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Manfred--"Picking the best guys" has flaws


dumbdumb
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http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/29/sports/la-sp-shaikin-20100530

I am adding the article that includes more information and mentions West's comments about the retirements. The original article above was not the full article.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/05/29/1454424/baseball-playoffs-not-always-a.html

Edited by dumbdumb
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Seems like they need some sort of "pool" system where you mix 3-4 "top tier" umpires with 2-3 "best of the next tier" umpires to accomplish all of the goals - top-notch crews, an opportunity to develop the umpires and a system where everyone gets a chance to work the big games.

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Will be interesting to see who the 4 retirees are and who the 4 new Triple A hires will be.

__________________

Dan

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Well let's remember, West's quote says "plan to retire", so who knows, the 4 could come from anyone on the staff.

Here is some information per retrosheet dot com.

There are 4 umpires left that were signed in the 70's. Cousins, Crawford, Reilly and West.

West is the youngest of the group. West just became the WUA President and negotiated the new contract. Joe would probably work through the full contract and not retire until sometime during the new contract that will be negotiated for 2015.

The next group of umpires that were hired from 1980-85 are Davidson, Davis, DeMuth, Hirschbeck, McClelland and Welke. McClelland is the oldest at 58, with Davidson and Davis at 57, Hirschbeck is 55, DeMuth 54, and Welke is 52. The only question with someone in this group retiring before the 2015 contract "would probably be health issues".

Only Hirschbeck (that I can find on the internet), so far, has alluded to the fact in an article in the New Haven press (Nov. 20009) "I'm 55, and I don't plan on working a whole lot longer". He also mentioned that he found out he had testicular cancer Aug. 23, 2009, and missed the rest of the 2009 season, after missing the entire 2008 season due to back surgery. Hirschbeck has also mentioned in a radio interview that he had 6 concussions so far in his career. Of course there could be others with "health issues" not mentioned in a public forum. At the end of 2010, all of the above group with the exception of Davidson of course, will have the maximum number of years (27), to acquire the full amount of compensation and benefits allowed under the old contract, and unless they added to the number of years, probably the current new contract.

The next group of umpires were signed from 1986-89. They include Darling, Hallion, Hohn, Joyce, Layne, Scott, and Tschida. This group would probably not retire "unless health issues force their hand", until sometime in the 2015 contract, or in Scott and Tschida's case (hum and maybe Welke from the 1980-1985 group??), maybe not till a contract in 2019 or 2020 since they got to the bigs at 26 years of age.

Apparently, since West says 5 umpires retired in 2010, Chuck Meriwhether "will retire" after this year on the DL list, like Poncino did after his year on the DL. Meriwhether had said in an Interview with the Tennesseean that it was "probably over" for him. So it looks like Knight will "probably" get that spot.

The AAA guys with the most MLB games going into this season after Knight are Angel Campos (259), Mike Estabrook (229), Todd Tichenor (227), and Mike Muchlinski (150).

The 4 new ones will probably come from the guys working the most games this year, which could include someone that is not in this group with the "most" games so far, and they will probably fight it out in Spring Training 2011.

Edited by dumbdumb
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