Five seconds hardly seems worth talking about Greg Luzinski Jersey , and in a way it’s not. ver the length of a game, but the real heavy lifting toward solving baseball’s many issues is still to come.Eliminating one mound visit for the upcoming season isn’t going to suddenly make baseball America’s Pastime once again, either. America has moved on, even as a dedicated core of fans keeps baseball propped up and keeps profits flowing to owners.Actually, the changes announced Thursday in an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ union don’t do much of anything to make the game better in 2019. If anything, they are merely Rob Manfred’s way to show that he’s trying to do something — anything, really — to keep baseball from growing too stale.Still, it’s a start in a sport that in normal times resists changes like no other. And it’s a signal that there is a might just be a new willingness among owners and players to make the game great once again.Baby steps at best, but that’s what baseball is. Keeping things like they have been in the past is part of its charm and a big part of the reason it has been around and is still relevant after more than a century and a half.And, really http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , were you expecting more?Maybe next year when Manfred is free to introduce rules requiring relievers face at least three batters. Maybe a few years from now after issues like the shift and the declining number of balls put in play are finally tackled.Hopefully never when it comes to the DH, which has no place in the National League despite the best efforts of the union to get it implemented.The agreement announced Thursday was unprecedented if only because both management and the union found enough common ground to make a deal. That it got made was groundbreaking in a way because the two sides rarely agree on anything, but the reason it got made was largely because neither side was forced to give up muchThe owners got superficial changes that will make it look like they’re trying to speed up the game. The union got a chance to reopen contract negotiations, three years before the current collective bargaining agreement expires.That’s important for players because they took their eye off the ball in the last negotiations. While they asked for things like more days off and private chefs in every clubhouse, owners got increases in the luxury tax that prompted more teams to cut veterans who cost them money and chilled the free agent market.Beginning contract talks not even halfway through the current agreement doesn’t mean players will get the changes they want or that there will be labor peace beyond 2021. But it does mean both sides can begin exchanging ideas that might lead toward a longer agreement.“How things manifest themselves moving forward remains to be seen,” union chief Tony Clark said.Under the agreement, breaks between innings will be five seconds shorter this season and teams will be allowed only five visits to the mound each game without a pitching change instead of six. The union agreed not to fight new rules that make a reliever face at least three batters or end an inning next year, while owners agreed not to try and implement a pitching clock until 2022 at the earliest.Again, baby steps. But baseball fans should cheer the fact the two sides are at least talking so baseball doesn’t get sucked into the labor disputes that ruined the sport for many fans in the 1990s.What comes next will determine just how serious players and owners are in making desperately needed changes to the game itself.The bigger problems have little to do with the length of time between innings or how many conferences are held on the mound. They have everything to do with the way baseball is being played in the analytical age, which is the greatest threat facing the game.Starting pitching has been devalued Mitch Williams Jersey , as has batting average. The front office doesn’t care if players strike out three times a game, as long as they can produce an occasional home run. There are long breaks between balls put into play, and the shift not only looks out of place but artificially limits hitting chances.Shaving five seconds off the break between innings doesn’t change that. Neither does taking away one trip to the mound.The good news is the conversation has officially been started. There seems to be a growing realization that baseball is in a funk and needs to find a way out.But save the cheering until someone hits a home run.____Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Dodgers have landed a right-handed hitter to complement their deep, left-handed heavy lineup in free-agent outfielder A.J. Pollock.Pollock and Los Angeles agreed to a $55 million, four-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because the agreement had not been announced.The agreement includes a $10 million player option for 2023 with a $5 million buyout that would make the deal worth over $60 million for five seasons. Pollock could opt out after the 2022 season and $45 million, becoming a free agent again, if he meets specified plate appearance thresholds.The 31-year-old outfielder hit .257 last year with 21 home runs, 65 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 113 games for NL West rival Arizona.He will fill a void created when the Dodgers traded outfielders and right-handed hitters Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp to Cincinnati for a pair of prospects in December.Pollock figures to play center field, with manager Dave Roberts using a platoon of Cody Bellinger Dave Cash Jersey , Chris Taylor, Enrique Hernandez, Joc Pederson, Andrew Toles and possibly top prospect Alex Verdugo in the corners.Pollock missed nearly two months last year because of a broken left thumb, the latest in a long line of injuries that have limited Pollock to 113 games since his breakout All-Star season in 2015.He rejected a $17.9 million qualifying offer by the Diamondbacks in November.If the deal is completed, the Dodgers would lose their second-highest pick in next June’s amateur draft, currently slated to be No. 31, and lose $500,000 of their 2019-20 international signing bonus allocation.Arizona would receive an extra draft pick after the first round, giving it what currently is projected to be the 16th http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , 26th, 32nd, 33rd, 56th, 75th and 78th selections. The 32nd and 33rd picks are compensation for the loss of Pollock and for pitcher Patrick Corbin, who agreed to a $140 million, six-year deal with Washington.