Baseball Musings has a summary of some MLB rule changes for the 2007 season. There is nothing earth shattering but a few of these got me thinking about current Tigers tendencies. The main rule that got me thinking about Tiger pitchers was:

With no runners on, a pitcher will be required to pitch within 12 seconds, the timing starting when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the batter’s box, alert to the pitcher.

Last year pitchers had 20 seconds. Justin Verlander is known as a pitcher who doesn’t take much time at all to get ready to throw again. Some other Tigers do not fit that mold. Both Rodney and Jones enjoy moseying around the mound a bit, tipping their hat, scratching their head before heading back to the rubber. Likely this rule won’t be enforced which is would be good as to not interfere with their rhythm. Generally I’m for rule changes that don’t get in the way and help speed up the game a bit, though this won’t have any effect.

Then there is, what some are calling, the Rogers rule. Penalties have been greatly increased for players caught defacing or scuffing a ball. For pitchers, umpires can just issue a warning if they don’t believe the player was trying to gain an advantage. I’m am surprised a bit by the punishment of a 10-game suspension. That’s pretty strict by MLB standards and much more egregious issues get less punishment. I do doubt this has much to do with the Rogers incident.

Other than the above two changes, I’m pretty indifferent. Here is a link to the official MLB press release.

I’ve also spent some time today making some layout changes. I introduced a new logo and table layout and some side bar changes. Any suggestions/comments are greatly appreciated!