GMs plan to study instant replay
It would be for fair or foul balls and homers, but not on balls and strikes.
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) -- In the craziest play of October, Alex Rodriguez was called out for interference. New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman agreed the umpires were correct to overturn their original ruling.
"They got it completely right, 100 percent," Cashman said this week.
"But you would hate to have a game, or a series or even a season come down to a play where they miss it and instant replay could have helped. So as far as instant replay, I'm in favor of it."
Now, after a pennant race and postseason dotted with reversed rulings, baseball will get another chance to see who else wants to give replay a look.
On today's agenda
The topic was on the agenda today at the GM meetings. There seems to be growing support among teams to join the NFL, NBA and NHL in using instant replay on calls such as fair or foul and homer or not, but definitely not balls and strikes.
"I think its time has come," Milwaukee assistant Gord Ash said. "The technology has improved and is there. I think there's a place for it."
Even if replay comes up for a formal vote -- it did not go very far last year when GMs debated it -- there's no assurance it would show up during games anytime soon.
"I don't see it," Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations, said Wednesday. "And I don't think the commissioner is in favor of it, either."
Spring game in Athens
Earlier in the day, GMs were briefed on plans to play a spring training game next March in Athens -- Baltimore probably would be involved -- and efforts to hold a World Cup-style tournament in early 2006.
They also talked about letting teams trade first-round draft choices and were told to be vigilant in verifying the ages of players signed in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
They also continued to talk about trades. Newly hired Omar Minaya of the New York Mets appeared the most itchy to make a deal, with speculation that he was looking at the likes of Sammy Sosa and Alfonso Soriano, along with exploring a Mike Piazza-for-Shawn Green swap.
The Cincinnati Reds asked that replay be included on the agenda. Their executives have talked about it internally for a couple of years, and they've heard from other clubs lately.
No timetable set
"I think there seems to be some level of understanding that getting the play right is what underscores this thought process," Reds GM Dan O'Brien said. "I don't think any of us have any idea of a timetable."
There's no guarantee that umpires would want it.
"My sense is no," said former umpire Richie Garcia, now an umpire supervisor. "I think we'd be fooling around with something that would take away from the game.
"Baseball is very traditional, but I'm not going to rule it out," he said.
Garcia worried that not every ball park would be equipped with equal cameras to show replays from all angles. He also said he thought the concept of umpires huddling on close calls helped "take away the idea of instant replay."
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.