MLB IS FAILING ALL THANKS TO ITS FAILING LEADER

I love baseball. I can't get enough of it but the passion I have today is different then the passion I used to have. There's an obvious change in the game and I'm not digging it. It bothers me that it is just being overlooked and swept under the rug. Here's what I mean....

The last two offseasons have been incredibly frustrating. Free Agency is not what it once was, in fact I would say that FREE AGENCY IS FOR THE BIRDS. I have a feeling that Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel would agree with me at this point. They have become casualties to Rob Manfred's delusional and failing world.

Teams today are so focused on keeping their draft picks, rebuilding, and staying under the luxury task. Are there enough teams out there that actually CARE about winning at this point? Isn't that the ultimate goal? It should be to win the division, beat other teams in the division and championship series and then win it all in the World Series. At least, that's how it was. That's the old world of baseball that I loved and became so passionate about.

But times have changed. Do teams still care about all of that? Sure. Do they care enough? No, and all because Manfred doesn't care. If teams cared, two of the best players from the free agent class wouldn't be unemployed in May. If Manfred cared, he would acknowledge the problem and fix it! These guys should both have jobs right now. Free Agency has failed them....and commissioner Rob Manfred absolutely failed them. He disagrees that Free Agency is broken. His failure to recognize the broken system makes HIM a failure.

Here's where we are at now. In a month, Keuchel MIGHT have a job. Some team out there may decide to sign him after the draft ends, read more HERE. One of those teams MAY be the Yankees. If the stars align and Keuchel is a still a free agent after the draft ends, teams won’t have to cough up a compensatory pick to the Astros who made him the $17.9-million qualifying offer he rejected. Just like I said, teams want to hold on to their draft picks.

Next month if Keuchel remains unsigned a team WILL sign him because he becomes cheaper and teams keep their precious draft picks. Why is it okay for baseball to become THIS?

You may love Keuchel or you may think he is overrated. That's fine. Fact is he deserved more than this. He may not be the Cy Young caliber pitcher he once was but he's still an asset to any team out there. He had a good 2018 with a 12-11 record with a 3.74 ERA and 153-58 strike to ball ratio across 204.2 innings. That's still better than average in the American League and he's an innings eater!

There is nothing so wrong with Keuchel's record right now that he should be unemployed. This is a FAILURE on Manfred's part and he needs to own it plain and simple. I wasn't Bud Selig's biggest cheerleader but right now I'm wishing he was still the commissioner.

There is a problem in the sport I love so much. Instead of fixing the broken free agent system Manfred is worried about limiting mound visits and putting in pitch clocks to make baseball more appealing to younger viewers. He wants to make the game FASTER. How about we make baseball FUNCTION again? He's focused on all of the wrong areas. He's a failure.

This may not be a popular opinion with fans, but I'm sure guys like Keuchel and Kimbrel have their own similar opinions. We already heard J.D. Martinez give his opinion so how can Manfred deny that there is a problem here?

No matter how you look at it both of these guys SHOULD have jobs somewhere. Free Agency is broken, and Manfred is failing. The the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. How can you succeed at these things when you don't understand all of them? Until he stops denying free agency is a problem, the labor aspect of his duties will never function.

Manfred is failing. He's failed the players within the sport for the second year in a row, he's failing the fans and until he fixes these issues he will never achieve his own personal goals to help improve the sport. Baseball needs a leader, Manfred hasn't proved that he's the right guy.

I love baseball, but I'm starting to think Manfred is destroying it.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj