Over the past week, Major League Baseball has made it clear that they have every intention of playing their season, with hopes of being the first professional sports league to return amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plans have been floated regarding how the season could return through functional isolation, in which the entirety of the MLB’s operations would be locked down to specific safe locations that would keep everyone healthy from the coronavirus. The most likely scenario would be for the season to be played at team’s spring training facilities, where they are more closely populated instead of spread out across the country.

While there are sure to be plenty of players willing to play baseball under whatever conditions the MLB lays out for them, other players have more important things that will keep them from signing up to play a season in isolation. For former Met Zack Wheeler, family comes first.

Wheeler and his wife Dominique are expecting the birth of their first child in July, which could be around the time the season starts or is already in full swing. Speaking with John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Wheeler voiced his concerns about the MLB’s plan and expressed his intent to be there for the birth of his child no matter what.

“I am not going to miss the birth of my first child. I don’t care, I’m going to be there for her and the birth of my child. That’s a fact. I think anybody would do the same thing.”

The issue that the Wheeler family has with this plan is one that is likely felt throughout the sport. As of now, all reports indicate that families would be forced to be separated during the season, leaving them away from their loved ones for months at a time.

“They are saying your significant other would not be allowed to be with you. That makes no sense to me.” Wheeler told Clark.  “If we’re gonna be stuck in quarantine, then why can’t they be stuck with us in quarantine?”

How many stories like Wheeler’s are out there when you are talking about the thousands of people that would be required to get this season off the ground?

This stretches beyond just the players, as coaches, umpires and other league personal would be forced to adhere to these guidelines as well. Whether it be the birth of a first child, or any other family issue that could arise, getting everyone to sign up for this radical isolation plan is going to be a difficult task for the MLB to accomplish.

A simple solution would be to allow immediate families to accompany players in their isolated homes during the season, but at the same time, that would increase the quarantined population immensely. If social distancing has taught us anything, it’s that the more people that are around, the greater the risk of an outbreak.

At the end of the day, Wheeler is going to prioritize family and rightly so. Many others may follow suit, creating a ripple effect that could create more problems than the MLB can solve.

Time is everyone’s best friend at this point. Hopefully things get better sooner rather than later and the solutions to starting the baseball season don’t have to be as radical as the one’s that are being suggested now.

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For the upcoming MLB season, there will be an improvement in communication between umpires and those in attendance and watching on TV or listening on radio.

According to ESPN’s Pedro Gomez, umpires will wear microphones starting this coming season allowing them to address video review calls and explain rules and replay decisions, much like the NFL has done for year.

Many feel this is long overdo, as baseball has been the worst sport in communicating video results and the rules that support it to fans. Much of this was due to the fact that umpires were unable to communicate with the public, but this will be rectified in 2020.This leaves fans and media alike to guess why certain calls changed and others did not. Controversial calls were even more vexing because it left fans to wonder why a certain call was upheld or reversed.

To illustrate how far behind MLB is in this matter, the NFL has used their current replay system since 1986. Challenges were added later (in 1999), but the communication to the public was always made. Even referees in the NHL explain calls to the public especially on scoring plays. The NBA currently does not place microphones on their on-court officials.

Hopefully, MLB’s new system will alleviate some obvious unknowns to the public and make the game better overall.

New for the 2020 MLB season: Much like NFL referees have done for years, umpires will be mic’d up and tell fans in attendance and those watching on television and listening on radio if reviewed calls are upheld or overturned. They may also explain rules, if necessary.

— The Pedro Gomez Foundation (@PGFoundation_) January 27, 2020

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ESPN reports that major league baseball intends to use a computerized camera system meant to function as “robot umpires” in Spring Training this year.

In addition, they will start incorporating it in the minor leagues, specifically the Florida State League this season as they attempt to properly test and adjust the system before using it in regular-season MLB games.

The system has previously been used in the Atlantic League (independent) and Arizona Fall League.

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Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post reports that “robo umps” or ABS could be used as soon as in three seasons, with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred being the biggest proponent for the quick rollout of it.

