The current headline photo on espn.com is captioned:

Will instant replay be a help or a hindrance to umpires? We’ll soon see.

I’ll take this one.

The answer is: Who cares whether it helps or hurts the umpires? And what’s the context of the question, anyway? What ESPN is really asking is: Will the umpires like it? Or not?

But the much, much better question is, will instant replay be a help or a hindrance to the experience of being a baseball fan?

And that’s still an open question, because there are already some things I’m seeing and not liking. Three umpires can review the replay? Why? Why should any of the umpires be reviewing the replay? This is exactly what the NFL does wrong. The referee, who was responsible for the call on the field in the first place, is charged with deciding whether the call was wrong or not. The referee’s #1 vested interest, let’s face it, is avoiding admitting he was wrong if it can be at all avoided.

Replays should be reviewed by somebody upstairs, or in New York or wherever. One quick phone call, guy in the booth looks at the replay a few times, he tells the umpire whether the play should be overturned. Done and done.

But there are warning signs the Selig’s MLB cabal stands poised to take a good idea and implement it in a remarkably stupid way. Again.