The Number One Flaw With Replay

[Dead Simmons]

It's like Serpico to the Captain: How can the police.... police themselves?

So many flaws with the time honored umpiring system. First off, by and large they are old men with too much job security. Sometimes they are so old that they can't avoid the base runners.

 

Secondly, it's a fraternity. Why is the replay umpire a real umpire? He doesn't need to know the rules of the game even. Just rule "safe" or "out", in the park or over the wall. Everybody knows that the replay ump will rule in favor of the field ump if there is ANY way possible.

 

Thirdly, why does the replay ump have to know the ruling on the field? Just rule on what he see's. If it's too close to call just say so and THEN go with the field ruling. Just feed him close-ups of the play in a sequestered room.

 

I've seen some awful rulings this week. An obvious HR ruled a dbl and a runner beat by the throw at home on a FORCE PLAY, ruled that the catcher didn't provide him room to come in. Good grief! The catcher was in possession of the ball.

 

So in my mind the #1 flaw with replay is that UMPIRES are involved in it at all.

[topper09er]

The worst part of replay is that managers can just stall while the bench coach calls someone to determine if they should challenge or not. As usual with all replay, they say it is intended for egregious mistakes, but since those never happen replay is used for ultra close calls that are often not even obvious from super slow-mo views.

 

And there is no penalty for being wrong, as it has become clear that regardless of how many cahlleneges you have left you can just go talk to the ump and ask him to make the decision to review it "on his own".

 

I would like to see them stop this stupid stall while they call someone routine, the only phone in the dugout goes to the bullpen, period. The manager should need to walk right out of the dugout right after the call and challenge it right away. Then they need to add some accountablity to prevent them from challenging super close calls, if the defense challenges and loses the pitcher must leave the game, if the offense challenges and loses the hitter or applicable base runner must leave the game. Then guys wouldnt be so quick to be called out and the instantly signal to the dugout for a challenge

[Baldkin]

The worst part of replay is that managers can just stall while the bench coach calls someone to determine if they should challenge or not. As usual with all replay, they say it is intended for egregious mistakes, but since those never happen replay is used for ultra close calls that are often not even obvious from super slow-mo views.

 

And there is no penalty for being wrong, as it has become clear that regardless of how many cahlleneges you have left you can just go talk to the ump and ask him to make the decision to review it "on his own".

 

I would like to see them stop this stupid stall while they call someone routine, the only phone in the dugout goes to the bullpen, period. The manager should need to walk right out of the dugout right after the call and challenge it right away. Then they need to add some accountablity to prevent them from challenging super close calls, if the defense challenges and loses the pitcher must leave the game, if the offense challenges and loses the hitter or applicable base runner must leave the game. Then guys wouldnt be so quick to be called out and the instantly signal to the dugout for a challenge

 

Come on. They don't need to do that. They just need to do it the same way college football handles replay. Have a guy in the booth. He clicks a button if the play needs to be reviewed. Home plate up calls time. 60 seconds. Play is reviewed. Done.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Maybe there could be tweaks with the replay, but overall I love it. I'm with Dead...the less the umpires are involved, the better. I would replace all of them with robots and pitch f/x if possible. The big complaint seems to be the time it takes, but when you take out all the idiot manager/umpire arguments over calls, it probably works out even...and now they get the call right (or at least more of the time). Anything that gets the Phil Cuzzi's of the world as far away from interfering with the results of an actual MLB game can only make it better.

[TooLiveBrew]

It's like Serpico to the Captain: How can the police.... police themselves?

So many flaws with the time honored umpiring system. First off, by and large they are old men with too much job security. Sometimes they are so old that they can't avoid the base runners.

 

Secondly, it's a fraternity. Why is the replay umpire a real umpire? He doesn't need to know the rules of the game even. Just rule "safe" or "out", in the park or over the wall. Everybody knows that the replay ump will rule in favor of the field ump if there is ANY way possible.

 

Thirdly, why does the replay ump have to know the ruling on the field? Just rule on what he see's. If it's too close to call just say so and THEN go with the field ruling. Just feed him close-ups of the play in a sequestered room.

 

I've seen some awful rulings this week. An obvious HR ruled a dbl and a runner beat by the throw at home on a FORCE PLAY, ruled that the catcher didn't provide him room to come in. Good grief! The catcher was in possession of the ball.

 

So in my mind the #1 flaw with replay is that UMPIRES are involved in it at all.

