It's been in the American League since 1973. Some might argue that it helped extend the careers of Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero, David Ortiz, Paul Konerko and several others past & present all but unable to play in the field anymore. Might it be coming to the National League soon? According to Sports Illustrated, it might actually happen as soon as next year.

Veteran SI baseball scribe, MLB Network Insider & "MLB on FOX" analyst Tom Verducci wrote the following column that explores the possibility of the designated hitter in the NL, in large part due to the Houston Astros shifting from the National League Central to the American League West starting this season as well as the stories of two former AL pitchers who actually got injured trying to hit in the NL. The column can be found here:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... index.html

Paul Konerko is a full time 1B and is pretty good over there too. What are you talking about?

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Hopefully it either comes to the NL or is done away with in the AL.

both leagues should be doing the same thing

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Make pitchers hit. Much more interesting game in terms of strategy and managing.

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Team Cutler.

Hank, RV has already stated that Konerko is going to DH more and play less at 1B. Get used to seeing Adam Dunn at 1B more for the 2013 White Sox.

But you said it has extended his career because he is unable to play the field. That has really never been true.

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I said others past & present in my original post.

Agreed. I'd like to think in an alternate universe, had I grown up a fan of an AL team i would stil be partial to the NL game strategy-wise. It's not hard to determine when to pull an AL starter when he's gassed, but having to contemplate pinch-hitting for a pitcher in the 5th while trailing is one of the classic baseball scenarios that managers have been... well, managing since the 1800s

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

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I think a big reason why the DH might be coming to the NL has a lot to do with so many hitters' ballparks and most pitchers aren't exactly great hitters to begin with. I've also got to think the MLB Players Association has a lot to do with the DH possibly becoming uniform in BOTH leagues.

I want no DH at all but there is no way that is happening so I'll settle for both leagues playing under the same rules. No other sport does something as stupid as this.

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Being a bench player in the AL must suck. Pinch Hitting is much more infrequent, and double switches rarely happen. How do you ever get in the game?

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As a pitch runner in the 9th inning.

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Hank, MLB is trying to level the playing field, sort of speak. It is stupid that the AL has the DH and the NL doesn't. The MLBPA isn't about to drop what they feel are valuable jobs around the league.

In fact, remember Hikedi Matsui? When the Yankees won their last World Series in 2009, he was the Series MVP...as a designated hitter.

It will affect roster construction. You don't see too many NL squads stocking rosters with lumbering all -bat types on their bench

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Don't want it. I like AL fans trying to tell me that AL offenses are better and it has nothing to do with the DH.

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It also likely would eliminate double switches involving relievers & subbing position players like we see all the time in National League games.

Have Ozzie Guillen as your manager. Brian Daubach, Jayson Nix, Mark Teahen, and Mark Kotsay will agree.



SHARK, doesn't matter who else you listed, Paul Konerko is playing still because he's is still an All Star caliber play. His career has NOT been extended because of the DH. That is flat out wrong.

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Give everyone steroids. #evenplayingfield

Sort of speak what you will, but having DHs doesn't add jobs to the league... your roster size isn't 25 plus any DHs you want... it's 25. So the DH is taking the spot of the 25th player on a NL club (or in some cases, a crazy NL club will carry a DH -- Dodgers and Thome for example.) You can make a decent argument that the DH position generally pays better than spot #25 on the NL team pays, but in terms of total jobs, it is the same.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

I think we can all agree that Travis Hafner should no longer be in the majors but yet this rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards the Bronx to be born?

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The DH is a joke. Get rid of it & let Pitchers hit in the AL. It will bring back strategy in the AL & make the league more interesting.

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The AL added the designated hitter because attendance and hitting were down. Both are now acceptably up. Mission accomplished, go back to actual baseball now. If you can't be expected to competently field first base whilst hitting a bat really hard, perhaps it's time to retire.

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Right, but theoretically it adds higher priced jobs. Frankly, I don't think it "extended" careers for guys like Frank Thomas or Edgar Martinez. Guys like that are going to play. They would have been at first playing less than great defense. But it isn't as if the elimination of the DH was going to cost guys like that a job.

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What strategy will it bring back? Getting the thrill of watching a pinch hitter who isn't good enough to start bat for a pitcher who can't hit at all? That's awesomely entertaining!

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The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

I have to disagree with you on that. Nobody is gonna trot out a ~38-40 year old Frank Thomas to be their primary option at 1B, much like nobody was in a hurry to give a post-Angels ~35 year old Vladimir Guerrero a crack at being their everyday RF as far back as 2010, when the Rangers opted to make him their DH and he rode a traditional-vlad first half to a .300/29/115, which allowed him to get another year @ 8mil in Baltimore, where he again was the primary DH. If there were no DH, Vlad would have been a ~5th OF / secret-weapon-PH for a much reduced salary, which means that his pride would have mandated that he didn't take the gig.

As for Frank Thomas, starting in 98 he made the switch from primary 1B to primary DH, and short of 27 games in 2003 the guy didn't play 1B more than 10 times in a season after 2000. He never even filled in @ DH once at both of his post-sox stops (oakland, toronto) so I think it's fair to say that while the bulk of his career likely wouldn't have been that impacted if he was forced to be a bad/ish defensive 1B in his early 30s, however, by the time he hits his mid-30s and he's truly egregious in the fields, unless he's willing to eat his pride and be that secret-weapon-PH / emergency-1B and spend 98% of the season riding the pine, then you'd figure that his career would be over sooner than it was.

Either way, I reckon it's gonna be hard to get rid of the DH cuz the PA is gonna want to have ~35 year old guys like Vlad making their $8mil/year type deals, even tho you could argue that in the long-term it's better to have a younger kid get ABs to establish himself and get to a level where he's prone to make more serious $$$, as opposed to languishing for another ~2-3 years while an aging ex-/star pulls some sort of a .242/36/108 type season out of his arse for a 72-90 toronto-type-team. It'll prolly end up staying as is, with "the balance" being deemed to be the most fair way to look out for both younger/developing players in the NL and aging stars in the AL. Hell, isn't there an argument that like, someone in a ex-star's hometown might go buy tickets to see a Jim Thome when he's back in Cleveland, seeing as they're about to unveil a damn statue of him @ the jake?

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There is no way in hell the players association will allow the DH to be removed. The only possible way I can see it happen is if they allow rosters to expand from the 25 man to a 27 and the 40 man to a 45.

I still don't think they get rid of it. The casual fan is going to most likely prefer a high scoring and offensive game and to keep the money of the casual fan flowing in MLB will refuse to get rid of it even.

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How about just having a 10 man batting order? Have a DH and make the pitcher bat.

Compromise...

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That would completely fuck up the stats and history.....and baseball people love their stats. Guys would lose 50-75 abs per year.

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