CNBC’s Eric Chemi talks today about how pitching and, specifically, pitching that strikes dudes out and doesn’t walk too many hitters, is the name of the game today. He asked A’s GM Billy Beane why that is:
“It’s like capitalism. You have a void that needs to be filled, and a whole generation of kids that see it . . . Back in the 1990s, there was a panic in the industry about lack of pitching. Now you have a big wave of pitching that is physically so much different.”
That’s well and good. But will offense ever come back? Beane again:
“At some point there will be a correction. We may have this conversation about hitters in a few years: where’s all the pitching. I’ve seen lots of spikes: hitting, pitching, fielding. Capitalism will start filling those voids . . .Any normal market will tell you, when there’s a scarcity in something, that will increase the price.”
That’s about the best defense of the free market that you’re gonna get from a prominent person in an industry that has an antitrust exemption and relies heavily on socialism in order to get its facilities funded and constructed.