Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Umpires Association (MLBUA) have reached a tentative five-year labor agreement through the 2024 regular season, according to a press release from the league. The agreement is subject to the ratification of the 30 clubs and the umpires themselves, with the next steps in that process expected in Jan. 2020.
First indications are that this is not just a ho-hum labor pact. According to a tweet from Jon Heyman of the MLB Network, the umpires “agreed to cooperate” with the league in the continued testing and development of automated balls and strikes (link). The Major League Baseball Umpires Association also agreed to assist if Commissioner Rob Manfred decides to utilize the system at the major league level, corroborates a report from the Associated Press.
Last season saw the launch of computerized strike zones in lower levels of organized baseball. The independent Atlantic League became the first American pro league to let a computer call balls and strikes at its All-Star Game on July 10. The system used combined an iPhone, a Trackman computer system and Doppler radar to relay proper calls to home plate umps. The Arizona Fall League also gave the system a trial run, and MLB had already been in talks to install the system at the Class A Florida State League for 2020. “This idea has been around for a long time and it’s the first time it’s been brought to life in a comprehensive way,” Morgan Sword, MLB’s senior vice president of economics and operations, said on the night the Atlantic League experiment started, as quoted in the AP story.
While most headlines tomorrow will surely revolve around the “robo ump” implications of this new pact, it’s also worth sharing that the sides agreed to raises in compensation and retirement benefits along with provisions to allow earlier retirement, as noted by both the AP and Heyman. With the current CBA scheduled for expiration in less than two years, it’s at least some sign of stability that the league and umpires union were able to strike a mutually beneficial labor accord.
The umpire. He saved the queen’s life!
Hey Look! It’s Enrico Pallazzo!
Enrico palazzo! Enrico palazzo!
The commissioner wants to keep changing the sport. At some point he needs to decide if the sport should still be called baseball. I am fine seeing the umpire ruling the game it’s my personal opinion.
This should have probably been its own post, you ruined a good joke
Surely you can’t be serious
I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.
I just wanted to tell you both good luck. And we’re all counting on you.
Chump don’t want no help, chump don’t get da help!
Yeah genius, why get balls and strikes called correctly when you can get them called wrong 30% of the time by humans? Just my personal opinion.
Playing the umpires tendencies is a part of the game.
Sure, except it shouldn’t be. When the human element’ is mentioned, to me, it means the human element of the players. The job of calling balls and strikes consistently accurate, is nothing that a person can do – better than a computer.
Get the calls right, there is too much at stake.
Agree once the balls and strikes is automatically called Angel Hernandez might be a good umpire.
Doubtful
That 3 batter minimum per year pitcher is the most ignorant rule ever thought of. No breaking up double plays no blocking the plate. Ridiculous now this.
Someone hit the nail on the head. I’m surprised the players union agreed to this it takes strategy out of the game and takes away the specialized pitcher if people want shorter games take it down to Little League 7 inning games.
Intentional walk with no pitches thrown. Tanking is allowed. That drags games much longer than anything else. If you allow tanking, then you should instate a mercy rule. After 5 innings and a 10 run lead. That would shorten the length of a game. If you are the victim of the mercy rule 5 times in a year, the league takes over running your team.
It’s hard to believe that you aren’t the commissioner already with great ideas like this. Maybe by 2030 the league can run every team!
“It’s hard to believe that you aren’t the commissioner already with great ideas like this”
I know, Right?
Earlier retirement because of the coming robot umps.
Robot umps doesn’t mean umps lose their jobs…
Well, the robot umps are fine but wait until they find out how cheap it is to outsource all the ump jobs to 11 year olds in Malaysia
You do realize that even with a finely tuned automated strike zone system in place, a home plate umpire will still be necessary, right? Is the robot ump going to call plays at home? Balks? Check swings? Toss the ball back to the pitcher? Eat chili dogs?
How dare you interfere with an ill informed idiotic rant with facts.
I’ll never learn.
Hopefully they negotiated Joe West dismissal.
And Angel Hernandez and Las Diaz
Not to mention it actually requires an additional ump to be behind the scenes and radio in the call to the home plate ump. At least last I heard it did, not sure if it has become more streamlined.
