Last night, the Yankees were in the right place at the wrong time. Had they hosted the Red Sox one week earlier, they probably would have won the opening game of their four game series against Boston. After all, without the expanded rosters of September, Quintin Berry would have been playing in Pawtucket, not stealing second base at Yankee Stadium.
Quintin Berry’s stolen base in the ninth inning may have changed the course of the AL Wild Card race.
Complaints about Berry, who is now 22 for 22 in stolen base attempts, being on the Red Sox roster amount to nothing more than sour grapes. Nonetheless, his stolen base was an illustration of how baseball in September is different from the other months. Before the first of the month, there would have been no Berry, no stolen base, and, by extension, no tying run. Instead, Franklin Morales would have been toiling in the bullpen, with everyone in Red Sox Nation hoping the team didn’t need to use him.
The impact of the Red Sox expanded roster on last night’s game begs two questions. One is whether baseball should play under different rules in the final month of the season. The other is why don’t more teams eschew an 11th and sometimes 12th pitcher in favor of a position player like Berry who can have a specific, high leverage impact on a game?
The easiest way to address both questions would be to simply add a few more roster slots during the entire regular season. However, there’s no guarantee that some teams wouldn’t simply pack their bullpen even further. Not only would this thwart the promotion of a more interesting end-game, but it would further bog down the late innings with countless pitching changes. Besides, the owners would never agree to adding more roster spots, which would require the payment of a major league salary as well as the allocation of service time.
As a compromise, Buck Showalter has proposed implementing a taxi squad in September. Under his plan, teams would be allowed to have an extended roster travel with the club, but for each game, only 25 players would be active. Showalter’s suggestion is a good place to start. In fact, it is similar to the system major league baseball was prepared to use when replacement players were slated to begin the 1995 season. However, in order to address the two main concerns mentioned above, a few tweaks would be needed.
If a taxi squad makes sense in September, why not use it all season? Perhaps the size of the rotating portion of the roster could be expanded in the final month (i.e., from 2 or 3 in the first five months to 5 or 6 in September), but the implementation should be universal. However, in order to prevent abuses (such as moving starters to the taxi squad after they pitch or hiding short-term injuries), some limitations would be needed. The most obvious way to address this issue would be to restrict the taxi squad to players with optional assignments remaining (i.e., if the player can be sent down, he can also be moved to the taxi squad). Also, to protect players from being inactive, stints on the taxi squad without being activated could be limited to a defined amount. Finally, the owners’ concerns about finances and service time could be addressed by treating all taxi squad players without major league contracts as if they were still in the minors (a slightly higher salary and travel expenses could be offered to compensate for the inactivity, although access to major league facilities and coaches would also be a benefit).
There’s no guarantee that teams wouldn’t fill the taxi squad with relievers, but having that option could indirectly increase the number of position players on a 25-man roster. Considering how many teams carry 11 and 12 pitchers to cover unforeseen scenarios, increasing roster flexibility would likely lessen that need. As a result, the two relievers at the end of the bullpen could be consolidated into one active roster spot, freeing up space for a pinch runner or extra hitter off the bench.
Having Quintin Berry available to pinch run last night wasn’t unfair. On the contrary, Boston should be commended for making a savvy addition to their roster. What’s more, major league baseball should actively explore ways to ensure they, and other teams, have such players available on a nightly basis. The added roster flexibility would not only make for more interesting late-game strategy, but the daily contemplation of whom to activate would both provide intrigue and give smarter, deeper teams another opportunity to differentiate themselves. Last night, the Red Sox constructed their roster just right. Now, it’s time for MLB to allow all teams, at all times, to do the same.
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