Larry Poncino

[mrm21711]

This was probably expected, but looks like Guccione or Drake will get his spot:

http://www.dailypress.net/page/conte...id/506683.html

[mbyron]

That's a shame. Jim Evans used to say (and for all I know still does) that Poncino was the only umpire he ever knew who never once misjudged a ball during "pause, read, react."

[Tim C]

Trust me it will not be Drake.

"Everyone" already knows Chris is next up.

I would "guess" that Rob Drake will be running his website next spring.

Regards,

[mrm21711]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Trust me it will not be Drake.

"Everyone" already knows Chris is next up.

I would "guess" that Rob Drake will be running his website next spring.

Regards,

Interesting...can you elaborate at all?

[SanDiegoSteve]

I'll elaborate a bit. Guccione, pretty good. Drake, not so much. When you compare them side-by-side it's fairly obvious, at least to me.

[mrm21711]

Originally Posted by msavakinas

I hope that's not true. Rob Drake is a good dude, and has put 18 years of his life into becoming a top-notch professional umpire, and has gotten there. It's ridiculous that you can put that much into making this into a career and it ends like that. Flat out ridiculous. Even if Gucc gets the job, there is no reason for Drake to not keep getting used as the "fill-in." Personally I think they should just go ahead and hire him full time even if he's not officially on a crew because of how much he works.

Tee usually isnt wrong on these things. From the MLB I have watched this year, it seems Rob's work behind the plate is average at best (average based on MLB standards). I can only assume this is what Tee & Steve are referring to.

[tballump]

I read on the net Crawford is having back trouble and Hohn had previous back problems. I have not seen Montague lately, so unless he is off because of a mask shot, I would assume he is out with either knee or back problems. Now would probably be a good time for surgery, if needed, so he would be back in plenty of time for next Spring. He is not eligible for the WS but he may be missing out on a DS or LCS.

Hirschbeck, Carlson, Poncino and Randazzo have had neck surgery related to shots to the mask. Curwin Danley had the mask shot earlier this year and got another one in a game the other night but stayed in after a short delay the paper said. Hopefully Danley can continue. Now, just like with Bonin in 2001, Poncino is having to retire.

The new disability policy is not as good as when Bonin was injured under the old contract (thanks to Richie Phillips).

I would think most umps will try and work next season and then see what type of contract Hirshbeck can negotiate with MLB starting in 2010 (including a retirement package). This may determine the number of openings, and who knows, with his recent injury, maybe even Hirschbeck will retire if the right package can be negotiated. I would imagine there is some magic number like 70 (65-75) that totals years of service and age to receive the maximum pension. Seems like years of service was always 20? in the formula and lot's of MLBU would total 20 + 50 after next year. Let's see what happens.

[mattmets]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Trust me it will not be Drake.

"Everyone" already knows Chris is next up.

I would "guess" that Rob Drake will be running his website next spring.

Regards,

Any particular reason Rob is still working fairly important games if he's not coming back next year? Is it a "he's good enough to fill in but he's been here too long to not be hired" type thing? Not trying to be argumentative at all but I'm not following MLB's logic here.

[Tim C]

I kinda/sorta tried a couple of threads earlier leading into this exact information.

"I hope that's not true. Rob Drake is a good dude, and has put 18 years of his life into becoming a top-notch professional umpire, and has gotten there. It's ridiculous that you can put that much into making this into a career and it ends like that. Flat out ridiculous. Even if Gucc gets the job, there is no reason for Drake to not keep getting used as the "fill-in." Personally I think they should just go ahead and hire him full time even if he's not officially on a crew because of how much he works."

"Any particular reason Rob is still working fairly important games if he's not coming back next year? Is it a "he's good enough to fill in but he's been here too long to not be hired" type thing? Not trying to be argumentative at all but I'm not following MLB's logic here."

These are two very good posts that start to touch on a system that maybe broken far beyond repair.

Baseball doesn't really care how many years a guy gives to this trade. Because of union agreements movement at the top is slight. Very few years (barring 1999) is there a great amount of movement.

Good people get released (or self release) each season. It is terrible in concept but it is the system. We all know that and so does every umpire that selects to enter this food chain.

Another point is that in certain ways MLB is cheap. MLB can have the highest quality AAA umpire work over 1,000 games and be paid at a lower rate. Economics rears its ugly head in strange places at times.

I also think Rob Drake is a great guy and a very good instructor.

But there is a strange "coincidence" occurring.

As you all know Rob had a great umpire website. As you all know MiLB or MLB umpires have restrictions in their contracts that they are supposed to be "internet free." Rob was violating that part of his contract.

When MiLB discover his website they forced him to close it down.

Now comes the "coincidence":

From the time the website was discover until today Rob's MLB evaluations have slowly eroded. Terms such as "game management issues" and "inconsistency of strike zone" have slipped into his evaluations.

I have no more information than any of you. I don't have the ties to MLB umpires (or the MLB offices) since Selig reorganized MLB.

All I know is that each year several very good umpires leave the trade.

We'll see what time shows us this year.

Regards,

[mattmets]

Originally Posted by Tim C

I kinda/sorta tried a couple of threads earlier leading into this exact information.

...

Great post, Tim, not only for the content, but the reason for your edit. Thanks.

[Dave Davies]

Prior to the strike a few years ago, Rob upset the powers that be, by not supporting his peers. Instead of worrying about the future of his profession by professing solidarity for his broterhood, he was whining about how was HE going to survive; about how was he going to feed his family, etc.

It appeared that Rob was NOT going to support the union. This did not sit well with the decision makers.

Frankly, I have been surprised that he is still around.

Dave
****

[SethPDX]

Tim,

I read one of the threads you were alluding to and understood what you were saying then. Thanks for elaborating.

[MrUmpire]

What Timc C reports coincides with what I have heard from MLB and MiLB umires: Gucce is in, Drake is out.

But, bear in mind, this comes from active umpires. Not umpire supervisors. It doesn't take long for umpire supervisors to begin acting and thinking quite differently from how they did as active umpires. Witness that the MLB umpire camp in Compton will be instructed only by umpire supervisors and a scab or two, while the active MLB and MiLB umpires sit this year out.

[canadaump6]

I'd like to see Rob's site back up again.

[GerryB]

Axe fallen? I didn't see Drake's name in any box scores from last night (although I could have missed it).

Have to admit when his website went up my first thought was that he just killed his promotion chances.

And suddenly developing game management issues and inconsistency after ten or so years gets you dumped instead of the guy(s) who have been like that for twenty years?