(Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, Texas — Just as when he was as a manager, Joe Torre is protective of his charges. In the part of Derek Jeter yesterday was Ron Kulpa.
Twenty-four hours after Kulpa, as the first-base umpire, blew a call in Game 2 of the World Series, Torre came to his defense yesterday. He did not suggest Kulpa got the call right; that would have been absurd, so blatant was the mistake.
Instead, Torre requested press-conference time with the media to defend Kulpa’s honor. Torre, now an MLB executive vice president, and in charge of the umpires, felt a pool reporter who was given access to Kulpa following the Cardinals’ 16-7 victory over teh Rangers had crossed from journalistic inquiry into something vicious and demeaning.
Kulpa is from St. Louis and he fielded a question as to whether or not that influenced a pro-Cardinals call. Let’s table the journalism discussion for another day. This is about baseball. This is about another high-profile call everyone watching knew the umpire had gotten wrong within 30 seconds.
In a way baseball got very lucky. The Cardinals made such a rout of the game and Albert Pujols’ three homers became the story, so Kulpa’s faux pas became relegated to sidebars and secondary discussions. But the sport will not continue to be this lucky.
Imagine if that call had more clearly determined an outcome or — worse — occurred to decide the seventh game of the World Series. At that point, the conspiracy theories would not die quite so quickly — think of it happening in a Yankees-Red Sox Game 7, for example, and the umpire in question came from, say, Newton, Mass.
At that point, commissioner Bud Selig and Torre would be trying to explain again why baseball has not been proactive in using replay so that a mechanism is in place to save the sport humiliation if some evil does lurk in an umpire’s heart or just simply some incompetence resides in his judgment.
The technology was not in place in 1985 to quickly and efficiently use instant replay to rectify Don Denkinger’s infamous Game 6 mistake at first base that, ironically, just might have cost the Cardinals a title. But a lot has happened since Kansas City’s Jorge Orta was ruled safe 26 years ago; enough that Kulpa could have — and should have — received easily accessible, readily available help when he mistakenly ruled St. Louis’ Matt Holliday had crossed first base before being swipe-tagged by Mike Napoli.
“I think [replay use] will disrupt the flow of the game,” Torre said.
I think he is wrong. I think the large majority of sports fans now use technology in every element of their lives. I think so do the players, from hitters watching that night’s pitcher on DVD to pitchers checking out computer readouts of hot and cold zones of hitters. I think our most popular league, the NFL, has conditioned fans to accept delays in exchange for trying to get a higher percentage of calls correct.
I also think you can limit the delays. In the time it took Texas manager Ron Washington to argue futilely on Saturday night, every viewer knew Kulpa had made a mistake. So install a rule that any manager who leaves the bench receives a huge fine. Instead, he hits a buzzer or tosses a bean bag to register dissatisfaction and that it is time to take a second look.
Right now only disputed homers are subject to replay and umpires leave the field to look at the pertinent replays. The replays are generated from MLB’s advanced media operation in Chelsea. Rather than have the umps leave the field, hire extra umps to be in Chelsea, look at the replays that are available almost instantly and tell the crew chief through an earpiece the proper call. Most of this can be done in 30 seconds, a minute tops.
The majors are almost certain to expand replay to fair or foul calls on the line, probably by next year. But they should also include plays at the bases. Give each team two challenges for the first seven innings, then it is the on-field umps’ discretion after that whether to use replay; so that managers don’t simply challenge as a stall tactic to, for instance, get a reliever warmed up.
On Saturday night, America knew within a minute what Ron Kulpa didn’t — Holliday was out at first. Why does this sport want, to keep risking the potential humiliation of a championship-altering missed call?
The human element? No, the human element is the hitter vs. the pitcher. Not whether Ron Kulpa is being influenced by where he grew up.
Wilson at possible Texas end
C.j. Wilson will start Game 5 for the Rangers tonight, which — unless he is used in relief in a potential Game 7 — could be his final appearance for Texas. The lefty arguably is the best starting free agent available.
He said, “I haven’t really thought about that at all.”
The Rangers are expected to bid to try to retain their nominal ace, but one AL talent evaluator said, “They will offer what they think he is worth and nothing more, so he will end up someplace else.”
The Rangers are more tied to Japanese star Yu Darvish, who is likely to be posted this winter.
Washington, Florida and Kansas City are among the clubs likely to pursue Wilson.
As talent goes, the Yankees like Darvish considerably more than Wilson. They also have some concerns that Wilson, who has a tendency to talk himself into some problems, might not be a good fit for New York.
The Pirates have prioritized finding a catcher this offseason, which could make them a match with the Yankees. The Yankees are expected to keep Russell Martin, who cannot be a free agent until after the 2012 season, and try to make Jesus Montero his primary backup.
The Yankees can dangle Austin Romine, but they would like to put him at Triple-A as an option in case Montero cannot handle major league catching.
The Yankees would definitely trade Francisco Cervelli, but will the Pirates or any other team look at him as a potential starter and also feel he is a safe acquisition after incurring a series of concussions?