Major League Baseball is moving to put instant replay in effect for baseball as soon as August. At this point, the instant replay would be used for potential home run balls only.
The question is: Do we need instant replay and more importantly, do we need it right now?
Many are divided on the issue, there’s no doubt about it. Lou Piniella has always been against the idea. Skipper Lou says:
“I don’t think it’s needed at all, to be honest,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Friday. “How many times do you see players make errors? Baseball has talked about speeding up the game. It’s all you hear. All of a sudden, they want instant replay? You’re going to have slower games and more restless people in the stands.”
My biggest issue right now is the way they’re handling the way the whole issue. When was the last time Major League Baseball has made a major change in the rules of baseball in the middle of the season? That just isn’t done for a variety of reasons.
Continuity of the rules.
Granted, this isn’t going to happen a lot but saying that is a self-defeating argument in my opinion. That said, rules are set for a season and baseball sticks with those rules for the duration of the season.
Chance for Unbiased Discussion
The offseason is the time to hear the pros and cons from this issue from the experts rather than it getting fast tracked by MLB during the season when they can use the media to their advantage. “See, see! Look at the bad call last week against Team X!”. Opinions get muddled and logic gets thrown out the window.
Personally, I’m against the idea of instant replay. But if we (and by we, I mean MLB) are going to entertain the idea of it, let’s do it carefully and let’s not be hasty about it. By all means, don’t be changing the rules in the middle of the season.