If Major League Baseball’s slew of rules changes implemented this season were aimed at speeding up the game and attracting younger fans, an early consequence seems to be that older players are having a harder time adjusting to them.
An “old dog, new tricks” sort of affirmation, if there ever was one.
Just looking for now at one of our two ball clubs in New York, some aging members of the Mets’ pitching staff — the oldest in the league with an average age of 31.9 — appear to be having issues adjusting to the new pitch clock, as detailed in this interesting column last week by colleague Jon Heyman.
Max Scherzer bounced back nicely from two worrisome starts to open his age-38 campaign, allowing one hit and three walks to the Padres over five shutout innings in the Mets’ 5-0 win Monday night over the Padres at Citi Field.
With highly compensated 40-year-old co-ace Justin Verlander and free-agent signing Jose Quintana opening the year on the injured list, the Mets could ill afford a terrible April by Scherzer and 36-year-old righty Carlos Carrasco. The latter has been torched for 11 earned runs and a bloated 11.42 ERA without getting through the fifth inning in either of his first two starts.
Carrasco acknowledged after his first start of the season last week that the pitch clock has affected him, eliminating some breather time between offerings.
The Mets also began play Monday with the most pitch-clock violations — offensively and defensively — of any MLB team with 10.
Meanwhile, the Rays — the team with the fifth-youngest pitching staff (28.3 average age) and second-youngest overall roster (27.5) — have opened the season 10-0 through Monday’s 1-0 win over the Red Sox. Their oldest pitcher is 31-year-old reliever Jason Adam, who has tossed just 3 ⅓ innings this season.
While the Mets boast the oldest overall roster in baseball at 30.7 years on average, even with the call-up of catching prospect Francisco Alvarez, the Yankees are in the middle of the pack at 28.9.
Their oldest player — 37-year-old former AL MVP Josh Donaldson — landed on the IL on Saturday with a hamstring injury following a rough start (.125 with a .489 OPS).
But their oldest pitcher, Gerrit Cole (32), has been fantastic in his first two starts with a 0.73 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 12 ⅓ innings. Cole gets the ball Tuesday night as the Yankees look to rebound from a walk-filled 3-2 loss to the Guardians.
The Yankees also are skewing younger in their everyday lineup, with 24-year-old Oswaldo Cabrera wisely receiving the majority of corner outfield starts over Aaron Hicks and 21-year-old rookie Anthony Volpe winning the starting shortstop job despite a slow offensive start.
Adjustment issues or not, the pitch clock and other rule changes designed to boost the pace of play largely have had the desired effect with the average nine-inning game time reduced by 31 minutes to two hours and 39 minutes through Sunday.
That would mark the lowest in the league in nearly 40 years, since 1984.
The slightly larger bases and the limits on infield shifts also have worked to generate more offense, with batting averages across MLB up 16 points from the same point last season, from .233 to .249.
Stolen bases also have risen by 30 percent, from 1.0 per game to 1.3 per game, with success rates on attempts up from 74 percent to 79.6 percent.
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What did they pay OBJ?
The Jets were rightly interested in taking a chance on Odell Beckham Jr., at least until the former Giants star received a sizable one-year deal from the Ravens on Sunday night.
As Jets beat writer Brian Costello reported, the Jets weren’t going to approach the $15 million guarantee that Baltimore gave Beckham, with a chance for a few million more with incentives.
Nor should they have, even as their pursuit of Aaron Rodgers drags out into the spring.
After missing all of last season recovering from a knee injury suffered in the Super Bowl in early 2022, OBJ’s value to the Ravens is clearly higher and worth the short-term gamble as the organization attempts to entice star quarterback Lamar Jackson to sign a long-term extension.
The Jets and other NFL teams always can revisit Beckham next year if he remains healthy and puts up big numbers alongside the former league MVP.
Gobert, go home
While we await the Knicks’ first-round opener Saturday against Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs, let’s address another former All-Star jettisoned by the Jazz during their fire sale last summer.
The Timberwolves mortgaged much of their future to pry center Rudy Gobert away from Utah, but they had no choice but to suspend him for Tuesday’s 7-8 play-in game against LeBron James and the Lakers for punching teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout in Sunday’s regular-season finale.
Gobert publicly apologized to Anderson and his team following the incident, and he is eligible to return after serving the one-game ban.
With a win over the Lakers, the Timberwolves would become the No. 7 seed in the West and face the second-seeded Grizzlies in the first round. With a loss to the Lakers, they would face the winner of the 9-10 game between the Pelicans and the Thunder on Friday night in Minnesota.
Gobert punched Anderson in the chest after his teammate called him a “b-tch” during Sunday’s game, according to ESPN.
Incredibly, the T-Wolves also will be without another punch-thrower from Sunday’s game, against the Lakers and beyond.
Starting forward Jaden McDaniels is out indefinitely after fracturing two bones in his right hand while punching a wall after picking up a foul in the first quarter.
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