There has been much debate about whether or not Major League Baseball should expand their use of instant replay. As it stands, instant replay is primarily used for determining fair or foul for homerun balls. With so many calls going wrong in this year's play-offs, it seems to be obvious that the use of replay needs to be extended to resolving other issues.

 

I'm not going to argue whether or not baseball needs more replay. It's obvious that someting needs to happen. My problem is that there are so many "wrong" calls in the first place. Like the players, aren't these umpires suppose to be the best in the world? The "busted" calls on the field are horrible and should not need replay.

 

On Tuesday, Jorge Posada got caught in a run-down between third and home. As he was running, Robinson Cano ran toward third. As Mike Napoli ran toward third to tag Posada, he noticed Cano had not touched third yet. Napoli tagged Cano, but Posada ran through third himself and Napoli tagged him as well. Tim McClellan, the third base umpire, only called Posada out when it was obvious Cano was not on a base either.

 

Several problems. It should not have taken replay to get this call correct. First, McClellan should have gotten it himself because it wasn't even close. Second, aren't there five other umpires on the field during the play-offs? No one else saw that McClellan got the call wrong? No one took it upon themselves to pull McClellan aside to clue him in on what was going on. This was the second bone headed call he made during this game. It's apparent his head was somewhere else. Someone needed to bring him back to the ballgame.

 

You can get replay all you want. The NFL has it and the officiating is still bad. The solution isn't in just showing bad calls over and over again. The problem is there are no real threats to the jobs of these guys. If an athlete or a coach constantly under performes, they'll lose their jobs. Officials don't. Very seldom do these guys have to even face the media to explain their mishaps.

 

The professional leagues need to crack down on these guys and have a real grading system that determines whether or not these people are allowed to continue officiating. Until then, not even instant replay can help.

 

Rob Long