Posts belonging to Category Major League Baseball

Following a thrilling opening series between the Yankees and Red Sox earlier this week, umpire crew chief for the series, Joe West, blasted the two organizations for playing a little sluggishly, even making the suggestion that there perhaps is a positive correlation between ability and rate of play.  While everyone realizes that this was simply a case of an elderly, grumpy, obese man not wanting to stand up for an extra hour given his strenuous 3-hour work days, what I don’t understand is why anyone even cares.  Let’s be real.  Is there any more easily replaceable job in the game?  We are talking about an umpire here.

This scenario harkens back to the 90’s when umpires first began to deal with MLB’s attempts to standardize the game’s officiating.  When Questec provided a realistic and reasonable measurement of an umpire’s ability to accurately gauge balls and strikes, and slow-motion video replay allowed the same level of evaluation with outs and safes, the game began to look a little differently.  The on-base revolution throughout the sport was only possible once umpires were forced to call a more standardized strike zone.  Well, a lot of umpires got upset and quit.  Even West helped organize a mass resignation in response to bargaining disputes with MLB late in the decade.

I guess I just don’t understand a Major League umpire’s complaint about anything.  I realize that umpires must pass examinations over the rules as well as practical examinations, but it’s not like these tests are the MCAT, or even the GRE for that matter.  I’m not saying I know every single word of the rulebook, but what I am saying is that absolutely everyone could if they really tried to.  Furthermore, these guys get to watch the game from the best seat in the house: the field itself.  Come on now.  That is so sweet.  Complaining about a 3 ½ -hr game?  Every other fan there, and umpires are really just interactive fans, is ecstatic about just being at the field and watching a little more of the game…especially when it’s Yanks/Sox in the first series of the season.  I think there is a small country’s worth of folks who would wait in line to do Joe West’s job voluntarily.

NL East: Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Mets, Nationals
NL Central: Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, Reds, Astros, Pirates
NL West: Rockies, Giants, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres
NL Wild Card: Giants
NLCS: Cardinals def. Phillies

NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young: Tommy Hanson
NL ROY: Stephen Strasburg

AL East: Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles
AL Central: White Sox, Tigers, Twins, Indians, Royals
AL West: Rangers, Angels, Mariners, Athletics
AL Wild Card: Rays
ALCS: Rays def. Yankees

AL MVP: Evan Longoria
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
AL ROY: Austin Jackson

World Series: Cardinals def. Rays in 6 games.
World Series MVP: Adam Wainwright

In a telephone conversation with Griff the other night, I was stunned when he told me that his C-Teamers missed a whopping 19 signals in double-dip.  Immediately I wondered why Griff was giving his hitters 19 signals over two games in the first place.  I considered that we were talking about young players developing in a system, and obviously a necessity for that development is knowledge of the club’s signals.  Still, this scenario reopened an internal debate that I have had since I first realized how foolish any and all hit-and-runs are.  Are signals from base coaches a necessary component of the game, or are they simply another piece of the game’s antiquity?

Last summer, I coached third with basically three signals and no indicators.  Two of the signals were green-light-types, and the other was the take sign which was simply me raising my index finger.  Everyone in the stadium knew when we were bunting because I basically yelled to the hitter to bunt.  We bunted very, very sparingly.  Our runners knew who had the green to go and who didn’t, so I basically did not give signs across the diamond.  Guys who could drag knew when to drag because I told them when good times were.  Obviously we did not have an hit-and-run sign because forcing a hitter to swing at whatever the pitcher throws is a bad way to prevent outs.

Was our offense in any way lacking because we did not have sophisticated signals?  Was it inhibited by the fact that we had no secret strategies for run creation?  First, what is each offensive player’s objective at the plate?  To get on base.  No player needs to be reminded of this by a coach.  What about sacrifice bunting?  This is 2010.  How about stealing bases?  Utilizing a simple green light allows the player the freedom to gauge his own chances while ensuring that he does so in a reasonable situation.  What good can come from sophisticated signals?  I guess there are times when a delayed steal or get-picked sign could be advantageous.  Answer me this, though: would yelling across the diamond at a runner to get picked change the outcome?  Probably not.  More importantly, does the limited frequency of plays such as these justify using practice time for them?  Of course not.

Signs can’t possibly hurt.  The problem, however, arises when players forget what the real goal is because they are too busy hitting-and-running or leaving early.  Hitters are there to reach base.  Runners are there to touch home.  OBP is the primary predictor we know of for run creation.  Hitters hopefully don’t need a signal for getting on base.  Varying from this default setting, therefore, is likely only to reduce run production.  By that line of reasoning elaborate signals should only be given when trying to score fewer times.

NL East: Philly, Atlanta, Florida, New York, Washington

NL Central: St. Louis, Milwaukee, Houston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

NL West: Colorado, Los Angeles, Arizona, San Francisco, San Diego

NL Wild Card: Atlanta

NL Pennant: Colorado

NL MVP: Troy “Too Legit” Tulowitzki

NL Cy Young: Ricky Nolasco

NL ROY: Jason Heyward

AL East: New York, Tampa Bay, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore

AL Central: Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City

AL West: Texas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Oakland

AL Wild Card: Tampa Bay

AL Pennant: Rays

AL MVP: Evan Longoria

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander

AL ROY: Austin Jackson

World Series:

Colorado beats Tampa Bay in 6 games.

Tulo is the MVP

April 6, 2010

AL East: Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays

AL Central: Twins, Sox, Tigers, Indians, Royals

AL West: Angels, Rangers, Mariners, A’s

AL Wildcard: Rays

NL East: Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Mets, Nationals

NL Central: Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, Astros, Reds, Pirates

NL West: Rockies, Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks, Padres

NL Wildcard: Braves

ALCS: Rays def. Yankees

NLCS: Rockies def. Phillies

World Series: Rays def. Rockies

AL MVP: Evan Longoria

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez
AL ROY: Austin Jackson

AL MOY: Ron Gardenhire

NL MVP: Albert Pujols

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay

NL ROY: Jason Heyward

NL MOY: Bobby Cox