Jayson Stark reports on several potential rules changes that spun out of last week’s owners meetings. The most notable: coaches and managers will be able to bring an interpreter to the mound for meetings with players who don’t speak fluent English.
No word if Phillies pitchers will get their own English-to-1940s grifter interpreter for when Charlie Manuel comes out for pitching changes. “I don’t even know what ‘what’s the rumpus’ means,” said Cole Hamels, explaining his support for the rule.
Other proposed changes:
- Teams will be permitted to have a seventh coach in uniform; the previous limit was six; and
- The fake-to-third, throw-to-first pickoff move would now be considered a balk.
The first one is because so many teams are hiring assistant hitting coaches. The second rule must be aimed at bloggers and color commentators, who will now no longer be able to say “that move rarely works, so I don’t know why they do it.”
The proposed changes have to now be approved by the union before being implemented.
