MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and several club owners today expressed support for the league's newly expanded instant replay system despite several high-profile issues in recent days and open questioning by some managers, including the Red Sox' John Farrell. Speaking at the MLB Diversity Business Summit in N.Y., Selig said, "When you do anything new like this, there's always going to be a glitch or two, but this is off to a wonderful start. I spoke to (MLB Special On-Field Committee member Tony LaRussa), and have studied all the numbers that (MLB Senior VP/Baseball Operations) Peter Woodfork has given me, and we're really pleased. Frankly, we couldn't have imagined it going as well as it has."
Eighty-four calls have been reviewed thus far in the '14 season, with 28 of them reversed. Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner said, "I don't expect any system to be perfect. It's no different than before instant replay. ... It's a vast improvement over what we had. And I think it's going to be great."
MLBAM President & CEO Bob Bowman, meanwhile, expressed additional hope of solving baseball's long-running blackout issue and implementing widespread in-market live game streaming. Currently, only the Blue Jays stream their games locally, and the Yankees recently shut down their "Yankees on YES" in-market streaming service after five largely unsuccessful seasons. "There are lot of people at the table, from the league to the teams to the (RSNs) to the distributors. What we need to do as a sport is solve this behind the scenes for the betterment of the fans." Bowman said finding a resolution this season would represent a fitting sendoff for Selig, currently in the final year of his contract and eyeing retirement. But Bowman added the caveat, "If in fact it is his final year."
