According to the Associated Press , Major League Baseball and the umpires union agreed on a five-year contract that will run through Dec. 2014. The old deal expired on Dec. 31.
One of the main sticking points of this deal was that baseball wanted more flexibility in assigning umpires during the postseason, and in expanding instant replay.
Under the old agreement an umpire couldn’t work the World Series if he had already worked one of the League Championship Series. That literally makes no sense.
Major League Baseball should put out the best umpires for every playoff series—no matter what. It makes no sense that perhaps the best umpire could only work the ALCS, but not the World Series. If he is the best, then he should be umpiring the most important games of the season.
As far as expanding instant replay, I have my doubts about that. I just think baseball is opening up Pandora’s box with expanding instant replay to safe/out calls or fair/foul calls.
Baseball using instant replay on safe/out calls would be like hockey using instant replay to see whether or not the puck left the offensive zone. It would just cause major problems.
Instant replay really works in the NFL because if a coach is wrong with his challenge, his team loses a timeout. As we all know, timeouts are very valuable to a coach in the NFL.
What happens in baseball when a manager is wrong about a safe or out call? What can baseball take away that would be hurtful to a manager? That answer to that question is—I have no idea.
If baseball starts taking away balls, strikes, or outs then baseball becomes too “gimmicky.” This is Major League Baseball, not the XFL.
The owners and the World Umpires Association (the negotiating arm for the umpires) hope to ratify the agreement next month during the owner’s meetings next month in Scottsdale, AZ.
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