Major League Baseball executives will meet with the umpires' union next week to discuss possible alterations for two of the new rules implemented for the 2014 season, according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal.
Rosenthal outlines the specific rules that have led to confusion thus far:
The first, at minimum, would be a guideline in which catchers will be asked to give the runner a lane to the plate in their initial positioning, further reducing the possibility of collisions at home plate.
The second would be a less strict interpretation of the transfer rule, in which umpires would rule on catches the way they did in the past, using more of a common-sense approach rather than following the letter of the law.
MLB officials and representatives from the players' union have already met to discuss the conflicts, according to Rosenthal, and one official indicates a growing frustration among players and their perception of the transfer rule.
"To say it has been a hot topic with the players would be an understatement," the union official told FOX Sports.
Tony La Russa, MLB executive and Hall of Fame manager, indicates that there was a willingness among teams to enforce the new rules for catchers to leave an open lane for base runners approaching home plate. But he feels catchers have started to disregard the rule in recent weeks, which has caused further confusion.
"If we allow the catcher to stand there in front of the plate and it's not a violation, then -- our managers are going to say, 'Whoa, wait a minute. We were teaching our guys to slide because they had something to slide to,'
"If that's taken away, we're going to get to exactly where we started. We're going to be encouraging collisions rather than trying to avoid them. What we hope is that if we correct this initial positioning, at least then we won't have runners as soon as they make a turn deciding, 'I've got to plow this guy.' "
