Major League Baseball has announced that infielder Jose Iglesias has received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his conduct towards umpires after Game Three of the Wild Card series against the Cubs last week. It does not say if Iglesias will appeal. If the suspension is either uncontested or upheld, Iglesias would serve the suspension next season. Fellow Padres infielder Xander Bogaerts has also received a fine for the same incident.
Bogaerts and the Padres were obviously upset by a strike call that was made as the club’s season was on the line. The best-of-three series was tied one game apiece and the Padres were trailing 3-0 going into the ninth inning. Jackson Merrill led off with a home run off Brad Keller to pull the Padres within two. Then Bogaerts worked a 3-2 count and took a pitch down and outside, as seen in this video from MLB.com. Had it been called ball four, Bogaerts would have drawn a walk, bringing the tying run to the plate for the Friars. Instead, home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn called it strike three.
The on-screen strike zone from the broadcast certainly made the pitch look like a ball. Some other pitch-tracking sources, such as Statcast, made it look like it clipped the bottom of the zone. Regardless, Bogaerts and the Padres certainly felt it was a ball. The Friars then got a couple of men on base via hit-by-pitches but fell 3-1, ending their season. Later, fan footage emerged of the umpires being berated as they left the field through the away dugout steps, per @padsfanatic.
With the Padres having been eliminated, Iglesias can’t serve his suspension now. He is an impending free agent. MLB’s announcement notes that, pending an appeal, he will serve his suspension “on his first day as an active player on a Major League roster during the 2026 regular season.”
It’s possible that becomes somewhat notable as Opening Day nears. Iglesias, 36 in January, has been a minor league deal guy for a while now. He’s had to settle for a minors pact in three straight winters. He didn’t get called up in 2023. Last year, he returned to the big leagues and had a phenomenal run with the Mets, hitting .337/.381/.448. Despite that excellent season, he still had to settle for a minor league deal with the Padres coming into 2025.
With the Friars this year, he wasn’t nearly as effective, finishing with a .229/.298/.294 line. He will likely be receiving minor league offers again this winter. If he is in the running for a job come March or at any point next year, the signing club would have to be willing to select his contract and play short-handed on Opening Day or whatever day they give him a 40-man spot.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
The bad umpiring will continue until morale improves
The bad umpiring will continue until full ABS is instituted in 2027 with the new CBA.
i disagree as even above the machines dont agree with each other.
“The on-screen strike zone from the broadcast certainly made the pitch look like a ball. Some other pitch-tracking sources, such as Statcast, made it look like it clipped the bottom of the zone.”
Statcast called it a strike because the standard Statcast zone uses a static upper and lower height based on the average MLB height. An adjusted Statcast strike zone with Bogaerts’ height factored in shows the pitch missing the zone, and the pitch misses the zone even more using the ABS Challenge zone (which uses the midplane of HP instead of the front plane).
Pads Fans
Full ABS is less accurate than human umps or challenge system. You guys should watch more minor league games the last few years and this would be obvious. The best system is the hybrid of human/robots where each acts like a check and balance. I honestly wish robo umps were more accurate but I’ve watched countless minor league games that have shown this isn’t close to being true
Players get one game and umpire gets….
I just think its inconsistent balls/strike calls. All game its a ball, but the last inning its a strike. Makes no sense. I would have tapped my helmet to tell the ump my opinion.
Will either or both appeal? If so it would be fun to hear that debate!
Bogaerts was fined the equivalent of 1 inning of play. I doubt he appeals. Probably matches that amount and gives it to charity. Maybe one for free eye exams for umpires.
Too similar.
What punishment does the umpire get for being incompetent at his job? Or just another Rich Garcia look the other way by MLB?
It’s unfortunate that the umps aren’t disciplined for consistent bad calls or escalating confrontations, but they are protected by the union. I know that their “Performance” is evaluated (which influences the games of relevance that they are assigned by MLB), but when you have long time employed umps who are just awful at their job (like CB Bucknor who has had his position since 1996) that’s the bigger problem.
Bucknor needs to be beaten until he makes better calls. Anytime I tune into a game and see a bad call, chances are, he’s the ump, and anytime I see his name in the crew, I see a bad call by him. He is worse than Angel Hernandez and Richie Garcia. Time for him to enjoy a Red Stripe and retire!!
no one is worse that Hernandez. 3 overturned calls in the same game and he was a 1b umpire.
What I saw made it appear the umpire said something first that Iglesias and Bogaerts reacted to.
Iglesias got that dog. Good man for going in on them. His presence was missed this season in Queens.
I loved the mentality, too.
That call was bad but the Padres had plenty of chances to score in that game, and they couldn’t do it.
