
excess of $500,000.
• 10-15% 100% tax and loss of right to provide any player in the next signing period with a bonus in excess of
$500,0000.
• 15%+ 100% tax and loss of right to provide any player in the next signing period with a bonus in excess of
$250,000.

I have the same problems here that I have with the draft spending cap, except it’s worse in this case because it could stunt baseball’s growth internationally, thus limiting the potential talent pool.

It’s not that I’m particularly worried about countries like the Dominican Republic and Cuba losing their love for baseball, but I do think it crushes the incentive to play baseball for many developing baseball nations, especially in Europe. Just seems dumb to limit the potential talent pool by taking away financial incentives.

5. All international amateur players must register with the Scouting Bureau to be eligible to
sign, and the top 100 prospects will be subject to a drug test.

Since players must now register centrally to be eligible, it reduces the need for teams to identify players because they must identify themselves. This will probably be a disadvantage for smart teams who want to gain competitive advantages from finding and signing players that lazier teams may not know about.

I suppose the registration itself makes everything about international signings less shady, but I don’t think throwing out the competitive advantage aspect of identifying the player first is worth it.

As far as the drug test goes, the same opinion from the draft drug testing applies.

6. The Office of the Commissioner and the Union will form a joint committee to assist
international players with their transition to educational/vocational programs after their
baseball careers are over.

Good.

Free Agency

III-a-3. Article XX(B) free agents signing minor league contracts who are not added to the Opening Day roster or unconditionally released 5 days prior to Opening Day shall receive an additional $100,000 retention bonus and the right to opt out on June 1.

This could be a double edged sword.

On one hand, it may benefit minor league free agent type players because it’s now cheaper to add them to the 40-man roster instead of just keeping them in AAA. On the other hand, it may hurt those types of players because it reduces the incentive to hand out those contracts, as there are limited spots on the 40-man roster and now it costs quite a bit to have them in the system.

b. Draft Pick Compensation

1. Starting in 2012, “Type A” and “Type B” free agents and the use of the Elias ranking system will be eliminated.

Outstanding. The hilarity of random relief pitchers and utility infielders gifting teams supplemental round draft picks and costing teams first round draft picks was one of the worst parts of the previous CBA. Worse yet, the Type A designations actually cratered interest for those players in certain cases.

Good riddance.

Postseason

a. Beginning no later than the 2013 Postseason, Postseason play will be expanded for the first
time since 1995. A second Wild Card will be awarded to the Club in each league with the
second-best overall record among Clubs that do not win a division. The two Wild Card Clubs
will play a single Postseason game, the winner of which will advance to the Division Series. A
decision on adding two Wild Cards for 2012 will be made no later than March 1, 2012.

I’m not going to get extremely worked up about it, but I do think it cheapens the result of the World Series a little. As it is, baseball is not meant to be played in short series because of the volatile nature of the results, so five game divisional matchups were already pushing the limit for me. Now though, putting in a one game wild card playoff just makes it all the more likely that a less deserving team wins the World Series with an inferior resume.

Arbitration

1. The percentage of players with two years of service who will be arbitration eligible will
be increased from the top 17% to the top 22% in terms of service.

2. All players tied at the 22% cutoff will be eligible for arbitration.

There’s now going to be more Super Two players hitting arbitration, which marginally reduces the value of team controlled players, but nothing significant.

Rosters

d. Active Roster limits will be expanded to 26 for certain regular or split doubleheaders.

Just curious to see what the specific circumstances are that will allow this move. In theory, it appears to be a solid idea though.

Ownership

VI.. DEBT SERVICE RULE

a. The Debt Service Rule will be maintained, but the default EBITDA multiplier has been lowered
from ten to eight, and from fifteen to twelve for Clubs incurring stadium-related debt in the first
ten years of a new or renovated stadium.

b. Debt of a Club’s owner or related party will be covered by the Debt Service Rule if the debt is
serviced, in whole or in part, using Club funds or assets.

c. Debt Service Rule certification process for new ownership has been modified.

The “We Hate You Frank McCourt” rule.

Performance Enhancing Drugs

X.. DRUG PROGRAM
Commencing in Spring Training 2012, all players will be subject to hGH blood testing for reasonable cause at
all times during the year. In addition, during each year, all players will be tested during Spring Training.
Starting with the 2012-2013 off-season, players will be subject to random unannounced testing for hGH. The
parties have also agreed on a process to jointly study the possibility of expanding blood testing to include inseason
collections.

In my opinion, this is nothing more than a move that makes the MLB and the MLBPA look good on paper but basically changes nothing in the realm of performance enhancing drugs except serve as an invasion of privacy of the players.

I’m not going to go over all the studies put out by doctors that say HGH doesn’t do much of anything for performance, but the fact that HGH is basically worthless without AAS makes it all the more apparent that this is purely a cosmetic change.

General

c. Waiting periods for life insurance and disability insurance for active players have been
eliminated.

d. Pension benefits and life insurance benefits for certain classes of retired players and widows
have been improved.

f. Access to health coverage has been improved for international players and their families.

g. Health care benefits have been improved while managed care initiatives have been introduced
to help with costs.

Personally, I’m surprised these weren’t already done.

VIII.. HEALTH AND SAFETY

a. Players, managers, and coaches will be prohibited from using smokeless tobacco during
televised interviews and Club appearances. In addition, at any time when fans are permitted in
the ballpark, players, managers and coaches must conceal tobacco products (including
packages and tins), and may not carry tobacco products in their uniforms or on their bodies.
Individuals who violate the policy will be subject to discipline. The parties also agreed upon an
extensive program of education and public outreach regarding the dangers of smokeless
tobacco.

Basically a “WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?!” move. Meh.

b. The parties agreed on a program of mandatory evaluation by a trained professional for Players
who are suspected of an alcohol use problem (including Players who are arrested for DWI or
other crimes involving alcohol), and for players who are arrested for crimes involving the use of
force or violence.

Sounds good.

c. The parties agreed that no new players will be permitted to use a low density maple bat during
the term of the agreement.

Based on the research I have read, it sounds smart.

d. By 2013, all Major League players will wear a new batting helmet developed by Rawlings that
protects against pitches thrown at 100 miles per hour. The new version of the helmet is
significantly less “bulky” than prior versions of the more protective helmet.

Let’s hope it’s normal looking by then.

a. Participation in the All-Star Game will be required unless the Player is unable to play due to
injury or is otherwise excused by the Office of the Commissioner. Players Trust will receive an
increased contribution and players will receive additional benefits.

“YOU WILL DO MY BIDDING!” – Bud Selig

b. All Players will be subject to a policy governing the use of Social Media.

R.I.P. Logan Morrison

d. The parties will agree upon a comprehensive international play plan in which Clubs and Player
will visit countries in which games have not been staged in the past.

Welcome to the Ivory Coast!

f. Instant Replay will be expanded to include fair/foul and “trapped” ball plays, subject to the
Office of the Commissioner’s discussions with the World Umpires Association.

Can they just expand replay to everything except strikes and balls already? God, if they can do it at the Little League World Series in a few minutes or less, I’m sure a system could be figured out for the MLB.

Everybody is happy with this concession, but it’s still less than it should be given the available technology.

h. The parties agreed to an improved process for challenging official scorer decisions.

Kevin Brown and Brad Penny don’t have to burst into the room screaming anymore.

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Phew, that’s all folks.