The umpires and MLB recently agreed to a five-year labor deal that also included a provision in which the current league’s umpires agreed to go along with and assist in the set up of ABS in the major leagues.

While it has been somewhat introduced in the minor leagues and Arizona Fall League, it is still relatively unfamiliar to many players and coaches throughout the sport.

Bogage goes on to talk about how the transition to ABS could take the game to new heights here.

The post MLB News: Digital Strike Zone Could Be Used in Three Years appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Good morning, Mets fans!

The stove remained hot, while MLB and the working umpires reached a five-year deal, including cooperation by umpires to participate in a potential automatic balls/strikes system.

Latest Mets News

Joel Sherman of the New York Post says Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado stands out as a potential blockbuster trade option for the Mets.

More information on Yoenis Cespedes‘ amended contract were revealed.

Latest MLB News

Pitcher Dallas Keuchel agreed to a contract with the Chicago White Sox.

Latest NL East News

Former Braves pitcher Julio Teheran wrote a heartfelt thanks to his prior organization.

With a potentially new bullpen rule, Mark Zuckerman of MSAN says the Nationals might refrain from adding another lefty reliever this offseason.

Latest on MMO

Josh Finkelstein shares his thoughts on the Mets exploring a trade for Nolan Arenado.

Kyle Newman debates whether a move to the National League will help new Mets pitcher Rick Porcello.

On This Day

2005: Mets signed free agent Endy Chavez

Birthday: Gavin Cecchini (26).

Let’s go Mets!

The post Morning Briefing: MLB Making Strides in Automatic Ball and Strike System appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Mets’ second baseman, Robinson Cano, exited Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals after being hit on the hand with a pitch. However, the good news is that X-rays came back negative.

The ball was ruled a strike, as the umpires determined he swung, leading to Mickey Callaway being run from the game.

Juan Lagares came on to pinch hit with two strikes and struck out.

Cano, 36, dealt with injury last season after he was struck by a pitch on his hand and suffered a broken bone.

We will keep you up to date as more news on the situation becomes available.

The post X-Rays On Cano’s Hand Come Back Negative appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Baseball is an art form to some, but to pretty much everybody, when you chisel out the emotional elements (if you can bear it), it’s a game. And like every game, its integrity deserves to be respected and preserved by whatever means necessary.

Sometimes, these measures come at the expense of fans. One of the most thrilling, underrated aspects of the Mets’ 1969 World Series victory had to be the scene that proceeded Cleon Jones putting away the final out. It’s a shame to know fans will never be able to storm the field and create a euphoric moment for themselves, but in just about every other way imaginable, it’s for the best.

In a similar vein, the image of a red-faced manager holding back a disgruntled player as he tears into an umpire while tens of thousands of fans scream and toss their own profanities into the ring is one to behold. The visceral, unhinged anger directed towards authority – often frowned upon in our everyday world – is applauded on a baseball field, for better or worse. Human error and the subsequent eruption does more for baseball than many would be willing to give it credit for.

But at this stage in its history, it’s perspective that baseball so direly needs. It’s the commissioner actually having the gumption to try marketing the game’s best player successfully. It’s teams breaking personnel news after the involved players have received all necessary information. As we become more commercially invested, we run the risk of leaving the men on the field behind to play a separate game.

Needless to say, when Ben Zobrist is ejected from a game and fined for asserting to a home plate umpire that discussions of electronic strike zones are rightfully picking up steam, Major League Baseball very bluntly takes a side at the expense of its most important components, even if they don’t say much directly.

The only people who deserve a say in how Major League Baseball should be played are, well, Major League Baseball players. And after losing a crucial game following three consecutive strike calls that arguably shouldn’t have been, the Colorado Rockies had plenty to say to Kyle Newman of the Denver Post.

“You can’t rule out the emotional human factor of umpiring games, like when you make a borderline pitch a little off of the black that the robotic strike zone wouldn’t call a strike but the umpire could give you,” Chad Bettis told Newman. “Or, if you pitch to the glove, pitches spotted up just on the edge of the plate. That’s where it gets questionable, because that’s generally considered a strike, even by hitters.”