Everyone keeps saying that as if a bad call doesn’t matter. Let’s say it was a strike and the umpire called it a ball – and that leads to the Cubs losing the game. Does everyone say it doesn’t matter because the Cubs had more chances to score earlier in the game? A bad call is a bad call.
You’re right, a bad call is a bad call. But what some people are doing is acting like it was the direct cause of the Padres losing. The most flawed example is assuming that eventually the Padres would’ve loaded the bases with no outs. But it never would’ve played out the same way. If Bogaerts had been walked and standing on first, that would’ve changed how Keller delivered to the plate, working out of the stretch, which makes it very unlikely he’d display the same wildness as he did hitting the next two batters. Not to mention, the pitch selection would’ve been different, and Keller’s focus would’ve been different with a runner on first. It’s much more likely that he would’ve struck out O’Hearn or induced a ground ball double play. Or maybe given up a hit. The only thing we can be sure of is the next two batters were unlikely to reach base by HBP.
That’s why people are saying it ultimately doesn’t matter. If it had been two outs bases loaded and the difference between game tied and game over, then, yes, but not when there’s still so much that can happen during the inning.
Also, that wasn’t the first time the ump had made a bad call on that outside corner; he’d been making bad calls in that spot all game long. Batters gotta be aware of that, especially late in the game.
Keller has a higher walk rate from the stretch. The call was not on pitch that was outside, it was low. Watch the video. Nothing else you said is factual either.
Lol websoulsurfer of course none of it was factual. THAT WAS MY WHOLE POINT, that all of the talk about how the game “would’ve” played out is conjecture… no different than I did in my post. It’s like you were too busy trying to stat-nerd some number about walk rates than actually think about what I was saying.
Also, you go back and watch yourself. Happ got called out earlier in the game for a pitch right in the same spot, and he wasn’t the only Cub. The ump had a bad day behind the plate, and both teams fell victim to it.
Regardless if it’s mlb nba nfl nhl mls
Fans don’t want a bad call to impact the game
And a bad call impacted the padres cub game
That’s not up for debate or some controversial topic. Fans want well officiated games. They don’t want games to come down to officials deciding outcomes. And again that’s all sports.
As fans we’ve all been on the tail end of a bad call. I’m still livid of the “roughing the passer” calls against my Texans where two defenders hit each others helmet and somehow got a 15 yard penalty without touching Mahomes. Stuff like that needs to be reviewable by either coaches challenges or the league needs to approve the call like they verify touchdowns before trying for extra points
Can you see into the future? How can you “for sure” know that the next two batters won’t make to base by HBP.
If they did get on base by HBP then it would have been bases loaded with 0 outs. No one knows what would have happened if that scenario took place because of a bad call greatly favoring the Cubs.
DJ Reyburn is why ABS is being instituted, That was pitch the 3rd furthest outside the strike zone that was called a strike. That was egregious.
Statcast tracked it as a strike. There’s a link in the article.
In stadium Trackman showed it was a ball. That is the system that ABS will use next season.
Umpires also have sensitive egos. How many times have we seen where a player shows even a little pushback and the umpire will immediately throw out the player. I’m tired of these snowflake umpires…
Sure, but ABS is still going to make fans upset once the strikezone changes and it’s independent of the inaccurate little box the broadcasters put up.
As the post points out, those supposedly blown ball-and-strike calls sometimes depend on which box you look at. When ABS comes in next year, expect a lot of kvetching over which box is used. That’s because the strike zone is inherently hard to define up-and-down, unlike the court lines in tennis.
Replying to myself? Anyway, Reyburn ranked almost exactly in the middle for umpire accuracy in 2025, according to Umpire Scorecards. He’s far from terrible and that call was at least close, not a godawful howler. Also, I don’t know what kind of box Umpire Scorecards is using for their rankings. A different box could produce completely different rankings.
Well, Laz Diaz will always stink no matter what.
The box is consistent per MLB definition though: 27% of the batter’s height to 53.5% of the batter’s height, with challenges using the mid-plane of home plate. baseballamerica.com/stories/would-xander-bogaerts-…
As your own source points out, the ABS box next year will not take into account the fact that many batters crouch slightly (or more) at the plate, and the crouch changes from pitch to pitch and sometimes in the middle of a pitch. We’re gonna hear a lot about the box next year when ABS comes in.
MLB will catch hell for not adjusting the box to the batter’s actual stance and no doubt long articles like your link will be written to show how some borderline call was really wrong or right or SOMETHING. Let the fun begin.
By design, ABS doesn’t consider the batter’s crouch; there are too many variables. I agree that the mismatch between the ABS strike zone and the rulebook’s definition of the strike zone should probably be amended.
