Athletics Do Not File Protest
By Tony Frye
Athletics Opt out of protest after controversial collision call.Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Susan Slusser, beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, has reported that the Oakland Athletics have opted to not file a formal protest to last night’s game against the Angels.
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The protest was spawned by a controversial obstruction play against first baseman Brandon Moss. Because the play is a judgement call, which cannot be protested or replayed, the Athletics front office, who ultimately file all protests, and Bob Melvin agreed that a formal protest was unnecessary.
The larger issue, though, is whether or not these types of plays should be reviewable. While I understand why judgement calls shouldn’t be replayed, there is a solution to be had in this situation. Instead of going to New York and having them make the call, why don’t judgement plays get reviewed by the umpire who initially made the call. If that umpire, upon reviewing the footage, determines that his judgement call should be changed it would still be fair for the umpire and to the integrity of the human element.
Last night’s game, no matter how important to us as fans, was not an Earth shattering game but if this had been a wild card game or if Aybar had made it to home in that inning there would be protesting in Oakland. I think the Athletics should have still filed the protest if for no other reason than to help establish a precedent for replaying judgement calls on the field. Had an umpire reviewed that play, he may have taken back the obstruction call and charged Aybar with interference instead. We’ll never know.
It is worth noting that even the LA announcers thought it was a bad call since Otero had the ball and Aybar was inside the baseline.