Blue Jays ace torches MLB commissioner in (accurate) jab on social media

Every season, Major League Baseball experiences a crisis of pitching injuries, thanks to the in-vogue trend of chasing max-effort velocity. And no one seems to know how to solve the problem — well, no one except MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who back in August floated the concept of mandating starting pitchers to throw at least six innings each start.

Okay, it wasn't just Manfred, although he's the voice and face of the league. The idea was part of larger rule changes being discussed, including limiting the size of pitching staffs and tying starting pitchers to the designated hitter.

The league's idea is to force teams to place greater emphasis on starting pitching and steer them away from the notion of max effort on every pitch and, in theory, reduce injuries. On Thursday, MLB released its report on pitcher injuries, which reignited the debate all over again. One Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher was quick to jump into the fray.

Kevin Gausman took to social media to give his thoughts on Rob Manfred's ideas

The initial idea of requiring starters to go six innings wasn't received well by players in August. When Manfred spoke with the nonprofit Questions for Cancer this week, he walked back that idea.

"I don't think a specific inning requirement, even with exceptions (is) workable in our rule," Manfred said in a video shared by Foul Territory. "I guess maybe the way to say it, (it's) just too blunt an instrument to fix this problem."

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman isn't taking anything Manfred says at face value. He took to social media site X to blast Manfred with a hilarious retort.

"Don’t believe a word this man says. Get ready for 6 innings you get to keep the DH, if not a fan hits in their spot," Gausman posted in response to Manfred's video.

One idea the league reportedly discussed in August was having teams lose the designated hitter spot in the lineup if the starting pitcher doesn't complete the six-inning requirement. There's a little more nuance to the idea, but that's the gist.

It seems that in Gausman's eyes, Manfred has lost all credibility and his tongue-in-cheek idea of having a fan hit in the DH spot is likely tied to the recently publicized notion of MLB discussing the Banana Ball-inspired "golden at-bat" rule, which came up during a competition committee meeting earlier this offseason. Thankfully, Manfred has since confirmed it won't be a rule change coming to MLB.

Most fans probably agree that MLB's rule changes in recent years have been good for the game. Toronto's ace, however, is obviously still skeptical of Manfred and his ideas. Only four more seasons to go, Kevin.