Jonathan Lucroy, Brandon Moss and More MLB Stars Rip New Rule Changes

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's contentious relationship with players took another turn Thursday, as multiple veterans spoke out regarding his planned changes to the sport.

Manfred, heading into his third season as commissioner, has made speeding up the game his top priority. MLB has plans to make intentional walks automatic in 2017 rather than force pitchers to throw outside for four consecutive balls. Manfred has also talked of implementing a 20-second pitch clock, making changes to the strike zone and enacting limitations on meetings at the mound.

"If you put a clock on baseball, you take away the sanctity of the game and the character of it," Texas Rangers catcher Jonathan Lucroy told Bob Nightengale of USA Today. "The game has been played like this way for 150 years, and now we're going to change it? I understand trying to speed up the game to create more action, but this isn't football. It doesn't make any sense."

Manfred announced plans this week to make unilateral changes aimed at speeding up baseball's pace before the 2018 season. MLB's collective bargaining agreement requires the commissioner's office give one year's advance notice to the players before making rules changes if they are not collectively agreed upon.

"Unfortunately it now appears that there really won't be any meaningful change for the 2017 season due to a lack of cooperation from the MLBPA," Manfred told reporters. "I've tried to be clear that our game is fundamentally sound, that it does not need to be fixed as some people have suggested, and I think last season was the kind of demonstration of the potential of our league to captivate the nation and of the game's unique place in American culture."

Shortening the average length of games, which had been pushing the three-hour barrier, has been one of Manfred's main pushes since taking office. He implemented changes to keep hitters in the batter's box and shorten time between innings via timers, which had some impact in 2015.

However, it's clear players—specifically veterans—are resistant to change.

"I'm just very glad I will not be playing this game in 10 years. It won't be recognizable. It's going in a direction where it's not the same game," Kansas City Royals outfielder Brandon Moss told Nightengale. "Every year they keep trying to think of some stupid new rule. It's getting old. Real old."

Manfred has already been using minor league games as something of a pilot test for his rule changes.

"It can't be just unilateral that we're going to implement this," Royals pitcher Chris Young said. "That's just not fair. The game's a partnership between the players and the owners. We can't just mandate that every team has a $200 million payroll. They can't mandate that the rules are going to be changed without our consent, either. I think there are definite ways to improve the game, but let's do this together."

MLB is not the only sport that has looked into ways to shorten its game for fans. The NBA and NFL have both been public about their desire to find ways to speed up their respective sports, though unilateral changes of this magnitude have not been considered.