6 man crew waters down talent pool

[renrodb]

I know the 6 man crew rewards hard working umpires with a post season assignment. But, that also puts 14 guys rotating into critical spots that they wouldn't be in if it wasn't for the 5th & 6th crew members. Also why not assign the best 7 crews to post season. These guys work all year with the same guys, then they get into the most important part of the baseball season and they are working with different guys. Makes no sense except for the "post season reward". The left and right field umpires are not needed or they would be there all year.

[CJN]

One problem with assigning the 7 best crews is you may be alienating an umpire who had a great year when the rest of his crew struggled/made mistakes. As for the LF/RF umpires they aren't totally necessary but it did seem that there were a lot of close balls down the line and it just makes things go and look smoother not to be rotating constantly.

[SanDiegoSteve]

The U5 and U6 positions would be used year round if they had enough qualified umpires, and could justify the extra salary expense. These extra 2 umpires help to cut down on the number of times the infield umpires have to do rotations, and ensure that all bases are covered by an umpire all the time. With U5 and U6, the foul lines are covered much closer to the fence, and U3 and U1 don't have to go out on the ball down the line. This results in more accurate calls on borderline fair/foul and other close plays at the wall. The only time they have to rotate is when the ball is hit to center and the gaps with no one on base, where U2 goes out.

It would also be difficult to judge an entire crew, when maybe 1 or 2 in each crew are standout, playoff ready umpires, and maybe 1 or 2 in the crew are too inexperienced to work the games. It is better to assign the post season games by merit or rotation only.

All the umpires that were selected to work this post season are top notch, veteran umpires. The talent pool is not watered down, since they are all deserving of working the playoffs, and World Series.

[johnSandlin]

I think the other thing MLB tries to do is rotate the wealth around from year to year. You guys take 1-2 years off from the playoffs and then get reassigned to the playoffs.

I am not sure that LF and RF umpires are needed for the regular season. However, during the post season, you need those positions covered because the stakes are much higher and everyone's intensity is up about 100 notches come post season time.

As for being watered down, no assigning system is perfect. I think MLB tries its very best to put the best 38 deserving umpires each year in the post season based their work during the regular season and also possible nominations if MLB has a policy like that.

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by johnSandlin

I am not sure that LF and RF umpires are needed for the regular season. However, during the post season, you need those positions covered because the stakes are much higher and everyone's intensity is up about 100 notches come post season time.

The RF umpire sure worked out in this game.

[SanDiegoSteve]

I find nothing funny about that,

Signed, Rich Garcia