I'll channel my inner McEnroe... you cannot be serious

[Dead Simmons]

It's like Serpico to the Captain: How can the police.... police themselves?

So many flaws with the time honored umpiring system. First off, by and large they are old men with too much job security. Sometimes they are so old that they can't avoid the base runners.

 

Secondly, it's a fraternity. Why is the replay umpire a real umpire? He doesn't need to know the rules of the game even. Just rule "safe" or "out", in the park or over the wall. Everybody knows that the replay ump will rule in favor of the field ump if there is ANY way possible.

 

Thirdly, why does the replay ump have to know the ruling on the field? Just rule on what he see's. If it's too close to call just say so and THEN go with the field ruling. Just feed him close-ups of the play in a sequestered room.

 

I've seen some awful rulings this week. An obvious HR ruled a dbl and a runner beat by the throw at home on a FORCE PLAY, ruled that the catcher didn't provide him room to come in. Good grief! The catcher was in possession of the ball.

 

So in my mind the #1 flaw with replay is that UMPIRES are involved in it at all.

I'll channel my inner McEnroe... you cannot be serious

You don't think a baseball writer could not do the job? And with no bias?

[TooLiveBrew]

To me, it's pretty clear that you want experts on the MLB rulebook analyzing every single video replay. Even if the rulebook never comes into play, you don't want to leave that open to chance.

[Polish Falcons]

I hope they get rid of it and go back to the old days. There are some positives overall I don't like it. Hate the extra stall in the game and how mgrs can just go out there for any play and veer into the dugout for what to do.

[lcbj68c]

It's like Serpico to the Captain: How can the police.... police themselves?

So many flaws with the time honored umpiring system. First off, by and large they are old men with too much job security. Sometimes they are so old that they can't avoid the base runners.

 

Secondly, it's a fraternity. Why is the replay umpire a real umpire? He doesn't need to know the rules of the game even. Just rule "safe" or "out", in the park or over the wall. Everybody knows that the replay ump will rule in favor of the field ump if there is ANY way possible.

 

Thirdly, why does the replay ump have to know the ruling on the field? Just rule on what he see's. If it's too close to call just say so and THEN go with the field ruling. Just feed him close-ups of the play in a sequestered room.

 

I've seen some awful rulings this week. An obvious HR ruled a dbl and a runner beat by the throw at home on a FORCE PLAY, ruled that the catcher didn't provide him room to come in. Good grief! The catcher was in possession of the ball.

 

So in my mind the #1 flaw with replay is that UMPIRES are involved in it at all.

 

I'm going to respectfully disagree with all of this. I absolutely love instant replay and how it's been handled.

 

#1 - While there may be a perception that umpires are old men, this has not been trending true over the past few years. Performance, health, physical fitness, and other reasons are why younger men are getting a chance to umpire in MLB without "paying their dues" and struggling to get into what used to be a good ol' boy system. This year, the ages of the umpires that were added to the 72-man exclusive fraternity were ages 29, 32, 32, 32, 36, 37, 37. I don't know the median age of umpires, but I do know that it has been decreasing for a number of years.

 

#2 - Why is a replay umpire a real umpire? In what sport isn't the replay official, NOT an official? Is that a serious question? Maybe we should just put hand buzzers in every seat and let the fans vote on the replay as if they are sitting in on an America's Funniest Videos episode? I personally don't see any bias in favor of the field umpire simply because it's another umpire making the ruling from New York. I have seen plenty of calls that appear close to my naked eye getting overturned on replay. Questioning the integrity of that system just seems too conspiracy theory for me to take seriously. Additionally, views that you may have seen on your local tv feed might not have been feeds available to the official in New York making the call, so something that might seem obvious to you, might not been what the replay official was privy to seeing.

 

#3 - How do we know that the replay ump NEEDS to know the ruling on the field. Maybe he is saying into the headset, "I can't tell, play stands as called", with the on field umpire signaling/confirming what the original call was?

[BuckyBrewer61]

The number one problem with replay in baseball is the same as it is everywhere else - time.

 

It seemed like MLB was getting it right, but already it's falling apart. If a play is reviewed, you get a certain, short amount of time to review it, say 60 seconds. From the time the challenge starts. No exceptions. EVER. And if it's not clear after that, it's too close to call, and the call stands. The replays cut off, the phone line to New York shuts off, no more discussions may be had. If you don't have an answer yet, then the play stands. Move on.

