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Originally Posted by justanotherblue
You would think with MLB's rush to push back ground checks on the Milb umpires they would step up and pay up. It's my understanding that MLB took away several million dollars from the MiLb umpires several years ago. We all know it's pathetic what the Milb umpires are making. If MLB is worried about the integrity of the umpires at all levels of the game, what's supporting those same individuals with a living wage going to hurt? A couple extra million....peanuts.
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Two questions here:
1. The background checks are simply a knee-jerk reaction to the NBA fiasco.
2. umpire development has gone through several significant changes over the years. MLB used to run UDP (Umpire Development Program). Due to some 'management problems' within the program, umpire development was handed off to MiLB. UDP became PBUC, with the MiLB leagues picking up the costs (MLB directly pays MiLB for the extra AAA fill-in umpires).
MLB indirectly pays for umpire development via the various marketing and cost sharing agreements with MiLB.
Properly funding umpire development would cost MLB peanuts. IMO the problem is simply that there is so little turnover at the MLB level that there is no real incentive to change. The current program produces high quality umpires at all levels, so why change?