Is there really much more MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred can handle right now? Since the day he took over for Bud Selig there have been countless pressing topics surrounding baseball that he's had to address. He weighed in on some more of those issues during the All-Star break.
The most controversial high-profiled subject deals with baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose. The 74-year-old was banned from baseball in 1989 and is not eligible to be elected into the Hall of Fame after the Dowd Report uncovered evidence of Rose's gambling habits when he was managing the Cincinnati Reds.
Last month more documents were uncovered that found Rose gambled as a player too, which may hurt his chances of being reinstated depending on how much evidence the MLB previously possessed. Rose applied for reinstatement under Selig and Fay Vincent (but neither reviewed his case), and he'll now try his luck again with Manfred, who is open to speaking with the baseball legend.
"I remain committed to the idea that Mr. Rose deserves an opportunity to tell me, in whatever format he feels most comfortable, whatever he wants me to know about the issue," Manfred told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. "I'm sure there will be an in-person meeting. I want to schedule it at a time when I'm comfortable I have a good grasp of all the factual material."
Rose spoke with FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal before last night's All-Star Game and said he'd be the "happiest guy in the world" if he was given a second chance. Check out the full interview below:
Manfred is also tasked with facing the common "baseball is dying" remark that continues to surface whenever there's a case to be made against the sport. Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but Manfred is addressing that notion by attempting to improve a number of aspects that may support that statement.
Aside from getting America's youth more involved in the sport or focusing on facilitating more offense in today's game, Manfred envisions expansion in baseball's future. The MLB has played exhibition games in Montreal in each of the past two offseasons and it's possible the Canadian city gets another franchise of their own further down the road.
"Maybe one of the reasons I got this job is, I'm bullish on this game," Manfred added, via Crasnick. "I think we are a growth business, broadly defined. And over an extended period of time, growth businesses look to get bigger. So yeah, I'm open to the idea that there will be a point in time where expansion may be possible."
As the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays face potential relocation due to conflicts over new stadiums, Cranick notes "Montreal, Charlotte, North Carolina, San Antonio, Portland, Oregon, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, northern New Jersey, Mexico City or Monterrey, Mexico, are among the markets that could eventually land on baseball's radar as potential locations for new or relocated franchises."
And last but not least, speeding up the game to maximize the engagement of fans has been something Manfred is looking to improve. The MLB has already instituted new pace of play rules for the 2015 season, but bigger changes could be on the way, including the addition of a pitch clock.
A 20-second pitch clock has been used in the minor leagues over the past three months and it could make its way to the MLB as early as next year, but Manfred said the league and Players Association remain divided on the issues as of right now.
"Now how quickly that experiment, or whether that experiment, might raise to the big league level is going to be a product of conversations with the [union]," he said, via Crasnick. "But we remain positive about the 20-second clock as something that could be useful to the game at the big league level."
Pitch clocks, and other techniques, were enforced during the Arizona Fall League last year and each game was sped up by an average of 10 minutes. Manfred seemingly supports the clocks, but Clark insists it's going to be hard to sell the players on such an idea, likely because there would be too much structure as a result of so few players taking advantage of the current system.
There will be much talk regarding all of these issues in the coming months and especially in the offseason. Manfred has a lot to take care of and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon.
