MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, "for the first time anyone can recall," had "encouraging things to say about the dream of Montreal bringing major league baseball back to La Belle Province," according to Richard Griffin of the TORONTO STAR. The catalyst that "seemed to fuel his changing opinion was a series of two exhibition games played by the Blue Jays and Mets at Olympic Stadium that drew more than 95,000 excited baseball fans." Selig prior to yesterday's All-Star Game said, “It did make a great impression. I was impressed and I talked to a lot of people there. They have much work to be done, but that was very, very impressive, no question about it." Griffin writes it is "nice for Selig to acknowledge the success of the Montreal pre-season partnership with the Jays, but they still need a deep-pocketed ownership group to step up -- and a new stadium" (TORONTO STAR, 7/16). Selig yesterday refused to answer questions directly related to the possibility of relocation and dismissed suggestions from the Oakland City Council regarding the A's potential of moving (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
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| Torre said MLB has been pleased with the timing of replay reviews |
ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING: Selig yesterday said that he was "satisfied with the implementation and results of the expanded replay system." Selig: "It’s gotten better. We’ll tweak it a little bit in some areas. But I couldn’t be happier." MLB Exec VP/Baseball Operations Joe Torre noted that the "time frame from challenge to result is less than two minutes." He said, "We’re pretty pleased with that. We’ve overturned 47 percent of the calls, but the one number not factored in is when the manager goes out and looks back at his bench coach and then doesn’t challenge ... if you add in that number, it’s 21 or 22 percent" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/16). Torre said that there will be "no major change to speed up the process like throwing a flag, as NFL coaches do" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/16).
DEEP THOUGHTS: MLB.com's Paul Hagen noted Selig yesterday conducted his traditional Town Hall chat at the T-Mobile All-Star FanFest in the Minneapolis Convention Center, fielding questions "culled from thousands that were submitted on MLB.com, as well as some live from the audience." Asked if he had concern that limiting home-plate collisions has taken some excitement out of the game, Selig responded, "I think it has worked out really well. Our job is to protect the health of the players. I think it is an absolutely right rule." He said of the recent spate of arm injuries to pitchers, "We have a special committee of outstanding doctors, team physicians, trainers and baseball people. They are very concerned about it. Very concerned. We've had a lot of Tommy John problems. Not good for the sport." Finally, Selig said of further changes to the Home Run Derby, "They changed the format of the Derby (this year). Unfortunately, Monday night, we had an hour rain delay. ... They sort of wet things down a little bit. But the Derby is very, very popular. We'll continue to tweak it and see if we can come up with something" (MLB.com, 7/15).
