MLB has announced umpires for the Championship Series, the third round of the 2013 postseason.
American League Championship Series (ALCS Game One Alignment Below)
HP: Joe West -cc (7 Previous + 2 Championship Series + 1 Crew Chief Assignment Bonus = 10).
1B: Rob Drake (2 Previous + 2 Championship Series = 4).
2B: Ron Kulpa (8 Previous + 3 Championship Series = 11).^
3B: Alfonso Marquez (2 Previous + 3 Championship Series = 5).^
LF: Dale Scott (5 Previous + 2 Championship Series = 7).
RF: Dan Iassogna (12 Previous + 2 Championship Series = 14).
National League Championship Series (NLCS Game One Alignment Below)
HP: Gerry Davis -cc (2 Previous + 2 Championship Series + 1 Crew Chief Assignment Bonus = 5).
1B: Mark Carlson (0 Previous + 3 Championship Series = 3).*^
2B: Mike Everitt (3 Previous + 2 Championship Series = 5).
3B: Bruce Dreckman (0 Previous + 3 Championship Series = 3).^
LF: Ted Barrett (5 Previous + 2 Championship Series = 7).
RF: Greg Gibson (7 Previous + 2 Championship Series = 9).
-cc denotes Crew Chief, * denotes first AL/NLCS assignment, ^ denotes first 2013 Postseason assignment. Per UEFL Rule 4-3-c, all umpires selected to appear in the AL and NL Championship Series shall receive two bonus points for this appearance, three if the umpire has not appeared during an earlier postseason game (e.g., Wild Card). Crew chiefs shall receive one additional bonus point for this role (three points total).
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41 comments :
Unlike last year, looks like there were some changes to the roster, and for both series it looks like the two additional outfield umpires were swapped out.
Here's a breakdown of LCS experience for each crew:
ALCS
-West: 8th
-Drake: 2nd
-Kulpa: 2nd
-Dreckman: 2nd
-Iassogna: 2nd
-Scott: 6th
NLCS
-Davis: 9th
-Carlson: 1st
-Everitt: 5th
-Marquez: 3rd
-Gibson: 3rd
-Barrett: 6th
I've got 1 major complaint: how on earth can Dreckman get an LCS nod after making an egregiously bad call in the play-in game he handled? The only minor surprise is that Jeff Kellogg goes from LCS Crew Chief to no playoff assignment. Many of the other good umpires who did not get playoff assignments (Cederstrom, Gorman, Wolf) were injured or on the crew that misunderstood the rules (O'Nora and Culbreth), pretty much killing their hopes—though I'd add that it's really really dumb not to give guys playoff assignment because of early/mid year injuries. If they rate well and are healthy at the end of the year, isn't the goal to put the best crews out there?
One question that I've always wondered about: is there any significance to the umpiring assignments for game 1 (outside of the crew chief of course)? Based on the rotation, Dreckman will have a pivotal plate assignment in game 4. My guess was either he rated highly enough that one mistake doesn't impact his standing or that MLB won't change assignments based on early round performance except for flagrant incompetence or misapplication of the rules
The 3 pivotal plate assignments that go to veteran umpires are usually 5-6-7. My hunch is that he probably scored very well on his plate work this year. But to me, it sends a bad signal when a guy makes an egregious mistake in a playoff situation and gets another playoff assignment.
Never hear much about Paul Schrieber. Never any post season assignments. Never talked about. Nothing too negative about him. So what's up?
How does Jeff Nelson not make it and CB "Constantly Bad" Bucknor get in the LDS?
According to the numbers, Bucknor had an "off game" yesterday in that he was really good. I will admit that I was influenced by TBS' pitch tracker and thought that he scored below a 90% for sure.
Another one is Andy Fletcher. On the staff since 1999, and 0 postseason appearances. It seems to me that if you are on the staff that long and never earn a postseason berth, then maybe it's time for a staff change.
I guess it could be true that Fletcher is never the worst, but never ranks high enough to be in the top 36 (of 68; over 50%) who make the playoffs. If that's true, then it's kind of the definition of mediocrity.