Should this headline read “Giant Industry Exempt from Antitrust Laws Begrudgingly Agrees to Labor Agreement with People Whose Jobs are Actually Rendered Useless Due to Technology but Weird Tradition Makes Them Relevant”
That’s a helluva headline Michael Scott
Hm… I just drew a sharpie line on a woman so I could distinguish her from her friend… I am also starting my own paper company from the ground up if you want in lol…
Yes!
How would antitrust laws apply to the MLB?
Without the anti-trust exemption, MLB is basically 30 companies working in collusion.
The amount of direct and indirect control they have over basically all professional baseball is ridiculous.
The legal justification for the antitrust exemption pretty much doesn’t exist anymore outside the fact that it’s just precedent now.
Wonder if minor league umpire pay will increase. Like the players, they only make nickles and dimes a season.
A standardized strikezone will make the game better. Pitchers with pinpoint accuracy won’t get cheated, and batters won’t get wrong up on woefully bad calls.
*wrung up
I totally agree
My only concern is how it will impact catching. Since framing will no longer be an issue, there will likely be less passed balls as catchers can get into position to block much earlier, and stolen bases might go down since catchers can get in a position to throw quicker.
Pitch framing is a total fantasy stat anyway.
Stat? What the heck are you even talking about?
The heck I am talking about is the stats that purport to measure the ability of a catcher to flimflam an umpire into calling a pitch a strike when it isn’t a strike. You’ve heard about this haven’t you? I believe this skill doesn’t actually exist.
youtube.com/watch?v=8rR22G7MgXI
baseballsavant.mlb.com/catcher_framing
You are missing the point. Coming up with statistics is easy, but numbers alone don’t mean you have described anything but noise. Using numbers to actually describe something has to start with a logical hypothesis. None exists for pitch framing. Nobody knows or tries to explain what skill is at work, let alone how it could be possible for a catcher who supposedly has this “skill” to become better and worse at it. Nobody even tries to explain how every, single umpire from Little League on up will tell you the same thing, which is that they call balls and strikes over the plate, not where the catcher catches them. The theory behind pitch framing seems to be that all umpires are liars, a theory that couldn’t possibly be more illogical. What is ignored in all of this is the very obvious and logical reasons why pitchers do and don’t get calls. That would seem to be the place to look for numbers to describe something, not this totally illogical concept of pitch framing.
As long as they agreed upon the “Angel Hernandez no longer has a job” clause, all fans rejoice!
Why do guys like Angel Hernandez, Joe West, and C.B. Bucknor still have jobs at the MLB level? They are all HORRIBLE on calling balls and strikes correctly.
at the risk of sounding like a Pinkerton or something: this is part of the downside one has to accept when dealing with unions.
Don’t forget Doug Eddings and Kerwin Danley. We really shouldn’t know their names as readily as we do, but only for the horrible job they do.
These guys should not have a job in the Mlb. The league should be able to fire them over the job they do.
But the league bows down to their union and acts like they have tenure and is helpless to do anything about them.
If not for Doug Eddings, the CWS probably don’t win, in 2005.
Yep
they lost 1 game in the playoffs, how did 1 umpire make them win all the other games?
Because there’s almost no mechanism in place for holding crappy umpires accountable. I imagine the fact that umpires are heavily skewed white and two of the three worst offenders are minorities only makes it harder to get more accountability put in. It would look like a racial purge, even though Hernandez and Bucknor are pure garbage at their jobs.
We could only pray that Angel will be fires! No pun intended!
*fired*
I was eating at Buffalo Wild Wings when I saw Angel Hernandez at the next table. It was unbearable because of the ringing bells. You see, he ordered wings. And a bell. . .rings. . .everytime. . .an angel. . .gets. . . Ah, you know the rest of it.
Take an upvote and delete your account.
Who the hell will Jon Lester bark at now?
Jon Lester will probably be retired by the time the automated strike zone is implemented. If not, he can always call on his inner ‘John Lackey’ and “bark” at his manager, pitching coach, catcher or fielders when things don’t go his way on the mound. lol
Not gonna lie though, I would probably miss guys like him Lackey and Peavey yelling at the umpire trying to get their calls. They’re kind of like Philip Rivers in a sense. Can’t knock a guy for being passionate. But on the other hand get the Damn calls right please.
