I honestly don't understand why umpires are even needed anymore. Why not have a universal strike zone? They can show me on the broadcast if the pitch was a strike or not immediately after its thrown. Why take an umpires word for it?
Well, there is a universal strike zone, clearly outline in the rulebook, but each umpire has his own "interpretation" of the strike zone. In this regard, MLB is asinine; they officially define a strike zone but then let each ump have his own "version" of it.
We've got the technology now; MLB should use it to get every call right, and they can still have an ump stand behind home plate to yell out the calls as they're transmitted from a computerized system to an earpiece he's wearing (plus he'd still make calls on plays at the plate).