You know, I guess we all just kind of assumed something about the proposal from MLB to the players and talked about it like it was happening: the designated hitter is coming to the NL.
TECHNICALLY, when that report first emerged, it was only about the owners proposal including the universal designated hitter. The players would still have to approve that part of the proposals.
But we set about discussing the DH in the NL immediately because it was a foregone conclusion: if the owners were willing to permit another option for players to get a little more money (and having the DH in the NL, by way of some trickling impact, is expected to do that across the board), or were willing to create roster flexibility to move the season along (frame it however you prefer), the players would be into it. They were gonna have much bigger fish to fry.
So let’s pause now just to share an actual rumor on that front, if for not reason other than it is confirmation. Yes, the players are into it:
Universal DH proposed by MLB is expected to be easily approved by players, who long favored idea. It won’t impact finances in ‘20 but could boost pay for select few in ‘21 based on better stats. Teams helped: Dodgers (great depth), Nats (same), Brewers (Braun), Mets (Cespedes?)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 13, 2020
So, then, no hurdles here. If baseball is played in 2020, and if it operates under a version of the proposal on the table (or really any other logistically-plausible version I can think of), it’s going to come with the DH being added to the National League.
And as I mentioned before, that could mean it stays for good:
But I mostly want to leave that stuff aside for the moment, though, because it seems to me the much bigger issue adding the DH this year would raise: does this make it all the more likely that the next CBA (after 2021) will include a universal DH? And if so, would the league and the players just decide to go ahead and add the DH next year, too, since they’ve now experienced it and it’s coming anyway?
In other words, if the proposal for this year – this weird, partial, make-due-with-what-you-can-and-pray-it-works year – includes a universal DH, we might look back in a couple years and realize this was the moment the rule changed forever.