Everyone wants to complain about balls and strikes. But I believe that robo umps will make the game boring. Controversy is what made baseball and MLB is taking that away every year. I am slowly losing interest in baseball with all the changes like “reviews” on calls for starters. Change is good, but those reviews on calls take so much time in a already lengthy game. I also hate that managers stand on the top of the dugout before they decide to challenge or not too. They sped up pitchers by using a time clock to increase the games speed, but they keep adding stuff to extend the length of the game. I am at the blink of losing interest in baseball and I have enjoyed the game for over 35+ years. I still remember my first professional game I went too as a child. I even remember the excitement of my first major league game experience as a youth. It’s a dying breed.
You won’t even notice since the ump will be buzzed for strikes and then call strike. For balls, they’ll do nothing different either. You’ll just see better, more accurate games.
They need to bring back plugging of runners to make it more exciting and more controversial. Just imagine all the fights that would break out.
“Robo Ump” sounds like a great name for the next baseball/sci fi movie. Maybe they can get Robo Cop and Number 5 to make cameos in it.
“Stop, or there will be strikes, er trouble “.
Good thing or the umpires would really have been in the strike zone.
I loved that movie Johnnie five is alive! I think pitching will be better with RoboUmp!
Really against automated strike zones but I’m still against any review. Think the game has passed me by and I’m only in my 30s.
Seems like the “robot ump” would take a lot of pressure off the umps since with advanced analytics people can tell how many calls they miss and which side of the plate they favor…..
What about all of those catchers that have spent years learning the fine art of pitch framing?
Any writing in there about umpires leaving their attitude and their egos in their hotel rooms. Tired of seeing them show off as much as the players. Do they still not realize people dont come for them?
I go to the games to see the umpires. They’re an essential part of the game I love, and I respect them for the very difficult job that they do. I wish more people did.
What’s difficult about a job where you can stand in one spot for 3 hours and do a couple hand motions? It’s not rocket science. When you wrote the first line, we’re you laughing when you wrote it? You must be an actual Umpire. I’m tired of seeing there ego’s come out while they are puffing out their chest to make them seem powerful. They think they are cops without badges. There is no hierarchy to them. They make the decisions and that’s final. What a joke.
I wish more people saw threw the crap that’s pulled over their face.
Have you ever personally played any organized sport at any level at all?
4 sports. Havent seen as much ego from the moderators of any of them as you see in baseball. A point that everyone is tired of umpires and poor, blatant, questionable, and curious calls. To say it doesn’t happen more in baseball than anywhere else is a joke and a lie. Name another sport besides soccer that refs show off as much?
Nobody will condemn them. They do no wrong and have the most important job. A joke.
I don’t go to games to watch umpires, I go to watch the players.
Some fans won’t be happy until baseball is turned into a video game.
And some Major League Commissioners main goal has been to destroy all aspects of the game. What’s left of the game. Some fans are out trying to put a stop to the complete dismantling of Baseball. Worried about the fans, need to be worried about the crooked people running it. The Commissioner has held the rest of baseball hostage.
The commissioner works for the 30 owners. He is powerless to hold anyone hostage.
The commissioner stopped working for the teams. It is a position that was created by the owners to help control actions. Hes powerless huh, why is he Demanding that teams cut 40 minor league teams. Some of the teams he suggests to cut are actually doing quite well for themselves.
How come I get the feeling that the season will start before they give a ruling on Bryant?
He is collectively killing baseball as we know it. The good and the bad parts of it.
If the commissioner stopped working for the team owners, somebody needs to tell the team owners, since they hired him. And yes, he is working for the team owners on the minor league issue too. The proposal to reduce the number of minor league teams is how they plan to reduce the costs of developing players. The owners sure have a sweet deal. They can hide behind the commissioner and some fans won’t notice who is pulling the strings.
