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Originally Posted by GarthB
As a counter to WTTB and others, remember that the AMLU still has a page, available to members only, that lists the replacement umpires and their locations along with a few insults. It would appear that neither side is ready to reconcile.
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But let's be clear about the "sides": we're talking about a few MiLB umpires who have a chip on their shoulder for being wrong about how much leverage they had, and for making a bad choice in deciding to strike (bad because they failed to get paid, they failed to get any significant concessions, they failed to get public opinion on their side, and they failed to position themselves well for next time).
The "other side" seems to be a bunch of replacement umpires and others who are piling on, either out of
Schadenfreude or mere spitefulness, and adding insult to injury. Although they might be right that some of the AMLU guys who post here could use a little deflating, the point has been made, remade, and made again. It seems to me that it's now merely provocative, and if the AMLU guys don't respond they seem to be the bigger men.
This carping among umpires strikes me as the squabbling of little, beaten men. If there's a systematic problem in MiLB it has to do with how the money gets spread around baseball: there's an unbelievable quantity of money at the top, and drips and dribbles everywhere else. Anyone who is genuinely concerned about how umpiring happens in baseball ought to be thinking a little more about this issue and a little less about whether the replacements or the AMLU are better at preventing brawls on the diamond.