PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Former Pirates manager Jim Leyland started coaching pro baseball in 1970. He started managing in 1972. He became a Major League manager with the Pirates in 1986. He's watching some of the new rules and he likes many of them. Not all of them. Plus he tells 93.7 The Fan he has a simple way to speed up the game.
7-inning doubleheaders
"I think it's a good idea," Leyland said on 'The Cook and Joe Show' on Monday. "I think it saves your bullpen some. Those extra four innings can be a long time, puts stress on your bullpen. It kind of seems to go a little quicker, a little smoother. I think it's a good idea."
Starting extra innings with a runner at 2nd base
"I like it because it does bring strategy to the game," Leyland said. "Once again, you are not getting into those long, drag out innings. It's fair for everybody. I like it because you are not there at the ballpark forever. I think it's good. It causes the managers to use some strategy which is really interesting."
As for some of that strategy
"Whether you bunt, whether you don't bunt," Leyland told 93.7 The Fan. "If you are the visiting team, do you go for more than one run because you figure the home team can tie it up because they get that same advantage. Three is a lot of strategy."
Forcing a pitcher to face 3 batters
"I don't that's good for the integrity of the game," Leyland said. "They argue that the manager can use the shift and the manager should have the right to put his players where he wants to, to defend the other team. Well, the manager aught to be able to bring in a pitcher whenever he wants to. I don't think that makes sense."
Defensive shifts
"I think we are asking the wrong question about the shift," Leyland said. "We say do you think the shift works. It does work in a lot of causes. Another question is do you like the shift. Some people do, some people don't. I think the question we should be asking if the shift is good for the game."
"It's not good for the game. I think it's ridiculous to be running a guy from third base out into short right field. I think all that takes time. I think it's ridiculous. I'm not saying it doesn't work. People never mention when it doesn't work. It does backfire some."
How to speed up the game
"I think it's a big problem for baseball," Leyland said. "Everybody wants to look at all these rule changes to speed it up. In actuality all you would have to do to speed the game up. It's just one simple move. That's to get the hitter in the batter's box.
"If you watch a game. A guy hits a ground ball to shortstop. The guy on the on-deck circle is over there with his donut on the bat, trying to get it off. He's waiting for his walk-up music. He's messing with his gloves. He's putting the pine tar on. If you hit a ground ball to short, the next hitter should be walking to home plate. He should not be standing over there. That's what's taking so much time. It's not the pitchers, it's the hitters holding the game up."
"Play the walk-up music the first time and forget about it the rest of the game. It's such a simple solution in my opinion. I think you would be shocked in how much that would speed the game up."
