Touch 'Em All: MLB plans to expand video review in 2014

Major League Baseball appears set for a vast expansion of video review by umpires in 2014 and is examining whether all calls other than balls or strikes should be subject to instant replay.

Replay has been in place for home run calls since August 2008. Commissioner Bud Selig initially wanted to add trap plays and fair/foul calls down the lines for 2013, but that change was put off.

"My opinion has evolved," Selig said Thursday after MLB executive vice president Joe Torre gave an update to owners meeting in New York.

Umpires are under heightened scrutiny following two bad calls last week.

On May 8, after initially failing to award Oakland's Adam Rosales a tying home run in the ninth inning at Cleveland, Angel Hernandez's umpiring crew reviewed video and ruled the hit a double even though replays clearly showed the ball going over the fence.

The following day, umpire Fieldin Culbreth's crew allowed Houston manager Bo Porter to improperly switch relievers in the middle of an inning, leading to a two-game suspension for the crew chief.

"Have we had a bad week or so? Yeah," Torre said.

Torre said he and former St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and Atlanta president John Schuerholz plan to make recommendations by the time owners meet Aug. 14-15 in Cooperstown.

"There are a lot of hurdles," Torre said. "You could start replaying stuff from the first inning on and then time the game by your calendar. That would be crazy. We have a rhythm in this game that we certainly don't want to disrupt."

The group will examine whether to have replay officials in booths at ballparks or at a central location, and whether to have umpires wear headsets as soccer officials do.

Torre is against giving managers a challenge system, as NFL coaches have, but says opinion is split.

"Managers have to make enough decisions," he said. "We've tried to stay away from technology telling us what to do."

The Rays have put reigning AL Cy Young Award winner David Price on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left triceps. The lefty has struggled this season, going 1-4 with a 5.24 ERA in nine starts. And his start Wednesday night ended after 21/3 innings with the injury. By then, he had given up four runs.

Braves setup man Jonny Venters will be out at least a year after undergoing his second Tommy John surgery of his career. The lefthander had the same procedure on his pitching elbow when he was a minor-leaguer in 2005.

The Rangers put Alexi Ogando (4-2, 3.08 ERA) on the 15-day DL because of tendinitis in his right biceps. The move came a day after the righthander allowed two runs in six innings in Texas' win at Oakland.

Reid Ryan, the son of Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan, will be named the next president of the Houston Astros, MLB.com reported.

The younger Ryan runs the triple-A Round Rock Express (Rangers) and double-A Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros), both of which are owned by the Hall of Famer and Houston businessman Don Sanders. According to the report, the Astros will introduce Reid Ryan, 41, at a news conference Friday.

- Wire reports