Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Speak Against Instant Replay and Get Suspended: Torre

MLB to fine Red Sox manager John Farrell for instant replay remarks

As if John’s Farrell’s weekend in New York wasn’t lousy enough, the Red Sox manager will get a not-so-pleasant parting gift from MLB.

Joe Torre, MLB’s executive VP of baseball operations, told the Daily News on Monday that Farrell would be fined for his critical remarks about baseball’s new replay system following Boston’s 3-2 loss Sunday night.

The comments, which included Farrell saying “it’s hard to have any faith in the (replay) system,” came after instant replay decisions went against the Sox in losses on Saturday and Sunday.

Perhaps the only thing keeping Farrell from a suspension is the fact Torre, the former Yankees skipper, knows how pressure-packed a Bombers-Red Sox series can be.

“I’m not going to suspend him. It will be a fine,” Torre said of Farrell. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of NYDailynews.com.

Kicking Back Comments: While on the surface Mr. Torre seems to be the benevolent dictator only fining Farrell, and not suspending him as Torre foreshadowed, if not for the heated atmosphere that is the Red Sox v. Yankees, I think the reason is far more simpler ...

MLB blew their first Instant Replay call and are deeply embarrassed.

Torre for his part picked the very same line out of the Farrell tirade that I did regarding losing faith in a system that is brand new. He (and MLB) clearly did not like that.

Even funnier was that Torre in defending the system said it will take "three years to roll out."

Hold on here ... there are 2430 games in a MLB season ... and it is going to take 3 of these ... a unbelievable 7290 games to get instant replay right!??!

Are you &*#&ing kidding me?? Three years to "get it right?" What a joke.

A wrong camera angle was to blame for the error that did not get to the umpires "until after they decided." Again, what a joke.

MLB should have just turned on the cable coverage and seen it clear as day.

So Farrell get a fine for the screw up of the league, awesome.

Torre "spares" Farrell a suspension, I think, to save himself the embarrassment of a system gone horribly wrong ... and this was one of the first times it was used.

Can you see this in Game 7 of a World Series? Oops ... sorry guys ... our fault.
No worries Joe, we know you'll get it right ... in 2017.
Yeah, it will go just like that.

Just leave it to the guys in blue ... please ... just leave it to them.

3 comments:

  1. Will come up with some form of educated response to this after I somehow manage to stop laughing and pick myself up off the floor at Joe Torre's comments and justification on the replay system and the fine that will be issued to John Farrell

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  2. Ok had a nice long laugh now here are some thoughts:

    Am I ok with the fine being issued for critizing the replay system? No, not at all. I fail to see how Farrell's comments were harsh enough to warrant it. The system failed him back-to-back games, one of which MLB admitted to the mistake, so yes, at that point its hard to trust the system. He did not name and names or say officals were acting poorly, just the system in place has shown flaws. If you want to justify the fine then it would have been much easier to fine him for the torrent of foul language hurled at the umpire on the field at the time of his ejection. He clearly said a good amount of bad stuff, much that networks had to censor his mouth on replays because it was that clear about what he was saying. Is Joe Torre trying to make a point here .... don't bash the system no matter how bad it has started off.

    3 seasons to roll out? What needs to be rolled out exactly. You have cameras in place, someone will watch it on TV and make the call. Only items to "roll out" are instructions to interpretations of certain plays and any limits as to what can or can not be contested. Baseball has been around 100+ years, you have a more than enough history to make a list of typical and non-typical plays that can arise and how to handle them. At this point his comment means to me that they are using a system now, that will affect games today, but isn't really going to be ready until 2016-2017. Lets hope there are no "oopsies" come post-season play.

    Last lets take a second to feel a bit for the umpire that Farrell unloaded on. Is his defense, his crew had said the runner was out, just like Farrell. The officals ON the field did not change the call, the official in the parking lot watching TV did. If you have an issue, well you just got ejected, send some wrath to the guy who actually made the decision.

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    Replies
    1. Steve,

      Great closing point about the umpire and the position he was in. If I had to guess the dissent he gave was not for that particular umpire, but more for the whole situation.

      It was more a comment about Instant Replay to me, and not the discrete call these guys made correctly and were subsequently overturned.

      Thanks for reading,
      PK

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