Comments on: Poor umpiring an unwanted playoff sub-plot

By: Selig against expanding replay | River Avenue Blues

Selig against expanding replay | River Avenue Blues — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:31:08 +0000

[...] about the play and upheld the call. On the calls Joe explored a few weeks ago, those ranging from obvious to atrocious, there are no answers. The umpires were in position to make the right calls and simply did [...]

By: Should MLB exercise more direct control over umpires? | River Avenue Blues

Should MLB exercise more direct control over umpires? | River Avenue Blues — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:31:06 +0000

[...] a few questionable umpiring calls in the LDS round, we saw another controversy on Saturday night. Erik Aybar did what he does on [...]

By: My Roommate Thinks Cole Hamels is a “Sissy-man”: Things to Consider in the NLCS | That Balls Outta Here | A Philadelphia Phillies Blog

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:59:38 +0000

[...] many. So, so many. And if the umpires continue their hot streak, we’ll have more than the Dodgers to blame for our [...]

By: misterd

misterd — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:24:43 +0000

I don’t have any short term solutions, but over the next 10 years baseball really needs to do the following:

1. Gradually expand instant replay to call other than HR. That experiment has proven a success, and umpires should be able to rely on it more. There are any number of ways to do this (ump in the booth, manager challengers, etc), but that can be worked out with MLB and the unions.

2. Agressively recruit new umpires. Eventually, there should try to have at least 4 man squads at every AAA game, and if possible 6 umps at the major league level. Doing this, however, will require dramatically increasing the umpire’s pay. Experienced umpires should not be making less money than the rookie called up from AAA.

3. There needs to be greater accountability. Umps should be grilled in the post game. There should be systems in place to promote or demote umpires based on their performance. And I would suggest letting the teams choose which umpires be allowed to call the post season.

By: Adeel

Adeel — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:12:35 +0000

there should be an extra (5th or 8th) umpire in a video room to instantly review a play if called upon. The only person who can instigate a review should be an umpire if he is not sure of the play. Teams would not have a right to challenge any play. This way an umpire has the ability to admit “not sure” and go to a video review. Since someone is in the review booth and is probably already looking at the replay by the time an ump signals for a review; there will not be a delay in game. Since teams can’t challenge, you won’t have to wait for a “challenge flag” in order to review the call. Since this ump would always be in the video room, you wouldn’t need two extra “line umps” for playoff games either.

I have another idea on how to deal with balls and strikes (and keep the human element while incorporating technology).. but that would probably make this post too long.

By: cr1

cr1 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:04:33 +0000

Most people don’t want robots calling plays in MLB. That leaves the solution to working on the human factor. Can we get a post on the union rules that affect who gets to ump in various situations? Then can we get one on the relative accuracy of the individual umps? That way we can see whether union rules systematically favor other factors (like longevity) over accuracy.

It’s not only players that get older, slower, blinder, deafer and more convinced of their own superior judgment with advancing age. Luckily we don’t decide who plays on the basis of longevity. It shouldn’t determine who umpires the games, either.

By: Matt ACTY/BBD

Matt ACTY/BBD — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:59:26 +0000

B-I-N-G-O. It’s absolutely ridiculous that each umpire has a nuanced and differing strike zone. It’s the most fundamental element of officiating a game and the fact that it’s not standardized is just ridiculous. Pitchers and hitters should not have to play a guessing game as to what the strike zone is going to be, depending on who the umpire is.

/broken record

By: Joseph Pawlikowski

Joseph Pawlikowski — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:51:25 +0000

Terrible argument. The players and managers are participants in the game, so their mistakes are by definition part of the game. The umpires are there to enforce the rules. Their mistakes are not made as participants, therefore different.

By: Tank Foster

Tank Foster — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:26:22 +0000

They should begin by developing a real-time system for umpires to use with balls and strikes. What you do is you start with one of the current visual systems like Pitch track or whatever it’s called, and you validate the system in terms of it representing the true definition of the strike zone. Once you’ve done this, you’ve established it as the gold standard. Then you pay someone with MLB umpiring experience to call balls and strikes using the system, and do a correlation study between this method and umpires calling games. You study it, for a long time. You look at whether umpires are accurate with high-low, inside-outside, etc., and how consistent they are. It may be that umpires are accurate with high low, but not with inside outside. Or maybe they are not accurate at all. Anyway, once you know the magnitude of the problem, you decide how to use technology to address it.

I think video should be used for calling balls and strikes because strike zones seem so subjective; every umpire has his own. This is the way baseball has always been, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t want to make it better. I would want it studied, though, because I’m aware that my perception that strike zones are subjective may not be correct.

As for the other stuff – boundary calls, safe/out, etc., I think we need something like the NFL and a replay official somewhere in the stadium to make those calls.

MLB can afford to spend the money on the technology and the personnel to make it happen.

By: gargoyle

gargoyle — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:23:35 +0000

Players make mistakes, managers make mistakes, umpires make mistakes.

Lets not go down the road to expanded replay.