This is the last thing we need

Maybe you heard. CC almost pitched a no-hitter, but he got screwed. A greedy official scorer robbed him of his feat by ruling a misplayed dribbler a hit.

But never fear. Brewers GM Doug Melvin has a plan to make sure no play is ever scored incorrectly again.

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Doug Melvin said he thought a committee should decide scoring decisions like the one that may have cost Sabathia a no-hitter in the Brewers’ 7-0 victory over the Pirates on Sunday. One official scorer is used in all baseball games until the World Series, where a three-person panel reviews scoring plays.

“There could be possible reviews to see if there’s a better way of doing it where there’s not all the pressure put on one individual,” Melvin said Monday.

He suggested a three-member panel consisting of an official scorer and two writers.

“I thought of it before this play,” he said. “It’s not just because of this. There’s becoming too many changes and too many people involved.”

Get the writers involved? Great idea! That would solve everything! The same way getting the writers involved has eliminated controversy from the MVP, CY Young and Hall of Fame voting.

Sorry Doug, but on behalf of writers everywhere, Iet me be the one to tell you that we’re gonna pass on this offer. Sure, it would be a hell of an honor. And we’re flattered. But, there’s a few problems. The biggest problem, as far as I can see, if that sports writers are supposed to maintain some level of objectivity and you’d be putting them in a position where they would be the ones deciding whether or not a play is a hit. Usually those decisions don’t matter much. But sometimes, as we saw the other night with CC, they do. Sometimes ruling a play a hit can be the difference between a player reaching a milestone that triggers a bonus. And we don’t want that kind of power.

Now, you might counter by pointing out that, hey, writers already vote for MVP, CY Young and Rookie of the Year, and that those awards usually trigger a bonus. So what’s the difference? But I would respond by pointing out that dozens of writers vote for those awards, while only two writers would be helping to decide if a play is an error or a hit and that is a much more concentrated and therefore much more dangerous allotment of power.

If you didn’t buy that argument (and I wouldn’t blame you), I’d acknowledge that writers probably shouldn’t vote for end-of-the-year awards and that doing so clearly is a conflict of interest. But writers enjoy voting for the awards, so that probably won’t change anytime soon. Regardless, two wrongs don’t make a right. And asking writers to be official scorers is wrong, wrong, wrong.