Getty Image
- Rob Manfred revealed Major League Baseball will be adopting a universal designated hitter (DH).
- Reactions from baseball “purists” to the MLB commissioner’s announcement were not good.
- Read more news about Major League Baseball here.
Rob Manfred is widely viewed, rightly so, as the worst commissioner in all of professional sports.
He has repeatedly proven since taking over as Major League Baseball’s commissioner in 2015 that he doesn’t have the first clue how to manage and grow the sport while also making current fans happy.
Related: Survey Of 11,500 Fans Reveals Major League Baseball’s Biggest Problems, Changes Fans Want Made
And that was before he addressed the media on Thursday to discuss the current (terrible) state of negotiations with players during the current lockout.
Is this too going to have ridiculous region restrictions so only a few markets can watch? https://t.co/Bp8ACIlpNf
— Oracle Park Seagull (@OracleSeagull) February 9, 2022
After his press conference at the MLB owners’ meetings, Rob Manfred was, as usual, absolutely excoriated by baseball fans for his complete cluelessness when it comes to running the league.
“The status of spring training is no change right now,” Manfred told the media. “We’re going to have a conversation with the MLBPA about the calendar because we understand where the calendar is, but until we have that conversation and until we see how this session on Saturday goes, it’s no change.”
does he know spring training is in like 5 minutes
— gaby 🕷 (@nyysoto) February 10, 2022
Rob Manfred announces universal DH rule for Major League Baseball
It was also before he announced that Major League Baseball will be adopting a draft lottery, which was met with yawns, and a universal designated hitter rule, which was met with howls of grief from baseball purists across the land.
And that’s it. They have killed baseball.
MLB does not care about its most loyal fans.— Real Baseball (@NoDHinNL) February 10, 2022
This is terrible. Removes one of the cool strategic management components of a game.
— cronjob 🇺🇦 (@craunjob) February 10, 2022
Might as well just delete the Manager position in baseball now.
— smave (@j_smave) February 10, 2022
Why not just go with 4 DH's so we can have all offense all the time.
— TheHogSty (@TheHogSty) February 10, 2022
Manfred also told the assembled media on Thursday, “If I hadn’t given consideration to what it would mean to miss games, I wouldn’t be doing my job. Obviously I pay attention to that. I see missing games as a disastrous outcome for this industry. We’re committed to make an agreement in an effort to avoid that.”
On the plus side, Manfred also added, “I’m an optimist, and I believe we will have an agreement in time to play our regular-season schedule.”
Whatever the f–k that’s worth.
Remember this quote from Rob Manfred:'
"I consider missing games as a disastrous outcome for this industry."
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) February 10, 2022