MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says he’s in favor of restrictions on use of relief pitchers

Thursday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the league is looking to place limits on relief pitching. Manfred went on ESPN’s Mike and Mike this morning and fans pit in nine suggestions to speed up the game. One of those suggestions turned out to be placing limits on relief pitchers. Manfred states he was in favor of this. It is very interesting to think that there could potentially be limits on the guys who close out the games.

“You know the problem with relief pitchers is that they’re so good. I’ve got nothing against relief pitchers, but they do two things to the game: The pitching changes themselves slow the game down, and our relief pitchers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game. So relief pitchers is a topic that is under active consideration. We’re talking about that a lot internally.”

Two questions I have for this suggestion is what would the limit be and would there be a limit in the postseason? This decision would hurt teams that have above average bullpens and teams with weak starting pitching.

It’s an interesting topic to think about. Would this affect the mind set of owners in the offseason to build up on better starters instead of bullpen arms? Could this make different limits for closers and long arms in the bullpen?