Willson Contreras Gives Zero F*cks About New MLB Rules

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras is not a fan of the new MLB rules and he made it known publicly on Tuesday.

Major League Baseball announced new rules that will be implemented in the 2018 season, hoping the policies can help the pace of play problem in the sport. Although there won’t be a pitch clock, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred unveiled the set of rules that includes limiting mound visits.

Here’s the new rule on mound visits. Via MLB.com.

• Mound visits: Mound visits will be limited to six per team per nine innings. Teams will receive an additional visit for every extra inning played. Any manager, coach or player visit to the mound will count as a mound visit. Visits to the mound to clean cleats in rainy weather, to check on an injury or potential injury or after the announcement of an offensive substitution are excepted. Also, normal communication between player and pitcher that do not require either to vacate their position on the field do not count as a visit. If a team is out of visits, the umpire will have discretion to grant a visit at the catcher’s request if he believes there has been a cross-up between the pitcher and catcher.

So, teams are limited to six mound visits per nine innings, but even at the end of the rule it gives umpires the power to grant another visit if the catcher requests one. Well, it doesn’t seem like Contreras cares if he’s going to be granted permission or not.

Contreras does not give a single fuck about what happens if he breaks that rule and gave reporters this awesome quote.

Willson Contreras isn't deterred by new mound visit rule: "What about if you have a tight game & you have to go out there? They can't say anything about that, that's my team & we just care about wins. If they're gonna fine me about number 7 mound visit, I'll pay the price." #Cubs

— Josh Frydman (@Josh_Frydman) February 20, 2018

You have to love the passion and competitive nature from Contreras, but the thing is the penalty could end up hurting the Cubs more than not going out there for another mound visit.

Contreras had a breakout 2017 season, and despite missing time because of a leg injury the catcher still had a 3.2 fWAR, hitting 21 home runs with a slash line of .276/.356/.499. An important piece in the Cubs lineup and a unique set of skills defensively behind the plate. The thing is, Contreras can be a rebel all he wants, but no one’s going to want that if it leads to an ejection, which breaking the mound visit rule could apparently happen.

Joe Torre says the umpire will tell a catcher to get back behind the plate if he attempts to violate the 6 mound visit rule…if he keeps going it could lead to an ejection, etc. MLB hoping doesn't get to that

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) February 20, 2018

Here’s the complete breakdown of the rule, including a more detailed explanation of the umpire’s discretion.

I) Mound Visits 
1. Number
A. 2018 Championship Season. Mound visits without a pitching change shall be limited to six (6) per team, per nine innings. For any extra-innings played, each Club shall be entitled to one additional non-pitching change mound visit per inning.
B. OBR 5.10(l). Official Baseball Rule 5.10(l), which governs mound visits by a manager or coach, remains in effect (i.e., a pitcher must be removed on the second visit by a manager/coach in an inning).

2. Definition of Mound Visit. A manager or coach trip to the mound to meet with the pitcher shall constitute a visit. A player leaving his position to confer with the pitcher, including a pitcher leaving the mound to confer with another player, shall also constitute a mound visit, regardless of where the visit occurs or the length of the visit, except that the following shall not constitute mound visits:
A. Discussions between pitchers and position player(s) that (i) occur between batters in the normal course of play and do not require either the position player(s) or the pitcher to relocate;
B. Visits by position players to the mound to clean spikes in rainy conditions;
C. Visits to the mound due to an injury or potential injury of the pitcher; and
D. Visits to the mound after the announcement of an offensive substitution.

3. Cross-Up in Signs. In the event a team has exhausted its allotment of mound visits in a game (or extra inning) and the home plate umpire determines that the catcher and pitcher did not have a shared understanding of the location or type of pitch that had been signaled by the catcher (otherwise referred to as a “cross-up”), the home plate umpire may, upon request of the catcher, allow the catcher to make a brief mound visit. Any mound visit resulting from a cross-up prior to a team exhausting its allotted number of visits shall count against a team’s total number of allotted mound visits.

Contreras hasn’t been the only Cubs player to speak out against the new rules. Jon Lester had the following to say regarding the issue.

Via the Chicago Sun-Times.

“I get the mound-visit thing,” said Lester, whose catcher, Willson Contreras, might make more trips to the mound than any other catcher in the league. “But also, what people [who] aren’t in the game don’t understand is there’s so much technology now, there’s so many cameras on the field, that every stadium now has a camera on the catcher’s crotch. So they know the signs before you even get there.

“Now we’ve got Apple watches. Now we’ve got people being accused of sitting in a tunnel [trying to steal signs]. There’s reasons behind the mound visit. He’s not just coming out there asking what time I’m going to dinner or ‘How you feeling?’ There’s reasons behind everything, and I think if you take that away, it takes away from the beauty of the baseball game.”

New Cubs catcher Chris Gimenez hit on the head with his comments. Yes, there’s a lot of dead time during games, but the mound visit rule really isn’t going to fix that problem.

Veteran backup catcher Chris Gimenez isn’t a big fan of restricted mound visits, either.

“[But] six is at least doable,” he said. “If it was two or three, that’s an issue. . . . I just think the mound visits aren’t what’s slowing the game down. There’s some fundamental things that you need to leave alone, and I think that’s one of those things.”

The other rules involve commercial times for local and national televised games.

The timer will count down from 2:05 for breaks in locally televised championship season games, from 2:25 for breaks in nationally televised championship season games, and from 2:55 for tie-breaker and postseason games.

MLB opted not to have a pitch clock, giving the pitcher a certain amount of time to deliver the ball, as well as a between-batter clock.

Before the new rules were official, Lester said fans know what they’re getting when they go to a baseball game.

Jon Lester…not a fan of potential pace-of-play rule changes: "I think it’s a terrible idea. It’s all terrible. The beautiful thing about our sport is there’s no time. To be honest with you, the fans know what they’re getting themselves into when they go to a game.”

— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) February 16, 2018

While Lester’s right about that, the problem is MLB has to think about the big picture and that’s to continue growing the game to a wider audience. If more fans single out the pace of play in the game being an issue the league has a responsibility to address it.

Rob Manfred: "Pace of game is a fan issue. Our research tells us its a fan issue."

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) February 20, 2018

Manfred admitted its at home fans watching on tv who don't like the pace or length of games more than those at the game, according to their research.

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) February 20, 2018

It all goes back to the money. TV contracts are where these teams and the league make bank, so you bet they’re going to try to do everything they can to get as many eyeballs on their product and pace of play is step one. Players can hate it all they want, but at the end they’ll be happy down the road when the revenue keeps going up and they get their piece of the pie.