MLB to Exapnd Instant Replay in 2014 - UPDATE

[jicecone]

7 freaking calls over a 40 yr. time span, has someone's panties in a frenzy? And it's only someone's "OPINION", (and we know what those are synonymous with), that they were blown calls.

Get a life.

Listen, bottom line here is that if your going to loose sleep about whether someone is going to try and overrule your decisions on the field whether by picture, replay, verbal abuse or any other means, then maybe you need a little thicker skin to do this job. Over thousands of games that I have officiated in two sports, I find it nearly impossible to count on two fingers the number of games where everyone has agreed with every one of my calls.

I still sleep soundly, each and every night. (with the exception of the nights I pig out out on the delicious Mexican food)

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by jicecone

7 freaking calls over a 40 yr. time span, has someone's panties in a frenzy?

Well, you know there were probably 7 calls over the last 40 days that would get overturned by the new replay system. These so-called expert journalists just felt 7 critical calls made during post-season play were worthy of mentioning in their argument.

The problem is, not all 7 deserved mentioning, and they probably left out a few others that were more applicable. Just off the top of my head, I recall the gross phantom tag by Chuck Knoblauch against Jose Offermann in the 1999 ALCS that would get an overturn.

The Armbrister/Fisk collision? Hell no. In fact, there's a rule that covers that.

[jicecone]

And then to top the week off I sat and watched a portion of the NYY vs Red Sox game yesterday until I had to shut it down because of this horrible announcer whose first name is Tim.

What an idiot he is. You just can't fix Stupid.

[john5396]

Thinking about stupid announcers,

I think that replay in the NFL has forced the announcers to know the rules a bit better. They have to be able to talk about the play like "I think the QB's hand was moving forward... The referee is going to call this an incomplete pass". Perhaps the addition of instant replay to more situations in MLB will force the talking heads to actually learn some of the rules...

I know, fat chance, but I can hope...

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by john5396

Thinking about stupid announcers,

I think that replay in the NFL has forced the announcers to know the rules a bit better. They have to be able to talk about the play like "I think the QB's hand was moving forward... The referee is going to call this an incomplete pass". Perhaps the addition of instant replay to more situations in MLB will force the talking heads to actually learn some of the rules...

I know, fat chance, but I can hope...

Doubtful. The overwhelmingly vast majority of plays that will get reviewed under the MLB's expansion of IR use will be your questionable fair/foul and catch/no catch calls, as well as routine bangers at the bases.

Don't forget that these announcers were ball players at one time. The same is true about managers. Do you really expect managers to learn the rules so that they will know when to challenge a rule misinterpretation for the suits in New York to review? Naah, they'll save their challenges for the safe/out call.

[Publius]

Originally Posted by Manny A

Do you really expect managers to learn the rules so that they will know when to challenge a rule misinterpretation for the suits in New York to review? Naah, they'll save their challenges for the safe/out call.

I certainly hope so. When you think they misinterpret a rule, you don't challenge; you protest.

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by Publius

I certainly hope so. When you think they misinterpret a rule, you don't challenge; you protest.

True. But the question now becomes, will this be something that gets reviewed immediately under the IR expansion?

Take a recent example, the one where an entire crew didn't know the substitute pitching rule, and allowed a pitcher to be replaced when that pitcher never faced a batter. Sure, the manager can protest. But that protest just gets lodged and gets reviewed later, well after the game ends.

What if a manager wants to exercise one of his IR challenges on this so that he can get the matter resolved immediately, and not have to wait for the protest process to run its course. Will that be allowed?

I say No. Rule misinterps will probably still go through the protest route, just like it does now. So I don't see the new IR expansion doing anything to get announcers to bone up on rules as john5396 hopes.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros...tching-change/