baseballrules

This is the last post in this category that has appeared on an off during the year. Well, it will be the last post unless some other bright idea comes along that suggests ways to improve MLB umpiring.

All the items posted to date offer a variety of suggestions to improve umpire performance. The objective is to improve it to the highest degree so that the calls for video replays will be silenced. Should MLB fail to take drastic action by making considerable improvements to the state of umpiring, the calls for replay will continue to be heaerd and they gradually will become louder.

Any of the previous suggestions can fall under the category of MLB taking over all training of professional umpires. Right now, MLB does not maintain any oversight to enact policies for umpires who are not already in the major leagues. If MLB dug deep down into the minor league systems, implemented uniform training for those eager to break into the majors, and implemented guidelines and levels of achievement, the umpiring would significantly improve from Rookie League right up to MLB.

MLB needs to take control of oversight and implement a plan so that umpires several years from now will have the proper training to perform at the top of their game.

For years, certain umpires have had mobility issues. Some of it had to do with weight. While most MLB umps seem to be in shape and have good agility to cover the bases, so to speak, several remain outside the norm for an umpire who needs to stand for four hours, hustle, wear equipment behind home plate and sweat under the sweltering summer sun.

Controlling weight will contribute to the health of umpires. Umps who shed pounds easily can hustle to see a play and get in position to make an accurate call. Some of the missed calls during recent years can be attributed to poor positioning, and some of this can be attributed to out of shape umps.

Since umpires tend to remain in the game at a much older age than players, MLB needs to make provisions that guarantees the health of umpires. Weight issues also must not affect the outcome of a game by resulting in a wrong call. Coupled with all the other suggestions provided in earlier posts, umpires must be in shape to perform this job at the best possible level.

One fresh way to look at umpiring in major league baseball is to value them as an asset to the game in the same way players are considered.

Umpires should have individual contracts similar to players. The should not be part of one group agreement. Umpires would be paid based on ability and performance. Contracts can run one or multiple years. Certain guidelines, or protections, however, would need to be set in place to avoid MLB from refusing to negotiate with an umpire during a contract renewal. These guidelines would need to be included in performance appraisals developed by senior umpire directors and reviews conducted by technology. They would need to be approved by the umpires union and assessed fairly across the board year-to-year.

All of this would need to be set into place under a complete overhaul of the umpiring system throughout professional baseball from MLB down to the rookie leagues. The other components, or suggestions to be included in the overhaul, can be found in related posts on this subject.

Part of the plan would include demotions for umpires not performing at the level agreed upon with MLB. Demotions only would occur for newer umpires. They go back to the minors for seasoning and are allowed one, two, or three opportunities to remain in the majors. This would be enacted in a similar way to players who are on the AAA to MLB shuttle. More senior umpires who begin to falter for any reason can be given the opportunity to complete additional training during the off-season and couple the knowledge with a stint in the Arizona Fall League or a winter league. If an umpires decides not to go this route, then it is possible he would not have any recourse should his contract to umpire in the majors not be renewed.

MLB needs to begin to think out of the box and get the umpires on par with the level of play in the majors.

The objective is to ensure that only the best umpires and those will to work to remain MLB umpires are calling the games.

contracts like players, demotion for poor performance

I plead ignorance on this. I could not find anywhere if MLB has a mandatory retirement age for its umpires. So, I will assume, for this argument, that it doesn’t.

MLB needs to set a retirement age that is no later than 55 or when an umpire has 25 years in the major leagues. To do this, MLB needs to take over more responsibility for umpire training, minor league umpire promotions and letting go the umpires who don’t meet the high standards that MLB needs to enforce.

If an umpire gets to MLB at age 28, he would be 53 after his 25 years of service. Arriving in the big leagues at 30 takes the umpire to 55.

Beyond the age of 55, umpires instincts slow down. Players don’t make it past the early 40s so why does MLB think that umpires can get on the field every day and react quickly with their eyes and by processing information to make a call as they get up in age? The only ones on the field as old as the umpires are the managers and coaches, and they spend most of the time on the benches discussing strategy that someone else needs to execute.

The issue is that MLB needs to get involved and ensure that umpires are trained to major league standards, that outstanding umpires are promoted through the minors and to the major leagues quicker so they can arrive by age 28 or sooner, and that those umpires who perform well remain while those who don’t meet the challenges can go back to the minors for seasoning (just as the players do) and then given another shot before they are terminated.

Once umpires reach the age of retirement, then they have achieved the best consistent performance over the years. They can remain as supervisors and or become the umpires who man the replay booth (assuming that replays are used sometime during this century).

With all the criticism about MLB umpiring, baseball needs to look closely at adding more eyes to call the game, including a seventh umpire in the press box. This recommendation makes some assumptions:

1. Replay will be established for certain plays beyond the current home run replay.
2. MLB includes six umpires on the field for all games — the four infield umps and one down each line.
3. MLB is able to decide on who that seventh umpire will be. Should it be a retired umpire? Should it be a seventh umpire on a crew who regularly rotates with the umpires on the field so that each gets a turn with the aerial view? Should it be a former umpire who travels from city to city, or is stationary at a specific ballpark?
4. MLB and the umpires come to an agreement on procedures.

This is assuming a lot. But, MLB needs to start thinking about alternatives to help the men in blue on the field. They are human so they miss calls. Let’s do all that is possible to get the calls right.

