This offseason, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and his right-hand man Joe Torre were set on making changes to the game of baseball to increase offense, speed up the game, and gain a larger audience. Among ideas pitched by the two were a no-pitch intentional walk (since approved), a smaller strike zone, a pitch clock, and starting extra innings with runners on second base. Some ideas (strike zone) were fine, others (starting extras with a runner in scoring position) were colossally misguided, though Manfred said that wasn’t presented for the big leagues just yet. Tony Clark, executive director of the MLBPA, told ESPN that with only weeks until the start of the season, there’s no time to discuss and implement significant changes. “I’m always interested in trying to hear ways to make improvements,” Clark said, “but I think the game itself is pretty sexy the way it is despite its challenges.” Manfred is not happy or sexy.

Speaking at Spring Training media day, Manfred came out saltier than a poorly balanced soft pretzel:

Manfred later added: Only I can fix.

There are things in baseball that need fixing. But just waving your hand and making them so probably isn’t the best idea. It’s not shocking that the first commissioner to go full executive order would be baseball’s, but it’s a bad idea to go full dictator on the league, even if the rules allow you to do so. I guess next year we’ll see a pitch clock, a smaller strike zone, a limit on mound visits, a two-run home run double-wall, automatic outs for balls that spend more than 3 seconds in the air, and a hard cap of 130 pitches per team, per game. After that, a footrace decides who wins.