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Originally Posted by WhatWuzThatBlue
Now it seems that the more the public discovers about the situation, the more it sees that greed has played a major hand in this fiasco. Few of us have found fault with the individual umpires. The machine seems to be destroying those on board rather than those in the gun sights. Even the amateurs, who are targets of their terror, have weathered the storm.
I can't imagine what the 2/3 were thinking. PBUC is holding a Royal Flush and AMLU still thinks they can bluff them.
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I had determined not to weigh in on this issue, but enough is enough.
Greed? This is a new low, even for WhatWuzThatBlue.
You call "greed" asking for a wage that's far, far below the poverty level?
Tell me: Which of you would work for $6500 for two-and-a-half months? Even though your family is eligible for food stamps, it would be next-to-impossible. Oh, you say, there's the off-season job. Right: You starve while you're working and then return to some job where you can take off for 10 weeks without losing your place in the pecking order. Not even a pizza delivery "boy" could do that.
The so-called "arbitrator's" offer was $100 raise and $2 more per diem, but the $500 deductible for insurance remained for the duration of the six-year contract.
Boys and girls, it's time for you to understand what's happening. The major advantage MiLB has is that umpires are ambitious. We want to move up, and apparently we're willing to do it at any cost. At least, that's what MiLB is banking on.
When the amateur umpiring in any small town improves, so do the players. That's undeniable. Major league clubs throw around millions. MILLIONS. They own minor league
teams, but they do not support the minor
leagues. According to Mike Fitzpatrick in his interview for Officiating.com, the umpire salaries are all paid from gate receipts and other local revenues of the various clubs.
But there's a huge, untaxed amount of money lying around that could be used to subsidize minor league umpires. Here, courtesy of
USA Today, is a table showing the yearly payrolls of the major league teams:
Arizona Diamondbacks $60,000,000
Atlanta Braves $90,000,000
Baltimore Orioles $73,000,000
Boston Red Sox $120,000,000
Chicago Cubs $94,000,000
Chicago White Sox $103,000,000
Cincinnati Reds $61,000,000
Cleveland Indians $56,000,000
Colorado Rockies $41,000,000
Detroit Tigers $83,000,000
Florida Marlins $15,000,000
Houston Astros $93,000,000
Kansas City Royals $47,000,000
Los Angeles Angels $103,000,000
Los Angeles Dodgers $98,000,000
Milwaukee Brewers $58,000,000
Minnesota Twins $63,000,000
New York Mets $101,000,000
New York Yankees $195,000,000
Oakland Athletics $62,000,000
Philadelphia Phillies $88,000,000
Pittsburgh Pirates $47,000,000
San Diego Padres $70,000,000
San Francisco Giants $90,000,000
Seattle Mariners $88,000,000
St. Louis Cardinals $89,000,000
Tampa Bay Devil Rays $35,000,000
Texas Rangers $68,000,000
Toronto Blue Jays $72,000,000
Washington Nationals $63,000,000
That's a total of $2,326,000,000 PER YEAR. That's two BILLION, 326 MILLION dollars.
Let's levey a 1% tax on that sum, paid for out of the players' salaries. ONE PERCENT would raise $23,260,000. Assuming 220 minor league umpires, that works out to about $106,000 each. Add to that the current MiLB contribution, and you have the funds to maintain a stable of professional (and professionally paid) umpires.
You would have the very best umpires. The very best umpires in the minor leagues means the very best players in the major leagues.
I have been shocked by the amount of vitriol and animosity displayed here against a small band of courageous brothers. But we're like the lobsters in the barrel. As soon as one reaches the top, inches from escape and safety, the others pull him back down. "They" made it, and we didn't. We're still working 14u in the summer, JV in the spring.
Their success should be our success. Shame! For shame!