Premier reliever Adam Ottavino had a more calculated, but ultimately sensible approach to how he’d like his pitches called:

“Even if you are the best ump in the world and you are getting 92 percent of the calls right, that means if you have 200 pitches, there are 16 wrong… Those could be hugely impactful on the outcome of the game.”

There are certain facets of the traditional strike zone that may never truly be understood and taken into consideration by a machine. The archetypal pitcher’s pitch (something that cuts or floats its way around a hitter but winds up over the plate by the time the catcher has a glove on it), the check-swing (and the process of getting a ruling/asking for help), and the circumstances presented by the count itself (get-me-over versus too-close-to-take pitches) are just a few critical components in an umpire’s judgment of a strike zone that may never be fully replicated by an automated umpire behind the plate.

This isn’t to say home plate umpires have the current paradigm down pat. The outrage, in particular, has come to a boil over the last few years. Games are meant to be played against other people, and as a result, become significantly less rewarding when played against the circumstances themselves. No players would have to worry about Angel Hernandez ejecting them if the preposterous low-strike call was orchestrated by a machine. But perhaps there can be a middle ground.

As catcher Chris Iannetta put it in his discussion with Newman, “The game is based on subjectivity — it’s part of the game, and it provides an entertainment factor, even though it can be frustrating if it doesn’t go your way. It’s a different layer and element to the game.”

There’s certainly no reason – at least not with the current mechanical framework we know of – to assume an automated zone will rightfully reward a pitcher who hits his spot in a 3-2 count. Even if there were, the subjective element that Bettis and Iannetta hark back to is something players shouldn’t be deprived of if they would rather hold onto it.

In the meantime, an economical, sensible, and perhaps overdue decision that Rob Manfred could sign off would involve better representing disgruntled players while holding particularly shoddy and/or short-tempered umpires accountable. Umpires are well within their rights to protest what they see as “verbal attacks,” but players are all taught from a young age that arguing balls and strikes breaks one of the most sacred unwritten rules of baseball. Moreover, fans always remember and bemoan a player’s struggles with a vitriol that umpires will rarely fall victim to. Put another way, the player will always have the harder job, and unless his name is Milton Bradley or John Lackey, he usually makes a point worth noting.

Granted, Ottavino’s point of view cannot fall on deaf ears, and while Major League Baseball can, it should definitely use its available resources to try fine-tuning the prototypical “robot ump” however they can, bearing in mind the aforementioned intangibles that better define a strike than a simple assessment of whether or not a ball hovers over home plate. Human error shouldn’t have any hand in the end result, but also should be toyed with as players may grow even more restless with the current state of affairs behind home plate.

Innovation isn’t always welcomed, and for good reason. However helpful launch angles, exit velocities, and sabermetrics may be to those upstairs, the fact remains that players often feel marginalized by even the daintiest of numbers held over their heads. It’s difficult to succeed under such an intense microscope, and while they all sign up to do it, the players’ efforts in entertaining us certainly deserve to be met halfway.

To strip a fan’s entertainment away from baseball with a faulty yet “indisputable” automated strike zone would be a more criminal insult to our technological faculties than the Apple Pencil. Going digital for the sake of going digital would be an unfortunate, alienating, and indisputably strike-inducing maneuver that Rob Manfred and his current regime can ill afford. And for that reason, I’m currently against implementing an automated strike zone – at least while we have infallibly subjective and entertaining elements of our game worth protecting and enjoying.

While there’s still a forum for discussion, however, there are hundreds of active players with ideas worth taking into account. And the wisest decision on hand would be to hear them out and decide what traditions are really worth holding onto. The sport will certainly die out if those who play it – at the highest level, no less – don’t feel like the sport is giving something back to them. Speaking literally… this isn’t rocket science.

