Weiss, Rockies can benefit from addition of instant replay

One trait that became evident early in Walt Weiss' first season and that continued throughout the year was his very calm demeanor, especially when it came to dealing with umpires. The guy just isn't Earl Weaver when it comes to dealing with the men in blue.

In fact, the Rockies as a team did not run afoul of the umpires very often, just two incidents all season resulted in Rockies ejections. The first, on June 13, revolved around a pair of balks called by, you guessed it, Bob Davidson. Both pitcher Wilton Lopez and pitching coach Jim Wright were ejected for arguing the call, though Davidson did not make either ejection himself. The other ejection came on August 1 when Troy Tulowitzki was tossed by Marvin Hudson for arguing balls and strikes.

So, there was just one time last season a Rockie was ejected in a direct argument with an umpire, they were just not a confrontational team, with Weiss setting the tone.

There were times last year that Weiss seemed to be internally debating whether to go out and argue a call and he tended to decide against it.

This year, the manager-umpire argument has essentially been removed from the game and replaced with a comprehensive instant replay system. Now, all Weiss or any other manager has to do if he disagrees with a call is simply use his challenge and ask the umpire for a video review.

I admit I don't know the man personally, but Weiss seems like one that would be much more comfortable walking out to an umpire and asking for a replay review than running out there and cussing him six ways from Sunday Lou Pinella-style. Weiss also seems to have fairly good judgement, so I doubt he'll be wasting too many of those challenges he has at his disposal.

In general, acting like an adult and getting things right are two things I'm in favor of, both of which will be significantly increased across baseball by the addition of instant replay. The purist in me hates it, but on the main I say welcome to the 21st Century, baseball, we're glad to have you.