Jonathan Papelbon: New Bean Ball Rules 'BS'

The MLB is beginning this season with a couple new rule changes, changes which could have a large impact on the game. One, the Kenny Rogers rule, involves scuffing or dirtying the ball. (Unfortunately, no rule has been made regarding unnecessary emotional outbursts; that could be Kenny Rogers Rule 1a.)

Anyway, the rule with perhaps the most potential impact on the game is the new "12-second rule," which requires that pitchers deliver the ball within 12 seconds when the bases are clear. The rule is designed to both speed up the game and eliminate confrontational situations ... and Red Sox fireballer Jonathan Papelbon is not amused by any of it:

Said Papelbon, "They're implementing all these new rules. I don't really know. I'm not even going to worry about it. . . just go out and pitch and I'm not going even going to worry about like 'Oh, I gotta get this pitch in in one second.'
"They're going to be sticklers about it and then they're talking about the bean ball and, 'Oh, we had so many bean balls last year." And it's like, well, Dude. . . they're sitting there trying to tell us that you can't make it obvious that you're going after a guy. If one of our guys gets hit in the first inning (they're saying) don't go out there hit one and one of their guys in the second inning.

"That's bull****, you know? You're going to gain no respect from your team and we're in the trenches together, man. If I go out there and say if my guy, Mikey Lowell or somebody like that gets hit, well, you're damn right I'm going to come get one of their guys. I'll go get him the very next inning. If I didn't do that I'd would get no respect form my teammates, you know? That's just not the way the game works, they're trying to change the game on us, man.

"It's part of the game, man. You can't change the game. You ask anybody who has played in the last 100 years if they had any repsect for their teammates, they do it. It's showing the other team in that other dugout that, 'Hey, we ain't gonna let this happen.' With them trying to change that rule, I think it's kind of retarded."

There you have it. J-Pap's clearly pissed, and perhaps with good reason. Then again, if it's about supporting his guys, he might just have to find more subversive ways of building team unity.