GETTING READY FOR REPLAY
Teams being briefed on new system’s guidelines
PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA. Everything but the carpeting is in place in the New York fortress that is going to change baseball.
That said, Major League Baseball officials are crossing their fingers they already have everything covered when expanded replay begins in just over a month.
“I’m curious,” says Joe Torre, MLB executive vice president of baseball operations, who has led briefings on replay’s implementations for 15 major league teams, with the rest to be completed this week.
“This has never been done before. The reception from all the clubs has been very positive. That makes us happy.”
Torre and a group that also included former managers Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland briefed five teams Sunday at the Tampa Bay Rays’ spring training complex.
The reviews were strikingly positive.
“Really well thought out,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “They thought about everything, or at least it seems that way.”
The key is the command center in MLB Advanced Media headquarters, which already is operating in New York. Sixty of 70 umpires who will rotate as replay officials have been trained there.
Every major league team will be involved in five spring training games during which the technology will be tested. Then it begins for real March 30, when the Los Angles Dodgers visit the San Die- go Padres. The two Dodgers-Arizona Diamondbacks games that open the season the previous week in Australia will operate under last year’s rules.
The new program will allow managers’ challenges on the majority of plays in a game. The exceptions, Torre said, are balls and strikes, checked swings, trapped balls in the infield, whether a runner tagging up on a fly ball left too soon and the so-called neighborhood play at second base.
Torre said the neighborhood play, in which the fielder moves off the base too soon while trying to avoid a runner, is being left out because of safety concerns for infielders. And MLB has determined that trying to sync up cameras on the tag-up plays isn’t perfect — though some telecasts try it.
“Trust me, we know that for sure,” Torre said.
One other area — new rules involving home-plate collisions that will be announced today — will fall under replay, but not under the challenge system.
Torre declined to be specific about new guidelines, but managers who have been briefed during these sessions indicated the significant change is that runners can’t choose to crash into the catcher rather than try to touch home plate.
Torre also cleared up what he said was a misconception among some managers about challenges.
For the first six innings, Torre said, managers will receive one challenge. If successful, the manager retains his challenge.
After the sixth inning, replays are at the discretion of umpires on the field. But if a manager retains his challenge past the sixth, it is up to him to initiate a replay.
And what about games getting bogged down by lengthy reviews?
Torre said he expects any challenge to take about a minute, maybe 90 seconds at the most.
Mini command centers are being set up in both clubhouses in every major league ballpark. They will have the same dedicated video feeds at the same time as the New York headquarters. Teams can designate whomever they want to watch from the club- house and, just like the crew in New York, they will have the same ability to choose from every camera angle in the ballpark.
The clubhouse representative will have a phone line directly to the dugout to alert the manager about a potential challenge, and both teams will have access to the same replays — from both telecasts, when applicable.
Torre also said MLB would provide cameras and crew for the few games not televised by either team’s rightsholders. He said he expected the message for a challenge should get to a manager within 30 seconds.
Then, the umpire who made the call and the crew chief will don a headset near home plate, much like the NHL does for goal reviews. The umpires will not leave the field, nor will they see the replay.
The umpire handling their game in New York — each ump will be responsible for two games at a time but can seek help — will make the ruling, including the placement of baserunners.
A camera high behind home plate has been installed in every stadium to help place runners.
“And not only where was (the runner),” Torre said, “but what was the effort.”
Of prime importance to MLB is not disrupting games.
Torre expects the crews in New York to anticipate challenges and already be viewing different angles before a challenge.
“If it’s something close, they’re going to be on it,” he said. “We don’t want to upset the rhythm. But we want to make sure we get the game-changing call right.”
He also left open the possibility for revisions during the season, but major alterations likely would wait until a season review.
“What really stood out to me is the detail in it,” Maddon said. “The fact (is) that they agree and understand it’s a living organism, that there are things that may have to be addressed. But I’ve got to give them credit. For the first attempt at something like this, I thought it was pretty well done.”