{"id":12541,"date":"2012-01-10T22:26:04","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T22:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=12541"},"modified":"2012-01-10T22:28:24","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T22:28:24","slug":"selig-staying-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=12541","title":{"rendered":"Selig staying on?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of the least surprising pieces of news in recent months, ESPN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Buster Olney is reporting<\/a> that 2012 may well not be Bud Selig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final year as MLB Commissioner after all.<\/p>\n

Not that many of us thought it would be.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

As Olney notes, back in 2009 Selig had said he would not continue in his role before he was persuaded to stay on for another three years.\u00c2\u00a0 With two of those three years now up, Selig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future was becoming a talking point; not so much in respect of eyeing a successor, but in the expectation that another extension would be agreed.<\/p>\n

Selig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reign has been one of considerable change.\u00c2\u00a0 Division realignment, Interleague play, the introduction of the Wild Card and the use of Instant Replay have combined to change the MLB landscape considerably.<\/p>\n

The recently agreed Collective Bargaining Agreement not only marked a welcome continuation of labour peace in the sport, it also called for further changes to the MLB competition.\u00c2\u00a0 In the offing is another phase of realignment (the Houston Astros moving to the AL West to make six divisions of five teams), a reconstituted schedule (as yet to be determined), an additional Wild Card (likely in a thrilling one-game \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcplay in\u00e2\u20ac\u2122) and another step along the technology road with Instant Replay expanding to additional plays (such as foul or fair ball calls).<\/p>\n

Selig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leadership of these changes could be seen as surprising considering his self-proclaimed traditionalist attitude to baseball; however that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of why the owners are so keen for him to remain in place.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been able to lead the way while keeping the owners on side \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and they are the ones who appoint him \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as he takes a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsoftly, softly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 considered approach.<\/p>\n

Things can move at a slow pace, such as the three-years and counting wait on the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s potential move into the Giants\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 San Jose territory, but evidentally that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how the owners like it.\u00c2\u00a0 He makes sure he has tested the water and then reaches a consensus that leads to progress without rapid change. Despite the scale of the changes we have witnessed during his ongoing tenure, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a case of evolution rather than revolution.<\/p>\n

If Bud Selig was portrayed as a Spitting Image puppet he would undoubtedly get the John Major grey treatment. Still, for a sport that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had more than its share of revolts, strikes and scandals over the last 50 years, a lack of the drama at the top is no bad thing. Few fans will agree with every decision he has made, but MLB continues to be a wonderful competition enjoyed by millions around the world.<\/p>\n

Just as Man Utd will let Sir Alex Ferguson continue as their manager for as long as he wants, the MLB owners appear happy to postpone the task of finding a replacement for Selig for a few more years yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of the least surprising pieces of news in recent months, ESPN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Buster Olney is reporting that 2012 may well not be Bud Selig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final year as MLB Commissioner after all<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12541"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12544,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12541\/revisions\/12544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}