Rob Manfred needs to be removed as the commissioner of Major League Baseball. He has already caused too much damage to the sport’s reputation.
The MLB has overseen one of the biggest controversies in sports history in the Astros cheating scandal.
The Astros cheating scandal occurred when the MLB found out that the Houston Astros had been stealing opposing teams signs with a camera in center field in 2017, the same year that the Astors won the world series. Manfred was in charge of the punishments to be handed down.
Manfred had a chance to make an important statement for the game of baseball that cheating will not be tolerated.
Many people suggested banning Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch, the Astros GM and manager, for life. There was even talk of stripping the Astors of their World Series.
Instead of doing this, Manfred decided to give the Astros a slap on the wrist and just suspend Hinch and Luhnow for a year and take away their top two draft picks for the next two seasons.
This punishment is not going to stop teams from doing this in the future, the world series is worth more than losing some draft picks.
Manfred even managed to make the situation worse for himself. When asked about possibly taking away the championship for Houston, Manfred stated “The idea of an asterisk or asking for a piece of metal back seems like a futile act,”.
The piece of metal Manfred is talking about is the goal for all 30 teams to win before the season starts. Calling it a piece of metal and saying that taking it away is futile is devaluing the entire MLB season.
Players have taken notice of what Manfred has said and none have approved of any of it. Dodgers’ third baseman Justin Turner who lost to the Astros in the world series put it best when he said, “So for him to devalue it the way he did yesterday just tells me how out of touch he is with the players in this game. At this point, the only thing devaluing that trophy is that it says ‘Commissioner’ on it.”
This situation is a very grim look for Manfred, but it is not the only problem he has created. Manfred, shortly after the comment he made about the Astros, announced some rule changes for the game of baseball.
One of the new rules that Manfred has announced is a three batter minimum rule for every pitcher to go in the game. The idea behind it is that this will keep fans more interested because the games will be shorter.
This decision will take away people’s jobs in the MLB. Often times, there are left handed specialists that are only put in the game to get one batter out. After this, they are at a supreme disadvantage. These relievers have no role in a team when they are forced to face multiple batters.
Besides this the rule does not even do a good job of its intended purpose of speeding up the games. Cliff Corcoran from the Athletic did the math for how much time this would save per game in the 2019 season. His final result was that it would save a measly 34 seconds per game. Which hardly worth the effort in implementing.
If Manfred knew what was best for the game, he would scrap this idea, but he will not and that is why he can not stay as the commissioner of the MLB.