Ozzie's at it again.....

[Altor]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Looks like the boyz at Head Office ain't happy with Country Joe.....

MLB plans showdown with umpire Joe West - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

More work for his PR people.....

Some of the things mentioned in that link are what bugs me about Joe West. It's not the calls or the ejections, it's the way he has handles himself off field. (And for the record, I'm not a baseball umpire.)

He had no business going on that radio show and talking about the incident with the White Sox. He's allowed to have an opinion about how long the Red Sox and Yankees take to play a ball game, but he should direct the comments to the commissioner's office and not the media.

An umpire should not be trying to gain notoriety by having a PR guy contact the media on his behalf. This is why the "inject himself into the ballgame" comments are said. Even if it is not his intention, it gives the appearance that he is trying to create some controversy so he can appear on another talk show.

[HokieUmp]

Originally Posted by Altor

He had no business going on that radio show and talking about the incident with the White Sox. He's allowed to have an opinion about how long the Red Sox and Yankees take to play a ball game, but he should direct the comments to the commissioner's office and not the media.

You sure about that? I'm not a MLB umpire, nor have I read their contract with MLB, but unless there's something in the contract that forbids it, West can talk on whatever show asks him, if he wants to. And he can comment on the length of games, if he wants. He's still an American citizen. If you're against free speech, go join your friends in Al Qaeda.

Might not be the wisest course for him, but he's certainly allowed.

Happy Memorial Day.

[APG]

Umpire Joe West, Chicago White Sox's Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buehrle fined - ESPN Chicago

[johnnyg08]

There's something in the MLBUM about the crew chief only or MLB talking about calls that took place in a game. West is probably the crew chief so he can talk about the plays. Not sure about 2010, but I did ready something along those lines in 2009

[rpumpire]

I'm guessing that West's fine has more to do with his publicist (!) releasing what series West was going to be umpiring ahead of time and inviting media contact. I doubt it has anything directly to do with the on-field incident with Chicago.

[bas2456]

What about the shooing-away of Ozzie? I think that's where his fine comes in. There's no way I ever want to be caught shooing away a coach like that. I speak from basketball experience, but I would think that this applies to all sports, doesn't matter if it's cheerleading or basketball. It just looks ridiculously unprofessional.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by bas2456

What about the shooing-away of Ozzie? I think that's where his fine comes in. There's no way I ever want to be caught shooing away a coach like that. I speak from basketball experience, but I would think that this applies to all sports, doesn't matter if it's cheerleading or basketball. It just looks ridiculously unprofessional.

He was telling Ozzie not to come out to argue the balk. That is pretty common in the bigs.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by rpumpire

I'm guessing that West's fine has more to do with his publicist (!) releasing what series West was going to be umpiring ahead of time and inviting media contact. I doubt it has anything directly to do with the on-field incident with Chicago.

Just what some of the reports are saying.

It's about his self-promotion activity.

Free speech stops at the workplace door (ask your own lawyer if you wish).

[LeeBallanfant]

Originally Posted by rpumpire

I'm guessing that West's fine has more to do with his publicist (!) releasing what series West was going to be umpiring ahead of time and inviting media contact. I doubt it has anything directly to do with the on-field incident with Chicago.

Considering the source from this MLB.com article "Umpire Joe West and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and pitcher Mark Buehrle were all fined an undisclosed amount of money by Major League Baseball on Friday for their part in an incident that involved called balks earlier this week, a person with knowledge of the situation told MLB.com.
No suspensions were levied. A spokesman for MLB declined to comment and would not confirm nor deny the financial sanctions. "

I doubt that West was fined, someone in MLB probaby threw that tidbit out to satisfy the angry press.

And on the topic of West being a bad umpire, being selected to work the World Series last year sort of negates that.

[UMP25]

West was, indeed fined. I can tell you as well that MLB is not very happy with Joe over the comments he publicly made, which was not permitted under their contract. A prior incident involving Joe also has earned him MLB's ire.