From Buster Olney:
They might as well do it right now, in an effort to make the game better. If the Yankees win tonight, there will be five days until the World Series starts, and Major League Baseball should use that time to define the parameters of expanded replay use and determine how the communication will work.
Commissioner Bud Selig would be applauded for making an aggressive push to correct the kind of mistakes that we have seen time and time and time again this postseason, and while there will be a lot of hand-wringing over the mechanics of expanded replay, about how to make it happen, it should be very simple: Just get it right.
On calls of fair or foul, on calls of safe or out, on all calls not involving balls or strikes, just get it right.
Don’t put the onus on the managers to throw out some silly red challenge flag — just get it right. If an umpire such as John Hirshbeck were to oversee the replay booth during the World Series, he could be in communication with the crew chief, and if replay shows that a call is wrong, just stop the game and fix it. Anyone watching the television knows, in almost all cases, whether a call is wrong or right within 20 seconds after a play is concluded. Major League Baseball should give the umpires those same tools.
No matter how you felt about replay coming into the postseason, you have to see by now that replay is necessary. The human element of the game does not seem so sacred when said humans are making 2 to 3 awful decisions per contest. Being that fans can instantly review every single call, it has become impossible for umpires to make errors that go unnoticed. The umpires have not gotten worse, it is just that the scrutiny of their decisions has increased. As such, it is only logical to give the umpires a way to review calls.
MLB can institute the simplest form of replay possible: have a replay official who is given the same replays that we get on television call down to the field at the point of a controversial call and either confirm or overturn the call. If those of us at home can know within 30 seconds whether the ump was wrong, it should not take any longer than that for the umpires to reach the same conclusion. It is time to let the players represent the game instead of the umpires. The bevy of incorrect calls this postseason is an embarrassment to the game and must be addressed.
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7 Responses to Olney: Expand Instant Replay Now
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TIQ IQ
Eh, I’m against expanding instant replay. Calls have a way of evening out (see Swisher) and while a blown call in the playoffs can be critical both teams play under the same rules with the same umps. I don’t want every ground ball bang-bang play at first reviewed, or pick-off attempt or play at the plate. I think umps for the most part get it right and do a good job. When you have to slow something down to super-slow speed and blow it up to show that someone was out or safe by 3 inches I say let the players play and let the umps ump. When necessary if one ump has a better angle then another they can confer and get it right but otherwise why even have umps on the field everything can be done from an umpring booth.
Evening out is not a reason to not have replay. We want less bad calls, not makeup calls.
Agreed. Personally I’m against replay because that last thing baseball needs is more delays. Its already the most boring thing to watch without beer and adding 10-15 min on games that end after midnight just isn’t acceptable.
What do you if the umpire’s original call stops play, as when he calls foul a ball that is fair and the ball remains in the field of play? Or if a reversed call would have eliminated a force play and the fielder then did not apply a tag? This requires a good deal of thought before it is put into practice.
This is a key factor. The other day when the foul down the left field line was fair and the ump called it foul, Melky quit on the ball when the foul call came and the runner quit running. Where would you put that guy after a replay review? Maybe if the call was correct, Melky makes a great throw and nails the guy at second. Maybe he falls down and the guy gets a triple. There may be some additional spots where replay could help but not many. We pay umps, let them officiate. If they need to be reviewed and sactioned, do that.
I’m a big Yankees fan from over here in the UK. We introduced instant replay to cricket this year with mixed results. It does work, can increase tension where fans wait for the board to show ‘out or not out’ (they play the Jaws music whlst we wait!). But… sometimes, the replays are inconclusive, and this makes it worse. We wait for minutes for a decision that is still wrong ! The Texeira one on the bag recently… I watched the same pictures the TV guys were watching thinking Tex stayed on the bag and the runner was out, but they were saying the call was blown.
Keep up the good work, love the site. Go Yankees !!
Agree with Joe O on this one.