Francona hopes to gain clarity on new rules

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Terry Francona has not drawn up any new drills in the wake of the release of the new home-plate collision rules. The Indians manager wants more clarity on some of the guidelines before addressing the changes during workouts.

On Tuesday, Francona was scheduled to head to Peoria, Ariz., to meet with Major League Baseball officials to go over some elements of the new instant-replay system. The manager said he might also ask a few questions about the experimental Rule 7.13, which was announced on Monday.

"I still have some questions," Francona said. "Not questions of why, but questions of how we're supposed to do it, as I'm sure everybody is [wondering]. I'll try to get those answered as quickly as possible, so we can define it better and tell our catchers what to do.

"I heard a couple explanations today and they were different. So I want to find out for myself, and then I'll feel better about it."

Scheduled to join Francona at the meeting on instant replay were bench coach Brad Mills, general manager Chris Antonetti, assistant general manager Mike Chernoff and director of baseball operations Derek Falvey.

One question on Francona's mind was whether a manager could use an instant-replay challenge for a collision play at the plate. The manager did not feel that was clear in the language of the new rules, which did state in general that umpires could use instant replay to make a ruling.

"That's one of the things that was a little ambiguous," Francona said. "Again, those are questions we have. If you have a challenge left, are you allowed to? Those are things we really want to find out."