solution for the umpire problem

[dominik]

IMO they should evaluate umpire by a stats comittee. It's prefectly fine that umpires blow calls just as players blow plays. but it is about the number of correct plays.

the solution for this would be to let umpires compete against each other. analyze strike calls and other calls with the computer and then at the end of the season move the bottom 10% of all umpires to the minors and the best 10% from the minors to the bigs. this should motivate umpires to get better and eliminate the weak ones. with players it works the same.

a demoted umpire would have to stay in the minors for the next season but would be eligible to re qualify if he makes the top 10% in the minors.
they should also publish those stats. a lot of umpires would hate that and probably their union too but on the other hand this would give the really good umpires more authority as he could point out to that objective list when attacked by managers and fans. of course on the other hand it would weaken the bad umpires but I think this is OK.

also the comittee should of course only go by stats. a lot of fans and mangers call for firing an ump after a couple bad calls but I would completely ignore if an ump misses 3 calls in one game. just look at the stats at the end of the season. numbers don't lie.

I think we would even see some surprises there (umps with good reputation having bad stats and vice versa) since we all know that subjective non stat based evaluations of the game by fans and people in the game are usually completely meaningless (see the "clutch" thing").

umpires should face the same hard evaluation by stats that players do. if you hit .220 you will be send down it should be the same for umpires. but they should not face subjective evaluations. those are absolutely meaningless.

what do you think? why not stat evaluate all umpires and send the worst down?

[KevinWI]

How would you get the umpires union to agree to any of it?

[GiambiJuice]

Great idea in theory. NEVER gonna happen.

[Michael Green]

My solution is that when a player makes an error, the umpire gets to go over to him, yell at him, kick dirt on him, and then throw him out of the game. Umpires will feel so much better for showing the world the stupidity they have to deal with, they'll do an even better job than they already do.

[drstrangelove]

IMO they should evaluate umpire by a stats comittee. It's prefectly fine that umpires blow calls just as players blow plays. but it is about the number of correct plays.

the solution for this would be to let umpires compete against each other. analyze strike calls and other calls with the computer and then at the end of the season move the bottom 10% of all umpires to the minors and the best 10% from the minors to the bigs. this should motivate umpires to get better and eliminate the weak ones. with players it works the same.

a demoted umpire would have to stay in the minors for the next season but would be eligible to re qualify if he makes the top 10% in the minors.
they should also publish those stats. a lot of umpires would hate that and probably their union too but on the other hand this would give the really good umpires more authority as he could point out to that objective list when attacked by managers and fans. of course on the other hand it would weaken the bad umpires but I think this is OK.

also the comittee should of course only go by stats. a lot of fans and mangers call for firing an ump after a couple bad calls but I would completely ignore if an ump misses 3 calls in one game. just look at the stats at the end of the season. numbers don't lie.

I think we would even see some surprises there (umps with good reputation having bad stats and vice versa) since we all know that subjective non stat based evaluations of the game by fans and people in the game are usually completely meaningless (see the "clutch" thing").

umpires should face the same hard evaluation by stats that players do. if you hit .220 you will be send down it should be the same for umpires. but they should not face subjective evaluations. those are absolutely meaningless.

what do you think? why not stat evaluate all umpires and send the worst down?

I agree that many people would consider this a reasonable approach. I agree (certainly) that it has a significant potential to create better and more accurate umpiring.

However, having said that, I'd need to point out that the 'real' problem is not the umpires. It's the players.

I played baseball, Judo, basketball and track over a 12 year span when I was younger than most of the 6 foot tall millionaire babies we have playing today. I never once yelled at an umpire / referee, or showed anger at one of them for a call they made. And to my knowledge, I never saw anyone else do it either. We took that as part of life and my personal attitude was that if I was better or had trained harder, it wouldn't have even been an issue to argue over.

I don't care about fixes to umpiring as long as we have grown men with the emotional maturity of a 6 year old. They will STILL argue, kick dirt, spit, throw helmets, throw bats, and curse. So, let's leave it as is and simply enjoy the fact that sometimes the players are right and the umpire really DID make the wrong call.