Instant Replay AKA "The Jeffrey Maier Rule"

[scOtt]

It already takes 10 minutes for a ruling plus 10 minutes for one or both managers to stage their made-for-tv tantrum. Maybe this will cut down on the length of one or both of those.

Good point.

[scOtt]

I think it's fine, given where they've drawn the line constraining what it will be used for. I think it makes perfect sense for that. The thing that makes me nervous is the danger of moving where that line is, once replay's foot is in the door. I don't want robot umps.

If they do this, I bet it won't be halfway into the first season before somebody starts making noise about giving managers red flags to throw on the field. And then some crucial pennant-race game or postseason game with immense consequences will be determined by something in the 9th inning that replay clearly shows to be a bad call... and then what's gonna happen? They've already got everything set up to use replay, and there will be howls of protest about how they just need to use what they've already got. Once it's there, how long before they move the line about when to use it?

That "Domino Effect" is also a good point. The article I read said that they'll have to have an official at every game. FRobby's educated guess at needing this is probably accurate too. So here's 15 MLB replay guys, traveling all year, to every game, and actually being utilized once every 3 weeks???

"Well let's give 'em a little more authority... say balls hit down the line, fair or foul over first or third base. And they could make ruling on whether a ball to the outfield was caught or trapped."

and so on and so on....

[RShack]

That "Domino Effect" is also a good point. The article I read said that they'll have to have an official at every game. FRobby's educated guess at needing this is probably accurate too. So here's 15 MLB replay guys, traveling all year, to every game, and actually being utilized once every 3 weeks???

"Well let's give 'em a little more authority... say balls hit down the line, fair or foul over first or third base. And they could make ruling on whether a ball to the outfield was caught or trapped."

and so on and so on....

That's exactly what will happen. If they do this, expanding it will be argued about for a while. And then some ump will blow a call that makes a huge diff in a hugely important game. And TV will turn it into a huge scandal. It'll probably be something that costs the Cubbies their first ring since the Ice Age. ESPN will show the thing 3 times an hour for a week, and regular TV people who don't care about sports will pick up on it, just because it's something they can show on TV. And then it will gradually expand to throwing red flags about everything except balls and strikes.

I hope they'll at least draw the line at balls and strikes. Otherwise, we'll end up with robot umps.

[Elrod]

Instant replay in baseball should only be used to evaluate the umpires performance and judgement, post game.