The post An Open, Honest Take on Automated Strike Zones appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Todd Frazier was visibly frustrated last night with home plate umpire Lance Barrett after a few generous strike calls and expressed his concern after the New York Mets 7-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

His frustration with umpires goes back to the San Diego Padres series, “I’m just starting to get frustrated with these umpires a little bit. It’s one of those things where I have to say something. … Something has to be done. The more we talk about it, the more frustrating it’s getting. I’m not making excuses. We lost fair and square. The kid pitched a hell of a game. But these umpires have got to get better, bottom line.”

The Mets were shutdown by young left-hander Sean Newcomb on Wednesday night. He allowed only two hits over seven scoreless innings in which he struck out eight.

Statcast agreed with Frazier on Wednesday with two called strikes against him in the game that weren’t and four more botched strike calls in the last five games.

Frazier blasted off on the umps after the game, “There’s no accountability. I’m getting really frustrated with these guys in these last five or six games that puts you in a hole.”

The Mets third baseman is hitting .255/.385/.429 on the season with 20 walks and said he would like to sit down with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred if necessary to discuss his recent issues with the umpires.

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Last night, Yadier Molina hit a game winning walk-off double scoring Matt Carpenter from first base to keep the Cardinals Wild Card hopes alive and well. There was just one teensy little problem. The umpires blew the call. Molina’s double hopped the fence and hit the back wall meaning the umpires should have ruled it a ground rule double and ordered Carpenter to go back to third base. Now, this is exactly the type of play that should be reversed on replay. It wasn’t, and we learned about a number of issues related to replay.

Understandably, the Major League Replay Rule states, “A challenge to a play that ends the game must be invoked immediately upon the conclusion of the play, and both Clubs shall remain in their dugouts until the Replay Official issues his decision.”

Makes sense, doesn’t it? If the play is going to end the game, why do you need to wait to hear from your team’s replay official to challenge the play? You shouldn’t. If your team is definitively going to lose on that play, you, as the manager, have to get out there and challenge the play. There is no disincentive for asking for the replay in that spot. It is managerial malpractice not to immediately ask for replay in that spot.

As an aside, with the replay rule, we have lost some of the fire and brimstone fans loved from their managers. When there was a bad call like that, before the play was over, you would see managers like Earl Weaver and Lou Piniella, jumping out from the dugout and hopping mad. They knew the play was wrong, and the umpires were going to have to hear about it IMMEDIATELY! Now, with replay, managers are more timid and reserved. They can’t just act out of pure emotion. They have to be measured and get word from their replay team as to whether or not a challenge would be successful.

But that’s the culture that has been created, and that’s exactly what Bryan Price was doing in that situation. Like Pavlov’s Dog, his inclination on a play that was questionable was to reach for the phone rather than pop out of the dugout. It was regrettable because, under the rules, he needed to challenge the play immediately. He didn’t, and by the time he figured out he should challenge, the umpires had already left the field.

Keep in mind, the umpires left the field, thereby making the call stand and ending the game, despite getting the call wrong on the field. At the end of the day, the timing aspect of the replay rules were subservient to the spirit of the replay rules, which is to get the call right so a bad call doesn’t change the outcome of the game.

When the spirit of the rule is violated by a technicality of the rule, it is time to seek out solutions on how to balance the two. Here, the solution is simple. Since a challenge for the last play of the game is required to be immediate, why not just automatically review the final play of every game if it’s questionable?

On the Molina play, the replay officials could have been reviewing the play right away, and they could have alerted the umpires that the call should have been overturned. The call would have been right, and a game that had far reaching implications in the National League Wild Card race wouldn’t have been decided on a technicality. Again, the purpose of replay is to get the call right, not to get the call right only if it is challenged by a certain time.

In fact, like the NFL with touchdowns and turnovers, the immediate replay rule should be further expanded. Major League Baseball should institute an automatic replay on every home run and end of game situation. Like the NFL, the home plate umpire can be given a buzzer that goes off alerting them to the fact that the play is under review sending the umpires to the the phones. If done properly, this will actually reduce the amount of time wasted on replays. If done properly, the calls will be right rather than subjecting everyone to hand-wringing over whether the challenge was actually done in a timely fashion.

