Rozner: Baseball scandal won't help pace of play

Baseball is reeling.

Staggered by the worst scandal since Bud Selig and Rob Manfred were forced to testify about PEDs in front of Congress, the sign-stealing nightmare seems to get worse by the day.

Even with as many people who have already lost their jobs, listen closely to those inside the game and you understand there could be more out there.

Now it depends on just how far Manfred wants to go with it.

We can only hope he winds up in Washington again, having managed along with Selig in 2005 to look equal parts ignorant and arrogant as they sat smirking before the House Government Reform Committee investigating steroids in baseball.

It's impressive when you appear to be the bad guys while sharing space in a room with Congress.

And though cheating will be on the lips of every baseball manager, announcer and fan in 2020, lost amid the fallout could be any attempt to deal with pace of play.

Yeah, remember that?

Personally, the pace of baseball doesn't bother me. The game is the only one without a clock for a reason. It wasn't meant to be rushed.

And as has been stated here before, if you want to grow the game you need kids playing baseball, not just video game baseball, in order to get them interested in consuming baseball.

But those who are watching are unhappy with the pace and length of games, and now it might get worse.

No, really. It has a real chance to get worse now that every manager - and pitcher and catcher - is wondering just what the opposition knows.

Sign stealing goes back to the invention of the game. We all did it when we played and if you weren't trying to tip the batter while on second base then you weren't doing your job.

At the same time, if the pitcher and catcher weren't adjusting, they also weren't doing their jobs.

It's the same today. It's just that players haven't been taught to deal with it.

Consider that the games are longer in part because of the desire to see pitches, take walks and get the starter out of the game as soon as possible.

It's a fallacy to think it hasn't always been that way. It's just taken to the extreme now.

The bigger problem is players' heads are so filled with information that most pitchers and most hitters need time to compute all of it between throws.

Thus, the long delays.

Watch a game from the '80s or '90s and you see that batter and pitcher knew what they wanted to do by the time the pitcher caught the ball and glanced in for a sign.

The batter was in the box and the pitcher had a plan.

Most of the best hitters I knew were guess hitters, and some of them didn't even want the sign because it messed up their rhythm.

Pitchers trying to set up hitters didn't want anyone near them on the mound also because it messed with their rhythm.

But the game isn't played that way today because most players can't think for themselves, or have been told not to think for themselves.

This is not a rant against data. Data is valuable. But too much data can slow players down.

Most players get to the big leagues today so quickly that they haven't had time in the minors to hone their craft, to talk to coaches and managers - and other hitters and pitchers - about what they are thinking on the mound or in the box.

They don't drive to the ballpark with a plan in mind for that day's opposing pitcher, or that day's opposing lineup.

They are given a plan by research and development with all the accompanying analytics.

Thus, the image of managers staring at an iPad, catchers looking into the dugout, pitchers walking around the mound and batters stepping out of the box.

They are trying to remember all that they've been told before the series, before the game and between innings.

They haven't learned to think for themselves.

The bad news is there's no fixing that. Players are rushed to the bigs and they do what they're told, having learned to rely on the information they've been given rather than remember a pitch they threw to that batter three months ago with two on, two out and a 1-2 count.

With all the focus now on stealing signs, there will be little incentive to move the game along, pitcher and catcher changing indicators every third or fourth pitch, regardless of the situation.

This will cause more confusion and slow the game down.

Time of game in MLB was longer in 2019 than ever before, despite Manfred's ridiculous rule changes, so three-batter minimums and automatic intentional walks aren't going to make much of a difference.

When you throw in all the paranoia associated with cheating, you have to think it could get worse.

Expect in return more rules changes from Boss Speed, manufacturing nonsense and spewing the same.

Good luck, B.S., with all that.