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Dan inspired this post with his DH talk earlier.



I have long thought that the time had come to phase the DH out of the AL. The biggest stumbling block in my opinion is the players union - which doesn't want to lose those 14 guaranteed jobs at the ML level. Face it - most DH's are older veteran players, many with multi-million dollar contract. If you do away with the DH - those jobs would go to players at the bottom of the salary chain. Also - aging veterans would be ushered out of the game more quickly. So I get that. Here's my proposal to the union.



Announce a 5 year phase out of the DH - this will allow all AL teams to get ready for this and won't penalize any teams who already have a DH signed for the next couple of years - ie. - Posada in NY or Hafner in Cle.



In the year that you officially wave goodbye to the DH - the bonus for the players union (and for teams) will be expanding the active roster to 26 players. So while we eliminate 14 full-time DH jobs - we create 30 new jobs at the major league level. Granted - these we undoubtedly be filled mostly by low-salaried players. But every organization will have this extra roster spot to carry a fading superstar in his last years if they choose.



Why go to 26 man active rosters? Look - teams today are regularly carrying 11-12 man pitching staffs at varying points during the season. It is becoming the new norm as specialization takes over bullpens. It makes sense to add the extra spot so teams can afford to carry that 11th or 12th man in the bullpen while still having enough position players to make the double-switches and substitutions necessary once the DH is gone.



I think the union would go for it - you phase out the DH slowly - and add 30 new ML jobs - I'd do it if I were the commissioner.

Oh yeah - the other thing I would do is fix the mess that is 14 teams in the AL and 16 teams in the NL - with one 6 team division (NL Central) and one 4 team division (AL West). Can anyone explain why the Brewers moved in the first place??



Selig screwed this one up - so I'm going to fix it.



Arizona Diamondbacks - you are the newest members of the AL West.



Houston Astros - you slide over to the more sensible NL West.



There - done.

Originally posted by Ryan Carey:

Oh yeah - the other thing I would do is fix the mess that is 14 teams in the AL and 16 teams in the NL - with one 6 team division (NL Central) and one 4 team division (AL West). Can anyone explain why the Brewers moved in the first place??



Selig screwed this one up - so I'm going to fix it.



Arizona Diamondbacks - you are the newest members of the AL West.



Houston Astros - you slide over to the more sensible NL West.



There - done. Sorry Ryan, in fixing it, you broke it



There can't be an odd amount of teams in either league due to scheduling problems. If it were 15 and 15, a team would have to sit each day unless we had full NL vs AL schedules. We may see that in the future, but probably not the near future.

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

quote:Originally posted by Ryan Carey:

Oh yeah - the other thing I would do is fix the mess that is 14 teams in the AL and 16 teams in the NL - with one 6 team division (NL Central) and one 4 team division (AL West). Can anyone explain why the Brewers moved in the first place??



Selig screwed this one up - so I'm going to fix it.



Arizona Diamondbacks - you are the newest members of the AL West.



Houston Astros - you slide over to the more sensible NL West.



There - done. Sorry Ryan, in fixing it, you broke it



There can't be an odd amount of teams in either league due to scheduling problems. If it were 15 and 15, a team would have to sit each day unless we had full NL vs AL schedules. We may see that in the future, but probably not the near future. [/QUOTE]Ha - yeah that's pretty basic math isn't it - I always sucked at math.



Hey - every team plays at least 5 series a year against the other league already. That's plenty of AL vs NL matchups to make going 15/15 work - I'm pretty sure some scheduling geek could figure out how to make it out.

The biggest problem with the current scheduling is the way inter-league play is handled. Because MLB wants games between “natural” rivals, teams in each division end up playing unequal common opponents.



Now I know the NFL has this type of unbalanced schedule. But they don’t do it in a handpicked way. They don’t mandate Jets v Giants, Dolphins v Buccaneers. They do it based on a rotation system and previous season record.



NFC East 1 v AFC East 1,3,& 5

NFC East 2 v AFC East 2,3,&4

Etc…….



I would like to see MLB go the same route.

Yes. Teams would still be playing against an unequal number of common opponents. But at least it wouldn’t be the same unequal opponents every season. And while some would argue that playing against the “natural” rival will balance out over time, I think the Mets that play 6 vs. the Yankees would disagree when they watch Philadelphia play Toronto or Washington play Baltimore every year.

I agree it's lame..

I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to run interleague throughout the year. Same number of IL games--just spread them throughout the schedule. That might also create a little more interest in the individual series as they won't have as much competition for the novelty spotlight.



Do that and you can have an enven number of teams. That said, I like my team in the short stack.



BTW, Ryan, why not just move Houston to the AL west? Just to avoid two Texas teams?

That was my thought and just because they have a longer history in the NL than Arizona (despite ARI WS title)