Sports Daily: Enhanced Replay is Here, Your Thoughts?

[Perfect Zero]

I agree with JFB123; I don't see why MLB could not have added a fifth umpire to every crew with one rotating in the media booth with a headset and a video feed. All you would need for communication would be a headset and a guy upstairs telling either the Crew Chief or the Home Plate Umpire that a play was wrong and where the runners need to go. We really didn't need to pretend to be football on this one.

With that said, I think that this is a great move for Baseball and it will only get better with refinement. I like all of the challengable calls, although I would like to see fair/foul over the basses and in the infield and HBPs reviewable as well. I've already talked about the challenge system and I think that they are going to have to go over it well with the managers before Spring Training hits.

The thing is, I think this will actually speed the game up. If a manager has a challenge and he wants to use it, he can ask the umpires to look at it. If he doesn't have a challenge, then he doesn't need to be arguing. If this cuts out the manager making an *** of himself and delaying the game, then it's good for the game. Hopefully managers will have a shorter leash when it comes to arguments.

A side-note on the playoffs: As a fan of a team that has been three of the past four years... there may be more teams in but not winning the Division hurts a whole lot. Adding two teams and making a one game play-in was a great move because you have to win your Division in the regular season to have a good chance.

[Blzer]

Here's another thing though: baseball is the only sport where we aren't told the effect of a play over the loudspeaker, neither by official nor PA announcer.

Will they start doing that as well, too? Fans just have to be reliant on the final result without any word as to why it happened, what they saw, etc. I think it will leave home crowds restless when calls are overturned without documented evidence or observations. Yeah, they'll get riled up regardless... but being kept in the dark can hurt more sometimes.

Plus, I love being mad at umpires. I certainly wish they got more calls right, but when they don't and a break goes your way, you love the feel of relief that the game can throw up anything your way. You know deep in the bottom of your heart that your team has earned victories, playoff berths, and maybe even championships due to blown calls. You might have lost them as well, but that dice roll is always enticing.

These aren't the reasons I'm against video replay at all, though. I'm not necessarily against it, but I don't yet know if I like the system they put into place. I described what I would have liked to see once (which is pretty close to it I guess), but nothing involving an abusive challenge system.

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by JFB123

I like extended challenges but we don't need to make this like football. Why not add an extra official to call down to the head umpire and say 'hey, you might want to take a second look at this'. Makes more sense to me but I guess I will get use to this system. Way better than not having challenges.

Quote: Originally Posted by Perfect Zero

I agree with JFB123; I don't see why MLB could not have added a fifth umpire to every crew with one rotating in the media booth with a headset and a video feed. All you would need for communication would be a headset and a guy upstairs telling either the Crew Chief or the Home Plate Umpire that a play was wrong and where the runners need to go. We really didn't need to pretend to be football on this one. With that said, I think that this is a great move for Baseball and it will only get better with refinement. I like all of the challengable calls, although I would like to see fair/foul over the basses and in the infield and HBPs reviewable as well. I've already talked about the challenge system and I think that they are going to have to go over it well with the managers before Spring Training hits. The thing is, I think this will actually speed the game up. If a manager has a challenge and he wants to use it, he can ask the umpires to look at it. If he doesn't have a challenge, then he doesn't need to be arguing. If this cuts out the manager making an *** of himself and delaying the game, then it's good for the game. Hopefully managers will have a shorter leash when it comes to arguments. A side-note on the playoffs: As a fan of a team that has been three of the past four years... there may be more teams in but not winning the Division hurts a whole lot. Adding two teams and making a one game play-in was a great move because you have to win your Division in the regular season to have a good chance.

No need for an extra crew member.

Since it's being handled by a central office it could just be their job to decided when we look at something.

Just like hockey does it.

[DrJones]

I'm in favour with one caveat: no instant replay to be used in Red Sox/Yankees matchups. Those games take two weeks to play as is.

[lhslancers]

Quote: Originally Posted by TripleCrown9

Or the Armando Galarraga incident.

Imagine that and on the last play of the game no less. I hope they don't overdo this whole thing. You hate to see a bad call result in a loss especially in a big game but part of the charm of baseball is the occasional blown call. The umps get most of these right with the exception of balls and strikes which is an entirely different matter of course.

[jmik58]

Quote: Originally Posted by lhslancers

Imagine that and on the last play of the game no less. I hope they don't overdo this whole thing. You hate to see a bad call result in a loss especially in a big game but part of the charm of baseball is the occasional blown call. The umps get most of these right with the exception of balls and strikes which is an entirely different matter of course.

What could really be horrible is a situation where a manager loses his challenge from a play earlier in the game and a Jim Joyce last-play-of-the-game instance happens. Under the rules as I understand them, the umps would not be allowed to review a play past the 7th inning to benefit a team that previously challenged a play incorrectly in that game.

If Leyland would have missed a challenge in the 3rd inning of the game with Galarraga (speaking hypothetically) it would have prevented Joyce's missed call on the final play of the game from being reviewed.

I'm not so sure I'm a big fan of this caveat for allowing/disallowing reviews. If you're going to have reviews, the system should be there to fix plays that need to be fixed -- period. A call in the 7th or beyond isn't any more/less worthy of correction simply because a manager missed on a challenge earlier in the game.

I honestly see that aspect of the rule getting changed as soon as an obvious big call is missed (playoffs?). It reminds me of the NFL rule (since changed) that disallowed a challenge on a play that was being challenged anyways, due to a coach getting an unsportsmanlike penalty for challenging a non-challengeable play.

[ImTellinTim]

If that's what it is, that's a ridiculous rule, and you're right that it's going to take some mind-numbingly bad call to get them to change it.

If you're going to have replay, you shouldn't just arbitrarily decide when not to use it. It defeats the purpose of having replay in the first place.

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmik58

What could really be horrible is a situation where a manager loses his challenge from a play earlier in the game and a Jim Joyce last-play-of-the-game instance happens. Under the rules as I understand them, the umps would not be allowed to review a play past the 7th inning to benefit a team that previously challenged a play incorrectly in that game. If Leyland would have missed a challenge in the 3rd inning of the game with Galarraga (speaking hypothetically) it would have prevented Joyce's missed call on the final play of the game from being reviewed. I'm not so sure I'm a big fan of this caveat for allowing/disallowing reviews. If you're going to have reviews, the system should be there to fix plays that need to be fixed -- period. A call in the 7th or beyond isn't any more/less worthy of correction simply because a manager missed on a challenge earlier in the game. I honestly see that aspect of the rule getting changed as soon as an obvious big call is missed (playoffs?). It reminds me of the NFL rule (since changed) that disallowed a challenge on a play that was being challenged anyways, due to a coach getting an unsportsmanlike penalty for challenging a non-challengeable play.

Joyce's missed call would've been reviewed. Umpires would have to initiate a video review of any controversial play. Think of the 7th inning and beyond as the last two minutes of each half in an NFL game.

The only time you're going to see blown plays is if a manager uses up his challenges in the early innings, then a call is missed before the 7th inning.