But Joe Girardi would do it. Frankly, I don't get it and I'm not sure how it would be applied. The SS "needs" to be to the right of 2nd base? Are you going to draw lines in the park past which players can't play.

I get it that batters dislike the shift. Ted Williams disliked it. Duda struggles with it, but ban it?

anyhoo, I put up a pole. Curious if anyone agrees with Girardi. I don't.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15389 ... t-baseball

The shift will be "banned" as soon as players learn to bunt for a double every AB. Until then, it's cat-and-mouse, like it's supposed to be. Last thing we need is the replay booth taking 10 minutes trying to determine whether the 3B stepped over the invisible "no shift" line.

I don't have much hate for the shift - but I cannot stand the shift changing in the middle of an AB. That needs to be banned immediately. Do whatever crazy formation you want, but you can't move guys 100 feet on a 2-1 count. Talk about killing pace of play.

I also don't think a pitching coach should be able to come out during an AB either.

Thing is there is a comparable to banning the shift in the NBA, it's called the three-second rule so guys can't just stand in the middle.

Eventually it will be banned when there's an appreciable difference in offense and it starts affecting more than 15-20 guys in the league. Yes it's easy to say get a dink hit to the opposite field but it doesn't help entertainment value having sluggers hitting dink singles to LF because a shift dares them to pull it over the fence every time out. It isn't the 1920's - people don't get entertained by fundamental baseball, unless you're in KC.

Pitchers pitch differently and batters have different approaches depending on the count. Either permit it or ban it. But if you don't ban it, the strategy must be permitted with each changing circumstance. You might just as well prohibit the first or third baseman who are playing in for a bunt from moving back to a natural position after two strikes are on the batter.

Moving in for a bunt is about 40 feet of movement - switching the SS and 3B from one side of the field to the other is 200 feet of movement, plus they don't exactly sprint. At this point MLB will be tempted to put in a pitch clock within ABs, and I don't think any of us want that.

I don't think that is an equivalent defensive maneuver. I can see both sides of the limiting shifts argument. It may be analogous to the nba banning teams from playing zone defense... so it isn't w/o some sort of precedence.

It's likely action would be taken if offenses continue to drag and be dominated by pitching and run prevention. Redefining the K zone and lowering the mound might be other things they would consider along with limiting shifting defenses in order to pick up scoring.

I wouldn't ban it, but I would understand if MLB did.

Ruin the shift by bunting every time.

The shift will stop as soon as the team's are losing because of it.

This isn't quite as easy as it sounds - guys like Duda are pitched with breaking balls away and fastballs in when the shift is on. Not easy pitches to bunt, not to mention every time you miss you put yourself in a hole and thus less likely to get a hit.

It's not as easy as it sounds.

My real mistake was that uncalled for apostrophe in teams. I'm sorry.