October 7, 2010

Meeting the Umpires

The MLBPA is trying to put together a meeting between the league, the players and the umpires:

What the players would like to address, two player representatives said, is the growing concern among players about poor communication with umpires and what players see as a failure of accountability and transparency in the grading and evaluation of umpires. Oakland Athletics reliever Brad Ziegler, the team’s player rep, said that because disciplinary action of umps isn’t made public, a distrust often exists among some players.

“We never know why or when they are fined, or reprimanded or held accountable,” Ziegler said. “Anytime a player is punished, suspended or sent down to the minors, the public knows about it. It would be a lot easier to communicate with umpires if everyone was held to similar standards. Our statistics as players are a lot more quantifiable than the umpires’.”

“It’d be nice if they were rated and those who didn’t pass, they get a week vacation, they get sent down,” said Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies’ player rep. “It’s not that they’re trying to be bad. Some players just can’t make it; some umpires just can’t make it. That’s just the way it is. As long as they don’t have to answer to anybody and they have that job security, that pressure of having to be good to stay here — they don’t have to worry about that.”

I’m all for the accountability. I’m also glad the players are willing to talk about this rather than let the situation fester.

1 thought on “Meeting the Umpires

  1. pft

    I am sure if umpires were compensated as well as players they would be willing to play by the same rules as players. For umpires, only the job security makes the salary attractive, unlike players who can retire in 10 years if they make it.

    Umpires may be a convenient tool for MLB. For example, say for some reason the league wanted a bigger strike zone without announcing it. This might be to show the testing program is effective. They simply get the umpires to do their dirty work. In return for their silence, their mistakes go unpunished or unannounced.

    As for transparency, I for one would like to see more transparency about who is tested and when (and where), and would love to see all the names on that 2003 list.

    ReplyReply

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