Replay review is on the way

WASHINGTON -- Major League Baseball is working out technical issues to start instant replay for boundary calls such as home runs, hoping to institute the system this season.

“We’ve got lots of time in August,” Bob DuPuy, the sport’s chief operating officer, said Wednesday as a two-day owners’ meeting began. “There’s plenty of August still to go.”

Replay was among the topics discussed but doesn’t require a vote because it is not a rule change.

“There’s not any opposition to it that I’ve heard,” DuPuy said.

Commissioner Bud Selig, once a staunch opponent, appears to be more comfortable with the use of replay. A rash of missed boundary calls -- fair or foul, over the fence or not -- prompted Selig to alter his opposition. Replays would not be used to review close plays on the bases or balls and strikes.

Also Wednesday, the owners’ executive council approved Bill Neukom as the incoming controlling owner of the San Francisco Giants and also approved participation in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Both are expected to be approved by the full ownership today. Neukom will take over from Peter Magowan after the season.