By the way, it will also save managers like Price, and Terry Collins from earlier this season, from having egg on their faces when they didn’t challenge a call that automatically ended the game.

The post MLB Needs To Immediately Review End of Game Plays appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

An MMO Fan Shot by Michael Reilly

The bases are loaded, with one out in the third inning and the Mets are down 3-1. Colorado’s Tony Wolters heads to the dugout after striking out. Not so fast, says home plate umpire Carlos Torres. You foul tipped it… A double and four runs later, the hole the Mets were already in gets much deeper. “He sold it for me,” Wolters says after the game. “I appreciate it. Carlos [Torres], thank you.”

MLB rightfully decided to honor the human element in the game by not allowing replays in such situations, leaving it up to the umpires to officiate. Umpires are permitted to consult with one another to try and make certain that the correct call is made. An umpire also has the right to refuse to discuss the issue any further with anyone at all. Too often, despite common sense and without humility, umpires choose the latter—even when it is obvious they are aware they blew the call.

The next day, with one out in the 8th inning and umpire’s egos dangerously close to being crushed, another call was badly blown. With the Mets trailing 4-3, Lucas Duda tapped a grounder to third base. Juan Lagares, running from 2nd base, avoided the tag from 3rd baseman Nolan Arenado, who instead threw to first for the out.

The third base umpire (properly) ruled Lagares safe. However, the second base umpire called him out for running out of the baseline. Who cares about such insignificant details like Lagares not even coming close to running out of the baseline and remaining on the dirt and directly in line with the third base bag, all while avoiding the tag? Ignore the fact that it wasn’t the second base umpire’s call to make. Definitely ignore the first call (safe) made by the umpire whose call it was to make. Ignore the rules. It is the umpires’ egos that we must protect.

To get to the end of this article, we must go back to 10/10/15. Game 2. Noah Syndergaard took the loss against the Dodgers and Ruben Tejada got knocked out for the remainder of the playoffs with a broken leg from a hard (and now illegal) slide by LA’s Chase Utley.

Since that game, the Mets have played the Dodgers on eight different occasions. 72 innings. Noah Syndergaard has already pitched once against L.A. since that loss in Game 2. In that game, he got the win and a couple of homers. So tonight was the 9th time that we played the Dodgers without any of the retribution every baseball fan and player thought was rightfully owed to Chase Utley, including himself.

I am not talking about hurting the guy and putting him on the disabled list. That would be wrong in any sport. Instead, one in the back, perhaps? Or, just throw a purpose pitch to back him up off the plate he has been hogging all season. Even better, make him eat dirt; you know, because: BASEBALL.

So last night, Noah Syndergaard got ejected for throwing behind Utley. Could the ball have just gotten away from him? Sure. Who knows? Adam Hamari, home plate umpire and rookie call-up, that’s who.

Although no warnings were officially issued, the umpires certainly seemed like they were treating this game and its players as if one had actually been given. I wonder just how long the umpires would have continued like this, seeing that the Mets had never sought retribution (if indeed that was retribution)?

It is not reasonable to issue bench warnings one off-season and nine games later when there has not even been a single pitch thrown inside by a Met pitcher. Nor has there been any tension or animosity between these two teams; therefore, sensibly, no bench warnings were given. Instead, the umpires decided the game should be played and ruled in the same manner it would be if an official warning was given: ONE STRIKE AND YOU’RE OUT!

Did 44,000 fans buy tickets for tonight’s game just for the chance to watch home plate umpire and rookie call-up Adam Hamari get involved and become the headliner of the game? Yes, according to yet another umpire’s ego. When will the league step in and do something not only about the bad umpiring itself, but to address this rampant arrogance and refusal to even confer as a group to get the call right?

* * * * * * * *

This MMO Fan Shot was written by MMO reader Michael Reilly. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 30,000 Met fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to FanShot@MetsmerizedOnline.com. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.

The post MMO Fan Shot: The Umpires Strike Back appeared first on Metsmerized Online.