 

The number two issue is the whole "indisputable" thing, which is paramount to the idea of replay. The point should be to reverse clear mistakes, not scrutinize every pixel on every frame. But every sport, and already in MLB, that is being very loosely applied. A very small minority of calls on the field are incorrect, and an even smaller minority are still incorrect after replay. So stop taking the time and effort to correct calls that just aren't correctable without 1000x zoom and 1000x HD slow-mo. It's not worth the time and effort, and it's not the point in the first place.

 

If anyone actually adhered to the "rules" of replay they claim to have in place, it would actually be worthwhile.

[danzig6767]

Come on. They don't need to do that. They just need to do it the same way college football handles replay. Have a guy in the booth. He clicks a button if the play needs to be reviewed. Home plate up calls time. 60 seconds. Play is reviewed. Done.

I'm with you in general. Take managers mostly out of the process as is the case in college football.

 

The one thing though which would need to be worked out is if say the team on defense is worried that a call could be overturned, the pitcher can't just get on the rubber and try to quick pitch before the replay guy has a chance to buzz down.

 

I watch a ton of college football and the one big flaw in their system now is that with so many offenses running these very quick to the line and snap systems, often the replay official lacks the time to buzz down before an offense gets the next snap off, negating the chance for a replay when one was warranted. This is especially true if an offense fears a play by them might get reviewed. They'll quick snap the ball in a blink.

[Baldkin]

Come on. They don't need to do that. They just need to do it the same way college football handles replay. Have a guy in the booth. He clicks a button if the play needs to be reviewed. Home plate up calls time. 60 seconds. Play is reviewed. Done.

I'm with you in general. Take managers mostly out of the process as is the case in college football.

 

The one thing though which would need to be worked out is if say the team on defense is worried that a call could be overturned, the pitcher can't just get on the rubber and try to quick pitch before the replay guy has a chance to buzz down.

 

I watch a ton of college football and the one big flaw in their system now is that with so many offenses running these very quick to the line and snap systems, often the replay official lacks the time to buzz down before an offense gets the next snap off, negating the chance for a replay when one was warranted. This is especially true if an offense fears a play by them might get reviewed. They'll quick snap the ball in a blink.

 

The difference is, in baseball, the hitter still has to get in the box for the pitcher to pitch.

[lcbj68c]

The difference is, in baseball, the hitter still has to get in the box for the pitcher to pitch.

 

 

 

Not overly compelling. If the pitcher is on the rubber and the batter refuses to get in the box to stall for more look at replay, the umpire will just declare a strike on the batter and the chance to challenge will be over. Rule 6.02 ©:

[Baldkin]

The difference is, in baseball, the hitter still has to get in the box for the pitcher to pitch.

 

 

 

Not overly compelling. If the pitcher is on the rubber and the batter refuses to get in the box to stall for more look at replay, the umpire will just declare a strike on the batter and the chance to challenge will be over. Rule 6.02 ©:

 

There's no way an ump is going to call a strike in the 10 seconds it would take someone in the booth to decide if the play needed to be reviewed or not.

[lcbj68c]

The difference is, in baseball, the hitter still has to get in the box for the pitcher to pitch.

 

 

 

Not overly compelling. If the pitcher is on the rubber and the batter refuses to get in the box to stall for more look at replay, the umpire will just declare a strike on the batter and the chance to challenge will be over. Rule 6.02 ©:

 

There's no way an ump is going to call a strike in the 10 seconds it would take someone in the booth to decide if the play needed to be reviewed or not.

 

Try two of them... in 9.4 seconds

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/05/one-of-the-rarest-things-youll-see-in-baseball-batter-strikes-out-after-one-pitch-and-9-seconds-2/

[young guns]

My biggest issue is that we get shown 1 angle where we see 1 part of the play but another is hidden. And then we see from the other side and its reversed. And then we flip flop back and forth with the announcers going I just cant tell when x happens on this replay. Why cant we get a split screen that shows both angles time synched up? Youre telling me in this technological age we cant see 2 replays at the same time wi the the same time stamp?

[3and2Fastball]

I just hope they never expand it to include balls & strikes in postseason games or anything like that....

[JohnBriggs12]

It's like Serpico to the Captain: How can the police.... police themselves?

So many flaws with the time honored umpiring system. First off, by and large they are old men with too much job security. Sometimes they are so old that they can't avoid the base runners.

 

Secondly, it's a fraternity. Why is the replay umpire a real umpire? He doesn't need to know the rules of the game even. Just rule "safe" or "out", in the park or over the wall. Everybody knows that the replay ump will rule in favor of the field ump if there is ANY way possible.

