Cutting Down on Time Outs = Moronic

In an effort to make major league games go quicker umpires decided the best thing to do was to make time outs a thing of the past.

This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.  Was this idea come up with by someone who has no idea how to play baseball.  I mean seriously, what's the point?  Beyond not saving much more than thirty seconds on any given pitch, this takes a tool away from hitters and COMPLETELY changes the approach hitters have to the game.

Most pitchers like to work at a specific tempo.  Some pitchers like to work fast, and the only line of defense against getting quick-pitched is to call a time out and make a pitcher slow his pace.  For some stupid reason this line of defense is seemingly being taken away from the hitters.  Hitters are now at a huge disadvantage in the "mind game", and that is a huge part of baseball.  Anyone who is for less time outs really doesn't get the purpose of them, or is a big league pitcher... 

Without time outs hitter are not put in a position to succeed because they CANNOT control the flow of the game at all.  Not to mention, that if a hitter happens to be confused on a sign from the third base coach (which does happen), they are pretty much screwed.

Judging from Joe West's comments about Yankee/Red Sox games, the league (and umps) are really anxious to cut down on 4 hour games.  Well, Joe, so are the fans.  Yankee/Sox games are basically unwatchable 4 hours disasters involving 19 trips to the mound and about 20 runs a game.  But cutting down on time outs is not the way to accomplish this...

Regardless of how awful and long those games are, you CANNOT change the way the game is played because there is a desired game length the league is shooting for.  At the end of the day, it's the game that's most important.

Want to make games shorter?  Lose the DH...very rarely do National League games take a quarter of a day to finish...Just give the hitters back their time outs.

Just Sayin'...