MLB Plans To Open More Youth Academies; GM Meetings Conclude

Solomon Says Bud Selig Has "No Interest" In Expanding Use Of Instant Replay

AROUND THE HORN: MLB.com's Jim Molony noted GMs were "given an update on instant replay," which will be "unchanged in 2009 and once again used only on boundary calls." Solomon and the GMs indicated that the program "has been a clear success." Solomon said MLB Commissioner Bud Selig "has no interest in expanding it, and, in fact, up until recently, he had no interest in putting instant replay in." Solomon: "We've got to do baby steps with this. I don't think we're going to expand it all. I can tell you that there's no way we'll ever expand it to on the field" (MLB.com, 11/6). Meanwhile, the AP's Ronald Blum reports GMs "plan to recommend that sites for division and wild-card tiebreakers be decided by wins and losses" rather than the current coin toss format. Padres GM Kevin Towers: "The team that performed better against the other team I think is the one that deserves to have home-field advantage, not an arbitrary coin flip." Solomon indicated that MLB is "drafting a proposal for the GMs to consider next month when they gather at the winter meetings in Las Vegas" (AP, 11/7).

LIFE OF LUXURY: Solomon said that several team owners "questioned why the GM meetings were held at the luxury St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in these struggling economic times." But Solomon "quieted the storm" by telling them the room rates were discounted from $745 to $259 (USA TODAY, 11/7).

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