 

Thirdly, why does the replay ump have to know the ruling on the field? Just rule on what he see's. If it's too close to call just say so and THEN go with the field ruling. Just feed him close-ups of the play in a sequestered room.

 

I've seen some awful rulings this week. An obvious HR ruled a dbl and a runner beat by the throw at home on a FORCE PLAY, ruled that the catcher didn't provide him room to come in. Good grief! The catcher was in possession of the ball.

 

So in my mind the #1 flaw with replay is that UMPIRES are involved in it at all.

 

To your points, there are some veteran umpires that are up there, but there are a lot who are in their 30's too. Ever hear of age discrimination? By and large, umpires are younger and healthier than ever. I think age in some respects makes them better not worse though.

 

Fraternity?? Yeah but what profession isn't to some degree. In the NFL the Referee goes under the hood to review calls made by his own crew, sometimes including his own call. I don't think umps from different crews in NY are influenced by fraternity.

 

99% of the reviews involve calls at 1B and tags on steal attempts. Those are pretty cut and dried.

[Baldkin]

 

Try two of them... in 9.4 seconds

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/05/one-of-the-rarest-things-youll-see-in-baseball-batter-strikes-out-after-one-pitch-and-9-seconds-2/

 

And I watched a parent get ejected from a little league game for swearing.

 

Doesn't mean it will happen in MLB.

[mothershipconnection]

The worst part of replay is that managers can just stall while the bench coach calls someone to determine if they should challenge or not.

 

This is already getting old. Managers slowly make their way to the ump, then just stand there looking back at one of the coaches while waiting for a signal. Hopefully, they find a way to minimize it. Maybe something along the lines of starting a stopwatch from the point he leaves the dugout or only allowing managers to approach an ump twice in a game before he is charged with his challenge for approaching a third time.

[Pugger]

Maybe there could be tweaks with the replay, but overall I love it. I'm with Dead...the less the umpires are involved, the better. I would replace all of them with robots and pitch f/x if possible. The big complaint seems to be the time it takes, but when you take out all the idiot manager/umpire arguments over calls, it probably works out even...and now they get the call right (or at least more of the time). Anything that gets the Phil Cuzzi's of the world as far away from interfering with the results of an actual MLB game can only make it better.

 

Its a lot better than in the NFL with the HC throwing a red hankie.

[FVBrewerFan]

#1 flaw in replay is that it doesn't work. #1a flaw is that it ruins the enjoyment of the game. We've all seen calls that are reviewed, and they still get it wrong. Not just on rare occasion, but pretty consistently. Why? They hang their hat on the old "need overwhelming evidence to overturn" or whatever they call it.

 

What really bother me though is that it sucks the fun out of the game. That instant reaction you get after a great play is now muted. Braun guns someone at 3rd...wait...don't get excited...wait for the review. I hate that. I really hate it.

 

With 162 games, you will have some calls go against you, some for you. It evens out. Baseball is played by humans. Players make mistakes. Managers make mistakes. And yes, umpires make mistakes. Accept that and move on.

 

For those of you (most of you) who like replay, let me ask you this. Why does it matter to get a close play at 1B right, when balls/strikes have a much bigger impact on the game every night, yet that can't be reviewed. This selective approach to what can/ can't be reviewed doesn't solve anything. It just slows down the game, dulls the excitement, and really isn't fair since the reviews are still subjective- just like the call on the field.

 

I could live with limited replay in the playoffs. Would be horrible for the game for a team to lose the WS on a blown HR call, play at the plate, etc. But that's it.

[logan82]

Balls and strikes should be done by robot umps. Just because they are not willing to fix that doesn't mean they shouldn't try to get something right.

 

The AC doesn't work so I am not going to fix my flat tire.

[Iron Chef Napalm]

A lot of these close plays seem to occur at first and as long as we are using tech to augment the umpire's job, I would love to see sensors in firstbase, the players' shoes and first baseman's glove. The ump wears something like Google Glass and if the cleat touches first before the ball hits the pressure sensor in the glove, it shows up on his display. For 99% of the plays, the ump uses his eyes and knowledge of the game and the play goes quickly. On the super close play he can get that nanosecond assist without the time stoppage of replay.

[FVBrewerFan]

Why don't we just play the games on xbox, and take humans out of it altogether. Build profiles for each player, and let xbox play out the season and determine the champion.