NYTimes: Accountibility Behind the Plate

[redsmetz]

Interesting op-ed piece in today's Times, two separate thoughts on the state of umpiring. One calls for an additional ump in the booth to review certain calls. The other suggests umpires reviews should be published to help improve bad umpiring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/opinion/15umpires.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

[George Anderson]

I would not be opposed to a replay system similar to what the NFL has being implemented into MLB. With technology the way it is now we can see that calls are indeed being missed where in the past we weren't to sure or not. One rule of thumb in umpiring is no matter what.."Get the call right". So if replay helps do that then I have no problem with it.

I am not real positive about the published evaluation idea. Instead I have always felt that MLB needs to evaluate each umpire and the ones who were struggling or couldn't do the job should be sent back down to the minors similar to how underperforming MLB players are dealt with. Once an umpire makes it to MLB, unless he is a major screwup he is there pretty much for life. I would like to see a system where the umpires have to keep working to stay on top of their game to where they aren't sent down.

Like I said a few days ago. MLB umpiring is better today than it has ever been but like with everything else, there is always room for improvement.

[bucksfan2]

Baseball needs to mimic the college football replay system instead of the MLB system. I want someone who isn't making the call on the field reviewing it and overturning the play. You have an outsider in the booth making the call instead of umps on the field. I do agree with the article that you get 1 minute to review the call, if you can't make a decision then the call stands.

As for publicly holding umpires accountable I am all for it. Umpires who take accountability for being wrong are held in much higher regard than umps who hide behind the mask. Jim Joyce gained a lot of respect across the sporting world for admitting to his blown call. Nothing in the game is worse than seeing CB Bucknor blow 2-3 calls in one game at 1b and not have to address the media or fans.

[Col_ IN Reds fan]

A booth umpire would be a good way to have replay. It should be quicker than what the NFL has now. It would also take less time than a manager aguing with an ump.

[smith288]

Jim Joyce is an amazing person with lots of character. Some of the umps these days are such ego maniacs when they are umpiring, its gross and infuriating.

[bucksfan2]

Jim Joyce is an amazing person with lots of character. Some of the umps these days are such ego maniacs when they are umpiring, its gross and infuriating.

I almost think you need to be an ego maniac on the field. You need to make the call and then stick with it. But you need to have humility when you are off the field. IMO that is what Joyce did and what is so admirable about it. He stuck to his guns with his call, he was wrong, and then admitted he was wrong and apologized. It takes a big man in that situation to admit to a mistake and apologize.

[westofyou]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/game-1-alcs-preview-texas-rangers/



The umpires have been announced for the series and they probably will work home plate in the following order: Gerry Davis, Tony Randazzo, Jim Reynolds, Angel Hernandez, Fieldin Culbreth, and Brian Gorman. Game one’s home plate umpire, Gerry Davis, has one of the smallest strike zones in the league. Here is a comparison of Davis’s, Tony Randazzo’s (umpire in the crew closest to a standard zone) and Brian Gorman’s (most pitcher friendly umpire of the crew) strike zones for right and left handed hitters.

[Chip R]

I haven't seen all the umpires for the division series but I don't recall seeing Jim Joyce's name listed.

[RedsManRick]

I have little interest in the seeing the umps' internal scorecards. However, I would like to have some confidence that MLB is actively reviewing umpires' performances using the best available technology, working with them to improve their performance, and assigning only the best umpires for playoffs games.

For MLB to bury its head in the sand in the face of this type of information is incredibly frustrating as a fan. It insults my intelligence and suggests that you're more worried about maintaining appearances of excellence than actual excellence.

I continue to maintain that the umps are sketchy because they don't care or are lazy. I also don't believe that they're getting worse -- we're just getting better at pointing out every single mistake. Most of them are doing the best they can given the limits of human perception and their current training processes. The focus should not be on grading them or publicly shaming them, but on finding ways to help them improve where they can and providing them technological assistance where possible and reasonable.

[George Anderson]

I almost think you need to be an ego maniac on the field. You need to make the call and then stick with it. But you need to have humility when you are off the field. IMO that is what Joyce did and what is so admirable about it. He stuck to his guns with his call, he was wrong, and then admitted he was wrong and apologized. It takes a big man in that situation to admit to a mistake and apologize.

I don't know if egomaniac is the right term. I would say an umpire has to have alot of confidence in himself and he also needs to portray confidence to the managers, players and fans. The last thing an umpire wants to look like is unconfident or indecisive when making a call or a ruling. He needs to portray to everyone that he is 100% confident that the call he just made is correct even though there are times he has zero clue if he was right or wrong.

The umpires that I have worked with who have worked AAA and the CWS are incredibly humble human beings when it comes to talking about their umpire careers. You never ever see an umpire at that level slapping himself on his back talking about how great he is or what big games he has worked. That attitude is very much looked down upon amongst his peers. Leave your ego's at the door.

[Razor Shines]

I have little interest in the seeing the umps' internal scorecards. However, I would like to have some confidence that MLB is actively reviewing it umpires' performances using the best available technology, working with them to improve their performance, and assigning only the best umpires for playoffs games.

For MLB to bury its head in the sand in the face of this type of information is incredibly frustrating as a fan. It insults my intelligence and suggests that you're more worried about maintaining appearances of excellence than actual excellence.

I continue to maintain that the umps aren't sketchy because they don't care or are lazy. I also don't believe that they're getting worse -- we're just getting better at pointing out every single mistake. Most of them are doing the best they can given the limits of human perception and their current training processes. The focus should not be on grading them or publicly shaming them, but on finding ways to help them improve where they can and providing them technological assistance where possible and reasonable.


I completely agree with all of this.