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Selig: Don't hold your breath for instant replays

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Last month, when Jimmy Rollins was victimized by a blown call at second base in another nondescript Phillies loss, the shortstop lamented the lack of instant replay. It's a topic that has arisen frequently among his teammates in 2012.

Commissioner Bud Selig, center, answers reporters' questions following a meeting with team owners, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, in Paradise Valley, Ariz. Selig has been given a two-year contract extension through the 2014 season. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)
Commissioner Bud Selig, center, answers reporters' questions following a meeting with team owners, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, in Paradise Valley, Ariz. Selig has been given a two-year contract extension through the 2014 season. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Last month, when Jimmy Rollins was victimized by a blown call at second base in another nondescript Phillies loss, the shortstop lamented the lack of instant replay. It's a topic that has arisen frequently among his teammates in 2012.

Commissioner Bud Selig isn't hearing it.

"The appetite for more instant replay in the sport is very low, everywhere," Selig said Tuesday during his annual meeting with the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Major League Baseball could expand replay for 2013 by adding fair/foul calls and trapped balls, but Selig claimed it will not happen until "we have the technology to do it."

"Nobody is anxious to expand replay anymore," the commissioner said. "That doesn't mean we won't continue to review it. Baseball is a game of pace; you can't compare it to anything else. We have to be careful how we proceed."

Selig was asked about his aversion to adding a fifth umpire to every crew to sit in a booth and have the replays readily available for a judgment that could be relayed to the field in a timely fashion. Joe Torre, Major League Baseball's vice president and liaison to the umpires, answered cryptically for him.

"The game is imperfect, no matter how much replay we have," Torre said. "I don't know why we want everything to be perfect. Life isn't perfect. And I think this is a game of life myself."

Torre did say MLB was considering an extra umpire. The complications, he said, are where runners are to be put if a foul ball is overturned and ruled fair.

"Now you have the arguments start," Torre said.

Halladay in Florida

Roy Halladay's return to the Phillies rotation could be less than a week away.

As expected, the righthander will make a rehabilitation start for single-A Clearwater on Thursday at Bright House Field. He has not pitched in a game since May 27, when he left with a strained muscle behind his right shoulder.

If all goes well with Clearwater, Halladay likely will start Tuesday in Los Angeles, the fifth game after the all-star break. That would give him three starts before the July 31 trade deadline.

"I can't wait to see him in a game," all-star catcher Carlos Ruiz said.

This will be Halladay's first appearance in the minors since 2001, when he began the season there as banishment for a disastrous stint in the majors with Toronto.

Selig on Hamels

During his chat, Selig was asked whether he sympathized with the Phillies, who are nearing the luxury tax limit, as they attempt to re-sign all-star pitcher Cole Hamels.

"I wouldn't say 'tough luck,' because I do sympathize with the Phillies for a lot of reasons," Selig said. "But those are economic judgments you have to make within this structure. Of course, you want to keep your own players if at all possible - and clubs have to make those kinds of decisions. Dave Montgomery and Ruben [Amaro] - they're smart. I have faith they'll figure it out."

Rookie perspective

Mike Trout, the rookie from Millville, N.J., is in awe of the spectacle he is experiencing at the All-Star Game.

But Trout, 20, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels who is having an MVP-caliber season, is trying to soak in everything.

"I'm still thinking about it right now, just meeting the guys and getting to know them," Trout said. "I'm going to try to pick away Derek Jeter's brain a little bit, him being my role model."

Trout said he has talked only briefly to Jeter in the past - "when I'm standing on second base."

The notion brought back memories for Jeter, the New York Yankees shortstop who made his all-star debut in 1998. Then, he said, the veteran players made him feel comfortable. He hopes to do the same for some of the game's young stars, many of whom tell him they grew up idolizing him.

"It can be embarrassing at times, but it makes you feel good," Jeter said. "It makes you feel like you did something right. But I get that more and more."

Extra bases

When year-round interleague play begins in 2013 with Houston's move to the American League, there will be fewer "rivalry" games. One National League division will be paired with an American League division and play every team for a three-game series. Then, rivals will play either three or four games instead of the usual six. The Phillies' rivals will alternate annually between Toronto and Boston. . . . Minor-league righthander Lisalverto Bonilla will be examined Wednesday by a Phillies doctor. He injured his right hand while fooling around with teammates in a hotel before Sunday's Futures Game.

This article contains information from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.