Oops. I hit the like button trying to hit the reply button. Why cant you take it away? So it’s the commissioner who is trying to be cheap with players. If you take 40 teams out, does that raise or lower your cash flow? Hmmmmm. Math wise that doesn’t add up. I could see them suggesting 40 teams that are in the red. But there not.
Demanding that 40 teams be cut is not an actual version of “working with”. Gonna be interesting to see how that office changes over the next 10 years. Why not actually work on tanking teams that are in the majors?
Want to work on making the game better. Its salary cap time. These contracts are becoming looney tunes. By 2025 wouldn’t be surprised we see a half a billion dollar contract. He doesn’t need it but he feels hes worth it. I feel bad for the players that have to play next to them.
Hay commissioner, that’s where the money is going. Need a player to be the commissioner. Have a better understanding on what hes doing.
The minor league teams are franchised to the major league teams in a similar way to the how car dealerships are franchised to the carmakers. It costs the major league teams to keep up that system. They believe they can develop major league players more cheaply with fewer minor league teams. That’s what this is about. So again no, the commissioner isn’t trying to be cheap with the players, it’s the team owners, for whom the commissioner works, who are. That’s where he gets his marching orders and no other place. You are just shilling for ownership right down the line.
Sorry you liked my post accidentally but maybe you should have done it on purpose since it answers all of your questions.
I hate robots. I don’t even use self checkout. I prefer the human element both in life and sport. The mistakes are what give this game character. On the flip side, I hate unions. They are the powers that keep Angel and CB still in their position of power even when they are clearly not good at their jobs.
I didn’t know there were that many robots to hate in the world. ;)
Fire Angel Hernandez
Is accountability in the contract? The amount of times an umpire makes a mistake and ejects a player or manager is staggering. You shouldn’t be protected from criticism.
Players and managers are going to get tossed for throwing tantrums whether they’re right or wrong. Nobody who’s ever umped anything has a problem with that aspect of it.
Who cares? They’re all bad.
So, getting the calls right and eliminating the most overrated and useless “skill” in baseball, pitch framing?
Bring on the robo-umps.
Hopefully the agreement means Phil Cuzzi , Brian Gorman , C B Bucknor and Rob Drake take early retirement .(amazing how a union can protect guys who are supposedly at the top of their craft but can’t call an accurate ball/strike.)
That’s all unions really do anymore
Go Cubs Go
Fu*k Manfred, MLB, and Robo Umps.
Works in tennis and Olympic sports just fine. There are no logical arguments to be made against an automated strike zone.
Next issue that needs to be addressed by the MLB is defensive shifts.
If a pitcher is required to throw from the mound, and a catcher required to receive pitches behind home plate, it stands to reason all defensive players should be required to hold position within a set distance from the bag they’re designated to defend. Allowing fielders to occupy any space they choose on the infield before the pitch is not consistent with the rules of the game. Outfielders don’t defend bags, so logically, they should be free to occupy any space they choose in the outfield.
The easiest solution to defensive shifts is teaching players how to hit.
What is the problem with defensive shifts, exactly?
Teams shouldn’t be allowed to position fielders where batters actually hit the ball and should be required to position them where they do not hit the ball, because…. why?
Because a 3B shouldn’t be standing in the outfield or 2B before the pitch is thrown. Clearly, that wasn’t the intent when the game was designed. Otherwise there would be no designated positions to begin with.
Yeah, we won’t be so excited about robot umps when they become sentient and start shooting everybody
Will clubs be able to challenge a call from the robo ump I wonder?
The automated strike zone will be huge for MLB, guaranteeing their sport will be the only one nearly free of any judgement calls with instant replay already being widely implemented. The fact that the umpires are on board should make the transition that much quicker and easier.
I agree. I’m just not seeing the complete point on why the need to quicken the game other than trying to keep the younger audience engaged. Also, how is it going to work with the limited commercials? Won’t local stations lose money?
it will quicken the game.
Hopefully the agreement includes a clause banning CB Buckner and Angel Hernandez for life.
Just say no to robo-umps. If I wanted to watch a video game I would buy an X-Box
I think balls and strikes should be robo -Called .The Umps are that bad. Bring back home plate collisions and take out slides at second base. Then get rid of this commissioner. He sucks.