DH issue rises anew: Keep position or abolish it?

With the defensive misadventures of Vladimir Guerrero reviving the debate about whether the World Series should be played under two sets of rules, Texas Rangers President Nolan Ryan said baseball should solve the issue by ridding itself of the designated hitter once and for all.

With National League rules in force in San Francisco, the Rangers had to play designated hitter Guerrero in the field or lose their cleanup batter. Guerrero committed two errors in right field in Game 1 on Wednesday, and Texas Manager Ron Washington benched him for Game 2 on Thursday.

“We have a person that we’ve gone out and got strictly for that position — as a DH — and they don’t have that [in the NL] because they play a different game,” Ryan said. “I’m not in agreement with that.

“It’s a big challenge with the Players Assn., because you would be taking a high-paid player off the team if you did away with the DH. But if you ask me what my preference would be, it would be to eliminate the DH.”

The concerns about the union objection might be overstated, as teams increasingly shy away from one-dimensional players and from lucrative contracts for older players.

Of the 14 American League teams, only six had a designated hitter with 400 at-bats this season. Guerrero’s $6.5million was just above average within that group, with a salary range from $12.5 million (Boston’s David Ortiz) to $400,000 (Toronto’s Adam Lind).

Michael Weiner, the union’s executive director, frequently canvasses players and said no one has asked about standardizing the DH rule — either by eliminating the DH or extending it to the NL.

“I think this generation accepts the current situation,” Weiner said Thursday.

Weiner rejected the notion that the union is standing in the way of getting rid of the DH.

“I have no indication that’s an issue on the owners’ radar screen,” Weiner said.

And it is not, according to Commissioner Bud Selig.

“That is not on the long list of things I have discussed with clubs,” Selig said.

The concept of expanded playoffs is on that list. Selig said he plans to discuss this winter whether to extend the division series from five to seven games, whether to add a second wild-card team and whether a play-in wild-card series would be one game or best of three.

“There are a lot of opinions of how to do it, or if to do it,” Selig said.

Weiner said he believed significant changes to the playoff system could not be implemented until 2012, as part of a new collective bargaining agreement. Selig said he could envision a new playoff system as soon as next year.

Selig declined to discuss the Dodgers’ ownership situation, which is in limbo as Frank and Jamie McCourt await a court ruling to determine whether he is the sole owner of the team. The ruling must be issued by Dec. 28.

Secondhand smoke

The Rangers do their best to shelter Josh Hamilton from substance-abuse dangers but couldn’t keep him from thinking about drugs during Game 1. The center fielder, like lots of others at AT&T Park, smelled marijuana smoke in the air while standing in the outfield.

“I could smell weed in the outfield,” Hamilton told the New York Post. “It was crazy. I was looking at the cops a couple of times during the game.”

Hamilton said he doesn’t worry about exposure to marijuana. “Weed, no, that wasn’t my deal,” said Hamilton, who has been treated for alcohol and narcotics addiction.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.