The Associated Press lists the rules for replay to be used in 2014. What I like best is the review will be performed by umpires not on the field of play. I do wish the review umpire was in the pressbox so he could call for a review independent of the managers or field umpires.
Who controls the video that actually gets sent?. For example, for any given play, there are several camera angles that cover the play. The home teams network probably controls the cameras, or maybe the away team has it’s own cameras. If a given play has an angle that would lead to an unfavorable call for the home team, how do we ensure MLB in NY sees that play from that angle?
They have made this a lot more complicated than it needs to be, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.
Do not like this one bit. Challenges are a gimmick, nothing more. It’s the umpires’ job to get calls right, not the manager’s. Game times need to be shortened, not elongated. Would prefer no replay at all but if it must exist, limit it only to scoring plays or possibly expand to baserunning, disputed fair/foul calls from 7th inning on.
I just returned from watching a weeks worth of Fall League games in Arizona and got to see several games where the replay rules were being tested. For what it’s worth there were 11 challenges in the 4 games with the replay rules in effect, with only 3 of the calls being overturned. The managers seemed to have been instructed to request a replay for anything close (it was a test after all) as most of the challenges were on bang-bang plays at first (or similar type calls).
My $.02: It worked I guess, but if umpires are right 99% of the time do we really want to spend all of this time arguing about that other 1%? Wouldn’t that time and effort have been better spent into finding ways to keep the games moving and not allowing them to drag out forever?
Roger L. Mills » Thanks very much, Roger. I suspect the limit on challenges should prevent that. I hope the managers will save these for egregious situations.