Willson Contreras: Cubs May Ignore Mound Visit Rule Changes

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras is apparently no fan of Major League Baseball's new rules intended to improve pace of play. 

"I don't even care," Contreras said Tuesday while indicating he may visit the mound more times than allowed, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com. "If I have to go [out there] again and pay the price for my team I will."

His comments come after Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area noted Monday MLB announced new rules that include decreasing the time between innings and limiting mound visits to six per team in a nine-inning regulation contest.

Despite the new rules, the league decided against adding a pitch clock in 2018.

Contreras—who will be working with two new pitchers in the rotation after the Cubs signed Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood with Jake Arrieta and John Lackey no longer on the roster—suggested he wouldn't mind accepting a fine if necessary.

"What about a tight game or an extra-inning game and you have to go out there?" he asked, per Rogers. "They cannot say anything about that. That's my team. If they are going to fine me for mound visit No. 7, I'll pay the price."

Rogers noted MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and chief officer Joe Torre said umpires will simply tell catchers to return if a team has already visited the mound six times in a game, and the player could be ejected if he refuses or argues.

According to David Adler of MLB.com, umpires can also use discretion and allow an additional visit if he determines there was a legitimate mix-up between the catcher and pitcher.

Each side will have one more mound visit per additional frame played should a game go into extra innings.