Making Umpires Better
August 23, 2010 · Bronx Baseball Daily · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Monday night’s 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays was a tough one to swallow – not just because the Yankees lost a close one, but because some of it was out of their control.
In the 3rd inning, Eduardo Nunez threw a ball wide of first that Mark Teixeira made an amazing stretch on, and yet the umpire called the batter safe, despite replays clearly showing he was out. Naturally, the next batter hit a homerun, thus providing the difference in a 3-2 game.
This wasn’t the only bad call of the game. In the 9th inning, down a run with a runner on and 1 out, Curtis Granderson was called out on a strike 3 that was over a half a foot outside. If Granderson were a righty, the ball might have hit him; it was that egregious.
So what can be done about this? Back when Armando Galarraga had his perfect game ruined by a blown call, I assumed some changes must be coming, and maybe they still are. The way I see it though, there are two things MLB can, and should, do:
1 – Make more use of technology
For whatever reason, baseball hates progress and it’s getting to the point where the game suffers for it. Within seconds after a pitch is thrown, we as fans can know exactly where it was.
If that’s the case, why can’t baseball just automate, or partially automate, the process of calling balls and strikes? At least let this technology aid the umpires rather than simply aid us in second guessing them.
Similarly, instant replay should be expanded to cover anything that it is capable of getting right. I’m not suggesting some challenge system like in football, which will just slow the game down. Just put another umpire in front of some screens, so they can see replays of close plays immediately. How is it that I can sit on my couch and generally know within 10 seconds if it’s a blown call and yet umpires can’t?
Again, what we have here is a problem where those enjoying the game have access to more information than those trying to officiate it. As technology continues to improve, this problem will only get worse. Why not just better equip the umpires? Why does it have to slow down the game, like everyone says instant replay would do? If a manager contests a call made via replay, they should automatically be ejected. Keep the game moving.
2 – Find better umpires
I know this is easier said than done, but how many of the umpires in baseball right now are truly world class at what they do? Not to be cruel, but many of them are old and out of shape. Are they really getting themselves in the best position to make a call?
Much like the game itself, shouldn’t we easily be able to come up with some objective data about how well an umpire performs? And like the players, don’t umpires probably only have a limited window – their prime, if you will – when they will be able to do their job at a world class level?
MLB has the ability to make umpires better by giving them better tools and designing better ways of evaluating them, but they are so terrified of modernizing the game in any way that they may just continue to let the problem fester. That is inexcusable for a business as large as the MLB.
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