Designate Everybody

I’m pretty sure everybody by now has heard that Hank Steinbrenner, heir apparent to the Yankee Throne, is upset that his pitcher, Chien-Ming Wang hurt his ankle running the bases in an inter-league game in a National League park. Steinbrenner takes the opportunity to offer his opinion on the situation of a pitcher batting:

“Truthfully, the NL owners should be concerned with it, even with the practice their pitchers get doing it. You don't need to lose your best pitcher. The pitcher has enough work to do. It's something Bud (Selig) needs to address and he needs to address it soon. Don't give me that traditionalist crap. “

Personally, I’m a fan of having two different leagues with only slightly different rules--the DH versus no DH. It adds a little fun when the teams play each other to suddenly have to change one little aspect of the game. (Interestingly, I’m only moderately in favor of inter-league play. It was kinda an extra challenge when the American League pitchers suddenly had to bat in the World Series. However, it is fun to see a little bit of it, but like most people, I think the rules should be flipped in inter-league play. AL rules in NL parks, NL rules in AL parks. Give the fans a chance to see--in person--the other side. Rather than bringing up TV ratings for a couple series, it would bring attendance up for a couple of series. I digress.)

I’m sure the Mariners would agree, because Felix Hernandez hurt his ankle in an inter-league game--after hitting a grand slam off of former Cy Young winner Johan Santana. Sure, he didn’t sprain his ankle running the bases, but rather making a defensive play. The pitchers should have a designated defender to prevent injury possibilities on the field in general. Twins pitcher Pat Neshek hurt his arm pitching, so perhaps there should be a designated pitcher would prevent injuries to starting pitchers, too. After all, if I’ve learned anything from Hank Steinbrenner, it’s that we have to protect the pitchers!

But it gets me thinking. The starting pitchers are pretty valuable to the team, and most pitchers suck when it comes to batting. But pitchers aren’t the only position with a reputation for poor batting.

We should have a designated hitter for the catcher. Catchers are traditionally a poor-hitting position, and a team only has two catchers (usually with an “emergency back-up guy who’s really a third baseman or first baseman, but was a catcher when they were six, so they’ll do in an emergency). No one wants to see a star catcher like Jason Varitek, Ivan Rodriguez, or Joe Mauer get injured, do they? Last year Mauer hurt his hamstring. Reports were that he could catch without pain, but he couldn’t run the bases. If only he could’ve had a designated hitter, his defensive skills behind the plate wouldn’t have been lost for a month.

Middle infielders are valued for their defense, not their offense (although an offensive - giggle - middle infielder is definitely a valuable commodity!), so let’s get them designate hitters, too.

In fact, maybe baseball should become more like football and lacrosse: there’s offense and defense, and never the twain shall meet. Half the team will play in the field as the defense, and the other half the team will come to the plate as offense. Although, really, there should be designated batters and designated runners, too. You don’t want to hurt your team by having your power-slugger trip running the bases and spraining an ankle.

And there should be designated warm-up guy, too, just so nobody hurts himself warming up before the inning. With the multiple balls flying around the field, anything can happen.

Or maybe--and this is a novel, ground-breaking idea!--we should just recognize that there are risks playing sports, and accept the rules the way they are, and appreciate the differences between the leagues.