Major League Baseball and the Major League Umpires Association have reached an agreement on umpire salaries for the 2020 season, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports (via Twitter). The league had reportedly been seeking a pay cut for umpires and was pushing for an agreement to be in place this weekend. Absent an agreement, the umpires would not have been paid until play resumed.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the umpires will see their pay reduced by “about” 30 percent. The umpires union had made an initial offer of a 20 percent reduction, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Rosenthal reported yesterday that the league’s proposal to the umpires included a 35 percent pay reduction (including retroactive prorating of salary that was already paid out prior to the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown) as well as reduced per diems and postseason bonuses. That arrangement didn’t sit well with the umpires union.
Negotiations with the umpires were just one of the countless issues that need to be sorted as the owners, commissioner Rob Manfred and the players association work toward staging a truncated 2020 season that is unlike any we’ve seen in the past (or will see again). Decision-makers are still discussing several scenarios for a return to play and a second training camp. Among the many potential ideas being kicked around are a radical realignment scheme, intrasquad training games at each team’s home park and a potential three-state training setup between Arizona, Texas and Florida. Nothing has been agreed upon or set in place yet, but optimism that a 2020 season will be able to take place has been mounting over the past couple of weeks.
umps caved to the bullies
They’ll make more than zero, which is what they bring into the league.
With robo-upms, one day there might not even be umps.
There is never going to be “robot-umps”.
Baseball is wanting to move to an automated strike zone which makes perfect sense but there will always be umpires to call balls fair or foul, players safe or out, standing behind home plate as a fail safe and to determine hit by pitches and wether or not a player makes contact with a ball.
And sure, replay officials could make these calls but it’s not practical for them to do so and it would greatly slow the game down.
All the human umps should be on permanent vacation. There’s a couple absolutely horrible ones. But in reality it past time to move on with technology. Just leave a bag of balls by the mound and give the catcher a little broom to dust off the plate. Those guys are making between $120,000 to $300,000 a year. Way overpaid and never held accountable for incompetence.
A robo-cart can bring the balls to the catcher or a pitching machine set to a lower velocity.
I see the ball boy getting a lot more responsibility going forward.
I can’t wait til your job is taken over by a robot
it probably already is. most fast food places have those kiosks now
Yeah, those bullies are paying umpires an average of $250,000/year salary plus a $340/game stipend to fly around the country, stay in the best hotels, and work 5 hours a day watching a baseball game. Oh the horror! GTFOH bro!
They should’ve just fired Angel Hernandez, Joe West and CB Bucknor and spread the wealth to the younger lower paid umpires.
I’m sure that they won’t because these particular umps have WAR ratings.
Hahaha. So true. Some have become bigger than the game.
West is bigger than everything.
They should have made Angel Hernandez, Joe West, Laz Diaz and CB Bucknor pay to get in.
Don’t forget Kerwin Danley.
It’s a shame we are aware of how bad these umps are, know their names before all the others and get bummed every time we find out they are working the game we go to or are about to watch.
They are vastly overpaid, fly first class, have huge stipends for daily eating and stay in great hotels—treated like royalty.
Put all umps on a merit system. The good ones are rewarded and the bad ones are fired!
If their union won’t accept this, we’ll, let’s wait them out. The minor leagues are full of replacements.
We don’t go to games to see these bad umps. They are and should be treated as any other stadium employee.
as for the robot umps I’m not for that and I dont think that will happen. i think mlb should do what others sports do with referees and designate ball and strike umps. these umps will only umpire behind the plate. I think this way you will know that the game will be called down the middle instead of dummy west Hernandez bucknor etc to be bigger than the game. we fans won’t see their pissy fits because they got annoyed with a mgr or player. I’m sure there r alot of good umps that can call a game down the middle without throwing a pissy fit like the dummy umps like west bucknor, etc. MLB can stick the undeserving umps in the field.
It’s all in vain; The 2020 season is already a lost one.
It’s May 1. Let’s see how things go at least the next several weeks before cancelling the season.