HEY, WILLIE! If MLB wants more offense, here are more suggestions to help hitters

HEY, WILLIE!

As a huge and longtime baseball fan, I am truly disappointed in the new rule changes coming in 2023. And I don't believe it's meant to shorten games. 

Most of the new rules definitely benefit offensive play. Following MLB'S thought process, I have a few suggestions to further enhance the goal:

1. Cut the size of home plate in half.

2. Give each batter six strikes instead of three and a free pass to first base on two balls instead of four.

3. Make the pitcher throw with his opposite hand to batters hitting under .250.

4. Eliminate the use of gloves for the fielders. This would particularly help baseball return to the way it was played in the old days, as they claim will happen by eliminating the shift.

BOB

HEY, BOB!

What have I told you people about putting sarcasm in the hands of unlicensed snipers?

But since we’re here, let’s talk briefly about baseball’s plan to eliminate the defensive shift and force teams to have two infielders on each side of second base.

While I hate seeing, say, Kyle Schwarber “ground out” on a 150-foot one-hopper to an infielder in right-field, I wish the shift’s elimination had happened naturally.

If the pull-hitting sluggers had dropped down a few more bunts to the undefended side of the infield, the shift would’ve gone the way of the twi-night doubleheader.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: They know what they want, but can they get there? | KEN WILLIS

STATE OF FOOTBALL: Billy Napier learns quickly where to place blame . . . in the mirror

HEY, WILLIE!

Forget it. The college football of even a few years ago is over.

In a harbinger of what’s coming, USC has 33 free agents and has turned their program completely around. Other programs will follow. 

After all, they say, these kids needed to be paid. Because, of course, successful coaches just stepped out of the womb and into million-dollar jobs.

They didn’t move their families a dozen times, from one job to the next, all over the country, working 16-hour days until, through a lot of hard work and tenacity, they finally “got there.”

KH

HEY, K!

Pretty good point on the big-money head coaches. Also, except for a tiny percentage, the vast bulk of Nick Saban’s millions is funded by income sources (media fees, merchandising, well-heeled boosters, etc.) not taxpayers.

For every Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney and Lincoln Riley, there are hundreds of assistant coaches wanting to get there. And the path is cluttered by hundreds of rental-car desks, miles and miles of interstate, and outside of recruiting season, several months of those 16-hour days where you’re either preparing for a practice, running a practice, or talking about today’s practice.

I don’t think the desire to pay college athletes was a direct result of the millions paid to certain coaches, but it was part of the discussion.

Anyway, the first step in a needed course correction was the recent announcement that the big-league athletic directors want to keep NCAA oversight. Next comes the hard part: Details. Followed by the really hard part: Delegating leverage.

HEY, WILLIE!

My office pool buddies and I were dismayed to lose the Saturday print News-Journal.

However, we thought, through common sense or common courtesy, the N-J would print Saturday's College Football TV times in Friday’s paper to avoid the chaos of having to stare at our phones instead of each other (like teenagers).

We ask you to intervene on our behalf. We love carrying the sports section with us and count on those TV times to do our side-bet beer wagers. We know there are alternatives, but old habits . . . )

Do what you can and we will be grateful.

RONALD

HEY, RON!

I wonder if the office football pool has largely gone away. Do any of you still work at a joint where, say, Ed on the back dock operates a weekly pool and hands out sheets of paper each Friday in exchange for a sawbuck?

Good times.

There’s something much more appealing about that, as opposed to thumbing through your phone to transfer cyber cash to some far-off data bank — or, ahem, having one of the kids do it for you.

Office pool sheets have the slight vibe of communal participation, not to mention the feel of Xeroxed paper and hard currency. So much better in so many ways.

Assuming you can trust Ed, of course.

Where were we? Oh, Saturday’s college football TV schedule in Friday’s paper. I’ve pitched your request into the Suggestion Box and await the verdict.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: More MLB 'fixes,' and btw, Nick Saban wasn't born with a huge contract