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Manfred says owners will eventually have to discuss computer umpires

Caylor Arnold / USA TODAY Sports

It may not be Skynet, but baseball could eventually host the rise of the machines.

Eventually, technology will exist wherein computerized umpires - or umpire-like programs - will be able to call a major-league baseball game with pinpoint accuracy. Commissioner Rob Manfred says it's a topic owners will have to broach when the time comes, according to ESPN's Andrew Marchand.

"There is a separate question on whether you want to take the human element of a home plate umpire out of the game," Manfred said. "When the technology gets there, I'm sure the owners will have a conversation on whether they want to go to make that additional move of taking that human element out of the game. Right now, we don't have technology that in real time can more accurately call balls and strikes than our human umpires, who - let's not forget - get it right about 95 percent of the time."

Manfred was sure to include support for his current, human, umpires following recent weeks of growing tension on the field.

Related: Umpires wearing white wristbands in protest of 'escalating verbal attacks'

The World Umpires Association (WUA) ceased its protest Sunday when Manfred agreed to a meeting. While there have been a number of confrontations in 2017, the watershed moment for the protest was the incident between Ian Kinsler and Angel Hernandez on Aug. 14.

Kinsler was reportedly fined $10,000 for his comments, but that was not enough for the umpires. Manfred, who said he doesn't think players are more abusive now than in the past, also informed the WUA that the protest was not acceptable under the current collective bargaining agreement.

"I was a little surprised by the umpire protest," Manfred said. "I want to be clear, that protest was a violation of their collective bargaining agreement. We let them know it was a violation of their collective bargaining agreement and we intended to enforce our rights under that agreement. Fortunately, a meeting to have a conversation defused the problem before it became more serious. That is good labor relations in my view."

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