Schools Out . . .
 

Well last nght was graduation from the pro schools.

Interesting the 14 umpires that worked that funky league last summer were all sent to PBUC. Each school sent 25 potential candidates to PBUC.

So 64 guys fighting for a number of limited openings.

(i.e. so far ONE MiLB umpire has been released)

It is rumored that there maybe about 15 openings spread across the entire minor league system. Probably not the best year to try for a job.

Oh, BTW, there will be a full time MLB opening in the very near future.

Regards,

Tim,

the coastal plain league website http://coastalplain.com/alumni/umps lists 18 umpires alumni as being in the game and 5 guys who didn't get out of the cpl. Does this mean that a bunch of these fourteen came off of school reserve lists?

Tony

Joe West has the 2009 crews up on his website. There is no replacement for Poncino on the list - just a spot for "AAA Umpire" on one of the crews.

Larry mentioned in a paper in Michigan last September that he was retiring.

Whether MLB is waiting until after Spring training to announce his replacement or will do so before Spring training is anybody's guess. If before Spring training it better be quick since they must get ready for the World Classic. Will it be one of the Senior guys with more than 1000 games (7 years worth) or will it be someone with less time and less game experience?

The MLBU contract comes up at the end of this year. Sometimes??, this leads to retirements, not only in baseball but in other sports also, especially if the negotiated retirement package is more lucrative.

Had a buddy at Harry's. haven't heard anything since Day 1.

Hope he did well. Learned a lot regardless.

Yes, tough cookie to crack.

But, when the guys needed a raise, all the amateurs jumped over and worked the games. I wonder how they feel about the amateurs?
The A ball guys make $71 a game for the most senior guys, AA make $85 and AAA makes $107.

Hell, Ozzy's group makes $99-$109 for a game and he gets to sleep in his own bed at night and see his family. We will see what happens when the contract comes up for renewal again. Will the amateurs cross the lines again? It doesn't hurt for the both the local assignor and the umpires to say no, that they have enough business and that they do not need to meddle in the pro game.

Unfortunately, the statement is false. While it may be true that those that worked the games during the strike were all amateurs, it is not true that "all the amateurs jumped..." In fact, in the area where that "funky league" (Coastal Plain League) is located, 95% of the CPL staff did not cross. I don't want to rehash this issue, but you seem to be mistaken in your perception of which umpires crossed and how those who worked in the CPL were effected.

Mmmm,
 

There will be yet another retirement (in addition to Poncino) to fill an administrative position.

:-}

Tim,

I just wanted to clarify the part about One MILB umpire being released. Where is that one from? I know of two MilB umpires at the AAA level that were released last year. Just trying to figure the math out....

Thanks,

Lawrence

I believe the release letters are sent out about World Series time, per Ria Cortesio's article about her release in 2007.

Yes, it is probably a rough year to try for a job due to the World Baseball Classic. They are probably going to need the entire AAA staff working MLB Spring Training while the regular staff works the Classic. That would leave very few AAA guys to man the minor league Spring Training camps. That would explain (just guessing) the few releases this year. So, maybe next year would be a good year to go. The above is just pure speculation.

Boy, tough to guess that other job opening. Seems like Montague missed the last month in 2008. Since I did not read any articles about a bad back or concussion's for Montague, I would assume he had knee or foot problems. Unless it was a torn ACL or something, he should be ready. Crawford had back problems recently from articles in the paper. Hirschbeck, Carlson, Randazzo have had some neck surgery and Danley was knocked out last year, but unless they were told to stop like Larry was, they should be ready. Haven't read about any old vertigo problems reappearing for Reilly lately.

Guess I will read about it when it happens. I would imagine they are trying to work out some special buyout package if we have not read or heard anything about it in the papers yet.

Sorry, I was not referring to the CPL or ("all") every single amateur umpire out there jumping. I forgot to knock that line about the funky league out. However, it was strictly the amateurs who worked the games in place of MiLB umps who were on strike, and therefor my comments about what will happen next time. I imagine there were some college assignors who told their staff not to work those games since they could be needed to fill in at a college game at the last minute.

I feel bad for the original amateur CPL guys who got knocked out of that league by the powers that be in Pro baseball. That was strickly a deal with the higher ups to let the reserves from the pro schools work that league. I am sure that was not a deal proposed by the reserve umps themselves. Wouldn't you know it was a former Carolina League umpire, Pete Bock, who runs that league, who put that deal together to start with, and of course it was all about the money. And naturally, the reserve guys associated with that league now make 1/2 what the original CPL umps made, just like the AAA guys make 1/2 to 1/3 what the D1 guys make per game.

Just curious, what papers do you read for umpire news?

I might not be an umpire at the "retiring" age. It could be a younger umpire who desires to continue his career in the front-office off the field. Remember Rich Reiker did this.

"In 2002 a herniated disk in his neck forced him off the field and into his current job". This is a quote from 'St. Louis Magazine' which did an article on Rich Rieker.

A lot of times I just google the persons name. You can google the umpire's name or you can try and hope you hit (guess) the exact keywords to an ariticle
like "Jerry Crawford injured" to find out.
Googled Larry Poncino to find out he was going to retire last September from ongoing injuries and Doctors recommendations.

Major league baseball . com will eventually name the replacement umpires.