Players are not allowed to argue balls and strikes.

But if they were allowed to question these calls quietly without showing up the home plate umpire, it could help defuse situations. Players can get their say such as “That was outside,” or “You missed that one.” The umpire can choose to ignore the comment, or say “It got the corner.” Both should be satisfied.

But, one more thing needs to be in place to make this work. Umps need to call a consistent strike zone and need to adhere to the one in the rule book. Or, at minimum, they need to call strikes close to the one identified in the rule book. Then, catchers, pitchers, batters and managers, along with the umpire, can be on the same page.

The responsibility is with the umpires. Call the game as defined in the rulebook and be consistent. Everything else should fall into place.

Besides going back to umpire school for seasoning or off-season classes to brush up on rules, positioning and call making, some umpires need to take anger management classes.

Umpires need to remain in control of the game and their emotions. They need to explain, in a calm way, some of their calls to players/coaches/managers. They also need to keep on-field activities calm. But, many of them seem ready for a fight when they hear a player mutter.

The players and managers do complain a lot. Maybe this is due to so many inconsistent or just wrong calls. They see replays on monitors that are right behind the dugouts, or they get a call from someone watching the replays in the press box. They quickly learn about the umpire gaffes.

Using replays would help defuse a lot of this. So would consistency with umpires calling the rule book strike zone. Taking anger management classes that would help some of the most hot-headed umps could also calm the game. All three concepts, when combined, might just be the overall answer.

Can’t we all get along? I mean players and umpires.

No matter how much MLB tries to improve the calls of umpires (and to this point they have done almost nothing), there will be disagreements and heated arguments. The one thing that an umpires probably detests most of all is when a player shows him up.

I agree with the umps on this one. They feel their authority and control of the game has been taken away from them in front of both teams and thousands of fans. Imagine if that happened to any one of us in our line of work.

But, in baseball, this goes both ways. Umpires should not show up the players.

Home plate umps need to keep their masks on as long as possible during disagreements. Some pull it off immediately and that intensifies the confrontation.

Home plate umps need to stop showboating or hotdogging on called third strikes during big situations in games. They show up the batter, who not only is upset about striking out but now is showed up by the umpire. Not all umps do this, but the ones who do should be told to stop.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the only umpires who had elaborate styles were Emmit Ashford and Ron Luciano. Ashford was known for his hustle and smile - nothing that would upset or show up a player. Luciano would make believe he was using a six shooter in each hand when calling out a player at first but he only did this occasionally. He also was notorious for talking to the players when he was umping the bases. Again, nothing that would upset or show up a player.

Today’s umps need to go back to the old school way of calling the game. They are not the stars, they are not bigger than the game and they are not who the fans pay to see.

MLB umpires need to go back to umpiring school and learn positioning. Too many times they are not in the correct position to make the correct call.

On television and even at the ballpark, it is easy to see that umpires seem to be blocked by players. MLB needs to advise umpires that they are allowed to move a bit so that they can see plays as clearly as possible.

Several clear mistakes that could be blamed on poor positioning occurred during this year’s playoffs.

Tim McClelland seemed to be blocked by a runner and several position players who gathered near third base when he missed a double play — specifically, he missed the tag of Melky Cabrera of the New York Yankees who didn’t have his foot on the base when he was tagged. Phil Cuzzi missed his fair/foul call on a ball that hit near the left field line — possibly because he was too close to the infield. The line umpires need to be farther back in the outfield and not right behind the first and third base umpires if they are to be of any use.

The biggest positioning problems, though, seem to occur at home plate. When runners and thrown balls are coming home, umpires need to see around colliding catchers and runners. Sometimes they are blocked and make the call on when the ball arrives and if the catcher holds onto the ball rather than actually seeing if a tag was applied before the runner touches the plate.

MLB and umpires need to work on positioning issues, and umpires have to be encouraged (or ordered) to ask their colleagues if they were able to sees something different from their various angles.

Technology has advanced so much that it is faster than the eye. Baseball needs to employ the latest technology to help with calls on the field.

Replays have helped MLB umpiring crews correctly call home run balls during this past season. Major League Baseball now needs to extend the use of replays. Team general managers recently rejected expanded the use of replays and stated several reasons for this decision. Here are several and my rebuttal.

It will slow the game. Baseball is the only major sport not on the clock. Never has been and never will. It is played by innings, or extra innings, until a winner is decided. A couple of calls to review each game will not slow the game that much. MLB can help employ replay by speeding the game in other areas — less time between innings to squeeze in all those commercials, start a game 10 minutes earlier to compensate for possible replays, limit player mound conferences to two per inning.

It goes against tradition and hurts the integrity of the game. MLB already has done that in several big ways over the years. How about artificial turf, the designated hitter and steroids. Will replays hurt the game that much, or will it just help make the correct calls?

Here are some options:

Have an umpire in the press box review replays of certain calls that are clearly defined by MLB. The PA announcer can broadcast to the fans that a play is under review.

These reviews would not involve the bang-bang plays or balls-strikes. Some of the replays can focus on fair-foul calls, interference, trapped balls, when a call must use an interpretation of a grounds rule, when umpires are blocked from having a clear view, or when it is determined that umpires were grossly out of position to make a call.

What do you think?