It really doesn’t seem outlandish that an artificial vision system could adjust the box to a batter’s actual stance. I’m not asking for a crewed Mars landing here. AI can already track human body movements quite well.
No matter what kind of box is used next year, we’ll get lots of yelps when the ABS system makes an excruciatingly borderline call in a key situation. I’m also looking forward to plenty of snickers when the Diazes and Bucknors of the world get challenged twenty times a game (maybe a slight exaggeration).
OTOH if you look up and a guy like Ripperger is behind the plate, you better be damn sure before you challenge anything. That guy’s been known to call a perfect game.
Start suspending umpires.
This is stupid. It was a blantly missed call that cost the Padres the tying run. The league should give some leaway.
Blatantly*
At least there will be a chance to correct the worst calls but batters in particular have poor zone judgment and will repeatedly challenge calls incorrectly and cost their teams later in games by blowing the two chances. Teams should focus on only allowing their catcher to challenge until at least 7th inning.
The only part I don’t like about the rule is that catchers and pitchers can challenge on defense, but only batters can challenge on offense. Should be only pitchers and batters.
Why do you say no to catchers?
Seems to overly favor the pitching team, with the C having the best view. IMO, it tilts the successful usage more toward the pitching team than the hitting team, and I expect that’s how the majority of the challenges will shake out over time. Plus, the pitching team gets two sets of eyes to make the decision. I’d like it more as a snap decision between pitcher and batter. You could also leave the pitcher out of the equation, I guess.
Classy classy Padres. If only they were this concerned about their own performance.
“How dare people expect umpires to do their job correctly”
Helmet taps incoming…
I don’t recall the Iglesias call, but XBo got hosed. He rarely protests so you knew the call was bogus.
Screw helmet taps. Every pitch should be called by technology. Not to mention check swings. Most judgement calls can be transferred to technology. Think what might have happened if Alex Call had been correctly called out on strikes last night. Even in 1998 WS, home plate umpire Rich Garcia said he did not call obvious strike 3 on Tino Martinez bc catcher Carlos Hernandez moved his glove and he though he framed the pitch. Said it could have been a strike from Langston, wasn’t sure. Technology is in place now use it.
Horrible stuff. Call was bad but thems the breaks. I’m sure they benefited from plenty of bad ones as well.
It was a missed call. I liked Iglesias getting in the umps’ face about it, I’d welcome him back for that alone. Was shocked Shildt didn’t let himself get tossed there.
You don’t even need ABS systems
If a call is so egregious MLB needs to have a mic in the umps ear and needs to immediately communicate to the ump that was a bad call correct it immediately one way or the other.
Don’t even need a challenge system. MLB should have personnel at each game watching in a secure room and step in when necessary. Takes 30 seconds or less. Move on play ball.
Where is the suspension or fine for the umpire who escalated this?
It was reported that Xander and Iglesias were reacting to something the umpire said to Xander and that’s what the video looks like as well. It’s not even about whether the call was right or wrong (it was 100% wrong). The issue is the umpire provoked this and then only the players got punished. Totally wrong for the umpire to instigate and then only the players suffer the consequences, either they all get punished or no one should.
Really. The umpire was the first to say something as he was walking off ? Walking off and just decided to attack Xander unprovoked ?
Sounds a little unlikely. Common sense says Xander went first, the umpire responded with some heavy artillery and Xander couldn’t deal with the audacity of return fire. Wanted to go the fisticuffs.
A lot of arrogant impa out there that escalate instead of bringing down the temperature as they are supposed to do.
The great thing about this being on video is we don’t have to make assumptions and speculate like you are doing. We can watch it and see that the umpire did in fact say something.
It’s also not “unlikely” that this umpire would be mad at Xander for critiquing his call just moments before. I’ve seen many umpires instigate, it’s not like it never happens.
The ball/strike calling has been atrocious this playoff season. The new rule for next year barely touches the problem, only 2 challenges? That can occur easily by the 2nd inning.
In the video I saw the umpires were giving as much as they were receiving the hate. Seems kind of lopsided for MLB to handle it this way
Bad calls are a part baseball until they’re not. Stop whining.
Let’s make it even. If an umpire misses a call, they’re are “repercussions”. If a player complains about a call, and it turns out the umpire was correct, the player suffers “repercussions”.
There were at least two pitch tracking programs that had this pitch as a strike.
Why are we focusing on the one that has it a ball?
Umps should be accountable. I am glad they are losing their jobs to technology. They have been effing up for decades protected by unions.
Definitely, NOT A Strike, a Huge mistake by the Chief Umpire, especially at that crucial point in the game… On the other hand, the one -year suspension is a very abusive, out-of proportion determination by MLB, as they are almost ending this player’s career.
Uh, it’s a one DAY suspension.