Major League Baseball's policy on September call-ups needs some serious reform, WFAN's Evan Roberts argued Tuesday.
"We've got to stop with expanding the rosters to 40 in September," Roberts said on the air. "And it's always been the case, but sometimes there are things that have been around for a while that have always been stupid.
"And it's gotten worse because the way games are managed now. You've got more teams going bullpen by committee, playing the matchups. And because of that, the roster expansion that we have is worse than ever."
Roberts noted that the Oakland A's had a bullpen of 14 or 15 pitchers in Monday's win over the Yankees.
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"If they wanted to, they could go batter for batter for the last five innings of a game," he said. "It's absurd, but it could happen. And I'm telling you, we're probably going to see that in some game this year."
Roberts had a couple of suggestions: • Continue to allow for expanded rosters but require teams to designate players as active and inactive for each game, much like the NFL does• Allow for expanded rosters in April instead
A caller, Matt in Westchester, argued that the September call-ups are a good thing because they allow many minor leaguers to live out their big-league dreams.
That wasn't a good enough reason for Roberts, though.
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"What was that movie, 'The Rookie'? I cried when he called up his wife to say he was called to the majors," Roberts said. "I'm going to choke up right now. I cried 'cause it was so damn sweet. Here's this guy in his 30s, he fought his way back, and he got that call -- I'm going to tear up thinking about it.
"But it's still stupid to change the rules in the final month of the year. And yeah, the game isn't played differently -- you're right. But it's managed completely differently, and when we see the game when 13 relievers are used because the manager could, I'm sure you'll feel the same way."
