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Debate: Are the minor leagues right to introduce the 'automatic runner' rule?

Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Minor League Baseball announced a highly controversial rule change Wednesday that will see a runner put on second base beginning in the 10th inning at all levels of play to help promote quicker resolutions to games.

It's a development that's angered some baseball fans, with purists saying it cheapens the game, while others believe it's the right move. It's also a rule that could eventually be used in the majors, depending on its trial run.

For now, two of theScore's MLB editors, Brandon Wile and Michael Bradburn, debate the merits of each side to determine whether this rule change is good or bad for minor-league baseball:

Wile: It's welcome and necessary for the minors

The fundamental reason that minor-league teams even exist is for the benefit of their respective major-league outfits. Triple-A, Double-A, and Single-A operate together as a feeder system for the big clubs, allowing prospects to get the reps needed to prepare them, while weeding out players who don't belong. The wins and losses along the way count, but do they really matter? If the Triple-A team goes 54-87, the major-league front office doesn't lose sleep. The priority is making sure that players are available and prepared to handle the call once the MLB team comes knocking.

With that in mind, having minor-league games go long into extra innings is a bad thing. Managers are under pressure not to burn out arms, and they'd never want to risk having a position player pitch in a game and get hurt. There would be nothing worse for a Triple-A manager than having to use every arm he has to finish a 15-inning game, only to have a pitcher on the MLB roster suffer an injury - in that case, the appropriate minor-league pitcher wouldn't be available because he was used in a game that ran long on a day he wasn't scheduled to pitch.

Plus, the minors afford MLB commissioner Rob Manfred the luxury of experimenting and seeing results. In this case, the "automatic runner" rule should work at the lower levels, but shouldn't necessarily be adopted by MLB in the future.

Bradburn: It's ill-conceived at best

Let's assume, for a moment, that Manfred does not intend to introduce this rule at the major-league level, and that it's just a way to cut down the length of minor-league games.

But here's the thing about minor-league teams - they don't exist in a vacuum. Not only do major-league teams benefit from the revenue generated by fielding competitive rosters in Triple-A, Double-A, and any other farm league, but those minor-league teams are also important for testing the mettle of staff members looking for their break.

If the argument for doing this in the minor leagues is that wins and losses don't matter, then why not just end games in ties after one inning of extras - like in spring games?

The fact is, it's not a terrible idea to put in some form of this rule in the lower minor leagues or in short campaigns like the Arizona Fall League or the Dominican Winter League. But even so, neither teams nor players seem to be clamoring for this change, and the players' association even vetoed it this winter so it wouldn't impact the 2018 All-Star Game - a contest that doesn't matter in the slightest.

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