MLB Commissioner For a Day: Am I Hired or Fired?

What would you do if your were allowed to be MLB Commissioner for a day? What would you put in place to improve the game and the fan experience? Well here are some things I would put in place to improve Major League Baseball. Here are my 10 action items in no set order.

(1) Double Headers—Bring back the free double header for the fans, at least in the first half of the season. Just two to three double headers per year pre All Star Break to build the long term goodwill (This would say MLB Schedules two to three days per year).

(2) MLB Draft—I would slot the signing bonus based on position in the draft. MLB has lots of development time for even the top drafted talent and spending millions on signing bonuses for unproven players limits who can be drafted by what teams. It also limits how much your can spend on Major League ready players and those are the players who sell tickets.

(3) International Draft—Daisuke Matsuzaka went to the Boston Red Soxs because they paid his Japanese team $51 million dollars. That payment limits the number of teams that can attract top international talent. I would propose a supplemental draft based on winning percentage. MLB should take some of the luxury tax dollars and pay Japan's Professional Baseball and make the players available to all. 

(4) Steroids and Performance Enhancing Drugs—I would institute Olympic type testing for all players in the Majors and Minor Leagues (This one would need support of the players union but I think they all want to put this B.S behind them). I would also take some responsibility for the steroid era. My Statement would be something like this: I am the commissioner and I should have been more aware of steroids in the late 80's and early 90's and the possible impact that may have inside of Major League Baseball. I should have worked with the union for better testing as a preventive measure for the integrity of the game.

(5) Economic Realignment—I would realign the divisions based on payroll so all teams have a shot at the post season.This way the top payroll teams are in the same division and the lower payroll teams are in the same division. You would get more top match ups for TV purposes and all teams would at least have a shot at the playoffs. For the whole plan visit: http://thefairball.com/2009/06/mlb-realignment-plan/

(6) Expansion—I would add two more teams so both leagues could be equal and scheduling would be even. I would put the expansion teams in lower payroll geographic divisions so they have a chance at the post season and of building a fan base from the beginning. I would go to a four equal division format with two wild cards per league.

(7) Another Playoff Round—eight out of 30 teams is not enough as a lot of the excitement in MLB is the playoff race. I think MLB going to a format of 12 out of 32, like the NFL, is a better plan and would keep more markets excited down the stretch. I would make the first round five games with the third and fourth division winners play the two wild cards. No playoff travel days in the first round. Here is the plan: http://thefairball.com/2009/07/mlb-playoffs-time-for-another-round/

(8) 4 Game Series—I would make the four game series the standard across baseball and reduce the number of three game series. I would eliminate the two game series from the schedule. I would have 36 four game series and six three game series to equal 162 games. This would reduce the travel days for the teams. Divisional match up would be 22 times a year with a 4-3-4 pre all star break and 4-3-4 post break.

(9) Inter league Play—I would get rid of inter league play as the schedule is unfair and it does not have a real impact on my team getting into the post season. If the divisions were changed based on previous years payroll the match ups would have a natural freshness of teams who spend about the same. here is the 2009 inter league break down: http://thefairball.com/2009/07/mlb-interleague-play-schedule-for-2009/

(10) Fan Feedback—I would set up a way for the fans to communicate to the MLB offices so Major League Baseball can react better to the issues and concerns of the fans, or as some businesses call them, the CUSTOMERS. This would help baseball address issues quicker and more effectively and get rid of the perception that MLB is a slow moving league who is not fan friendly.

So after reading my plan, am I Hired or Fired? And WHY?