One of the beautiful aspects of baseball is the lack of a clock. A game ends after 27 outs (when the game isn’t tied, which is another wonderful element). But baseball is not watched in a vacuum. Few things in life are not influenced by time. Hence, I agree with Joe West that MLB games should be sped up…to make the game more fan friendly.
As far as I know, no fan dislikes a hitter stepping out of the box or a pitcher shaking off a sign or even two. The issue is the number of mound meetings that, in some cases, are just done to buy time for the relief pitcher to get warm. As Red Sox fans, we have seen Jorge Posada too many times go out to the mound to be immediately followed by a Joe that pulls the pitcher. A number of rules could be implemented to eliminate mound visits to warm up a relief pitcher.
A simple way to shorten the game and be fan friendly would be to limit the number of player-only meetings during the inning. Now, the intention is not to limit pitcher-catcher communication but increase it. The pitcher and catcher could use the same radio technology as the quarterback and offensive coordinator. The pitcher would have the two-way and the catcher could only listen as to not tip off the hitter. Hopefully, the use of last century technology would decrease the need for Posada to “…visit CC Sabathia eight times in a single inning…” during the Fall Classic.