Quote:
Originally posted by PeteBooth
...I do not think that just because you turn down assignments means you should be downgraded, that IMO is why the Smitty's of the world get the good game assignments.
Pete Booth
|
If you don't have confidence an umpire is going to maintain his assignment, or if he has history of turnbacks, then, despite his on-field performance ability, you just may not put in that "high profile" game.
In laying out assignments (before they are assigned) you only have so many umpires and so many "quality" umpires. You face many other factors beyond who is available:
- Time restraints of umpires' availability
- travel times
- quality of the official
- balancing the quality of the crew
- repeats with seeing the same team too often
- potential past problems that you can avoid in future by assigning elsewhere
If I have a quality umpire who has shown me that
I have to worry about him NOT accepting or later cancelling the assignments, I may have to downgrade where I put him. This is not based upon his quality, but based upon the quality of the remaining officials I may have to draw from to fill his possible vacancy. If I put him in a "high profile" game that he doesn't take, then I may not have a "quality" official to fill the vacancy. So, let's just keep him out of those high profile games until he proves to me turnbacks are not a problem. With a history of turnbacks and cancellations, it's much easier to fill the vacancy at a lower level game. Additionally, I can work with and reward the other officials who accept and maintain their assignments.
Keeping the unpredictable official away from the high profile game allows me from the onset to make minor adjustments to maintain quality througout all assignments. The last minute cancellation or turnback of a quality official sometimes means I take whoever is available and fill the spot. That, more often than not, is one reason why Smittys get in over their head---they are available to fill last minute needs caused by more capable officials cancelling assigments.
Just my opinion,
Freix