Time is of the Essence--Or Not

 The Cubs’ Jon Lester, he of the new six-year $155 million contract, isn’t wild about efforts to try and speed up the game.  For Lester, it’s a matter of no clock no hurry.

“The fans know what they are getting into when they show up,” he told the Tribune on Monday.  “So, if it’s a three hour game, it’s a three hour game.  If it’s a five-hour game, it’s a five-hour game. There’s nothing you can do to change that.”

Nor should anyone want to, apparently.  “There’s such a cat-and-mouse game as far as messing up a hitter’s timing, messing up pitchers’ timing…different things that fans and people who never played this game don’t understand.”  Forget for a moment that most fans have played the game at one point or another in their lives; they know about timing.  I wonder if Jon Lester will ever understand what it’s like to worry about where the money for next month’s tuition will come from, or next week’s food bill or insurance or the dentist….

MLB intends to tackle the time issue, with or without Lester’s support.  Pitch clocks are going to be used in the minors this year while the commissioner’s office hopes to convince players it’s in their best interests to be ready to go at the start of every half-inning 20 to 30 seconds before the end of commercial breaks.  What this means is the commercials would still go on forever, but the action would start as soon as the cameras cut back.  Won’t that be fun in a most disconcerting way?