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Question: Should there be more umpire suspensions for bad calls?
Question: Should there be Instant Replay (IR) on close calls and bang-bang plays?
The baseball news today is that for the first time since 2008, an umpire has been suspended by the league. It was only a one-game suspension for "poor situation handling" on the field. Though this current Umpire didn't make a bad call on a play on the field, the bad calls that are being made by some Umps do need to be dealt with. Umps should face being disciplined just as players and managers.
IMO more umps should be suspended for really bad calls. I've already seen at least two TV clips on umps who blew calls at First Base when the First Baseman's foot was at LEAST a foot off the bag. That's a really bad call. How many more have I missed seeing?
IMO baseball needs IR, asap. Until then, MLB should look at post-game replays and hand out suspensions for terrible calls.
Here are the Poll choices:
1. Status Quo. No changes to anything, keep MLB as it currently is.
2. Do not add IR, suspend Umps for bad calls. If post-game review finds an Ump made an awful call, suspend after the fact.
3. Add IR and stop suspending Umps for bad calls. Managers can call for IR after a close play, but if they don't, the play stands as called.
4. Add IR and keep suspending Umps for bad calls. If post-game review determines the Ump made a bad call, suspend him for the sake of the game.
Thanks for voting.
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Last edited by Mike from back east; 05-20-2012 at 10:57 AM..
Use of instant replay would needlessly prolong a game which can already, on occasion, become tediously long.
Umpires should no more face suspension for their errors than should the players, coaches, mangers, groundskeepers, etc. If an umpire consistently makes bad calls, the league should remove him for being incompetent. Beyond that, as long as an umpire's occasional missed calls don't involve obvious favoritism to a specific team or player, those calls are a part of the game.
Do not add IR, suspend them with progressive penalties; 1st step might be 1-5 games w/o pay, 2nd step 1 month w/o pay; 3rd step 1 season w/o pay; 4th step fired for cause.
I don't know that I want umps suspended for "bad calls" per se, any more than a player who makes an error should be suspended.
Having said that, something needs to be done about the culture of the umpiring crews that is currently in effect. What bothers me is that umpires who see an obvious bad call are not willing to step up and say something or correct their crew members. They would rather a bad call goes forward than to say or do something to correct it. We do need to add some level of replay and get in front of what seems like a rash of very obvious bad calls. A bang bang play can result in a bad call every now and then and you have to accept that as part of the game or use replay, but when the ump misses the guy whose foot is 3 feet off the base, and none of the crew corrects the mistake, that's a problem.
Also, there is no excuse for umps cursing or "crossing the line" with managers or players, any more than a player has an excuse to do it with an ump. In the latter case, the player or manager gets ejected and possibly fined. We need to hold umps accountable to the same level of conduct and fine/suspend them when they cross over the line.
Umpires should no more face suspension for their errors than should the players, coaches, mangers, groundskeepers, etc. If an umpire consistently makes bad calls, the league should remove him for being incompetent. Beyond that, as long as an umpire's occasional missed calls don't involve obvious favoritism to a specific team or player, those calls are a part of the game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by neil0311
I don't know that I want umps suspended for "bad calls" per se, any more than a player who makes an error should be suspended.
Having said that, something needs to be done about the culture of the umpiring crews that is currently in effect. What bothers me is that umpires who see an obvious bad call are not willing to step up and say something or correct their crew members. They would rather a bad call goes forward than to say or do something to correct it. We do need to add some level of replay and get in front of what seems like a rash of very obvious bad calls. A bang bang play can result in a bad call every now and then and you have to accept that as part of the game or use replay, but when the ump misses the guy whose foot is 3 feet off the base, and none of the crew corrects the mistake, that's a problem.
Also, there is no excuse for umps cursing or "crossing the line" with managers or players, any more than a player has an excuse to do it with an ump. In the latter case, the player or manager gets ejected and possibly fined. We need to hold umps accountable to the same level of conduct and fine/suspend them when they cross over the line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grandstander
Suspending them for bad calls implies that bad calls are preventable and that punishment will correct the problem.
Aren't bad calls just umpire mistakes? Aren't the officials trying to get it right?
I generally agree with these sentiments.
I would just add that instant replay is a tool to help an umpire perform his job better. I don't understand the aversion to that. I welcome most anything that helps me in doing my job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rogead
Use of instant replay would needlessly prolong a game which can already, on occasion, become tediously long.
Use of instant replay would needlessly prolong a game which can already, on occasion, become tediously long.
.
Actually they would replace the tediously long and typically useless arguments between the umpire who made the call and the manager of the team which was victimized by it. At least at the end of a replay delay they get the play right. The argument usually ends with an ejection and the play standing as it was called, right or wrong.
Thought it was ironic that in the Red Sox - Tigers game I watched on Memorial Day, there was a botched call behind the plate that allowed the Sox to stay alive and rally, but in this case the home plate ump got it right.
It was the 1st base ump who came to "assist" the plate ump and overruled him. The only problem was the plate ump got it right. I'm a Sox fan and was OK seeing them score after the bad call, but I would rather see the call correct and the game won or lost based on correct calls.
No umpire should ever be reprimanded for a bad call. But all umpires should be fired for not using the resources available to them to get calls right, mainly consisting of consulting other umpires to see if someone saw it differently.
A choreography of umpiring has evolved over the years, and every call is made by an ump who is pretty good at getting in the correct position to make the call most of the time. But sometimes they are not, and get blocked out of the play. If an umpire's call is disputed for any reason, it is incumbent on him to see if another umpire saw it the same way. If all four umps blow the same call, we just have to live with the fact that they are not machines.
I do think umps ought to be required to stay in shape, and retire at a respectable age. And umps like Jim Joyce and Ron Kulpa, who need to make a foghorn public address on every strike, might be thought adorable by some teenage girls, but the umps are not what spectators are buying tickets to see and hear. And Bob Davidson should have been fired decades ago, if he can't call the same games under the same rules as everyone else. To many prima-donnas.
As for suspensions, I think it is pretty childish to hand out a one day suspension to a top-line professional, which appears to be window-dressing to save the face of the administration, instead of addressing the inherent problem of incompetent umping, which nobody seems willing to do. It's like a president suspending a secretary of defense for one day for a battle plan that goes bad.
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