One other thought....McClelland has been absent from the postseason since 2009. He certainly isn't as good as he was at his peak, but he certainly hasn't been one of the worst for the past 4 years. I wonder if there's a beef between him and Randy Marsh.
Fletcher, Schreiber, and Foster I wonder how they are still employed. The league also seems to have no more than 2-3 crew chiefs in a series so McClelland may not have been bad overall but if he wasn't in the top 12 crew chiefs he may have missed spots
Not really sure how Jeff Kellogg went from LCS crew chief last season to being good enough to be the tiebreaker game HP umpire this season (and ranking the best so far on balls/strikes calls in the tiebreaker/postseason according to this website) to being the only umpire from that 6-man tiebreaker crew to not have a postseason assignment (unless he's getting a WS assignment, which seems unlikely now since all WS umpires are typically drawn from the DS pool).
Did Tim McClleland do something to piss off MLB and the Umpire supervisors, he doesn't seem to get post season assignments anymore, or is he just not as good as I thought he was?
I guess I should of done some research before posting I guess he was last assigned in 2009 which wasn't that long ago
I thought for a while that the high profile blunders in the 2009 ALCS got shelved McClleland and Dale Scott shelved from LCS & World Series assignments, but Scott is back in the LCS after a 4 year gap this year. My guess is that, like Jerry Crawford at the end of his career, they've decided that McClelland has slipped.
I think part of McClelland's problem is that in the last few years MLB has gotten to elevate some of their favorite umpires to crew chief status and with the 2-3 crew chief per series limit, that has cut down on the number of guys who traditionally got those spots working the playoffs. It's also noticeable that since Torre took over, a different group of umpires is getting the best assignments than the guys who used to be considered the premiere guys.
Isn't it a little bit odd at how much more experience is in the ALCS than the NLCS? Why not flip one of the 2nd LCS guys with Everitt to balance things some?
Agreed. With the exception of Davis and West; they have continued to get the plum assignments. Deservedly.
Not sure if it is Torre or Marsh, but the Kentucky mafia (Layne, Gibson, Holbrook, Hallion) has done incredibly well. The love affair with Layne and Holbrook in particular makes me suspect Marsh.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't believe McClelland has been in the bottom 4-5 crew chiefs every year since 2009.
I'm with you 100%. Jerry Layne has never particularly impressed me. I thought McClelland's problems were related to the atrocious 2009 ALCS where (ironically) Layne, Dale Scott, and McClelland had an awful series on the big stage, but Scott finally got beyond the division series for the first time since then this year. My hunch is that his plate scores aren't as good as others. But, there is also a scarcity issue at play. Look at the 2008 LCS & World Series crews for example, (Welke, Tschida, Danley, Hallion, Culbreth, Kellogg for the WS), (Reilly, Cederstrom, Winters, Meals, Barrett, Everitt for the NLCS) & (McClelland, Cousins, Gorman, O'Nora, Marquez, and Holbrook for the ALCS). Of those 18 umpires, 3, Tschida and Reilly, and Cousins have retired. But of the remaining 15, 10 are now crew chiefs. If the maximum number of crew chiefs who get playoff assignments is 12-14, just to give those guys who were the best 5 years ago assignments means 2-4 spots tops for guys like West, DeMuth, and Davis, all of whom worked the 2009 World Series. Thus, the competition for crew chief slots has gotten far more fierce.
Remember, Holbrook was also on Marsh's crews for many year (2003-2007). I think Holbrook is a good Umpire, but not quite good enough to continues to get LCS and WS assignments. I have a feeling that since he is working the DS this year he will be in the World Series.
I also agree that Layne is not as good as his assignments show. He seems to be pretty bad on the bases and is inconsistent behind the Plate. I am fine with him making the Playoffs every year but him being the CC of the 2011 WS was a little suspicious. I like Randy Marsh a lot and I think he was one of the best Umpires in the league in the mid 90's up until his abrupt retirement after the 2009 season, but he does seem to be throwing the Kentucky guys a bone. Rememeber, Marsh is also from Kentucky.
Could be. I am hard-pressed to believe McClelland ranks below Layne and Welke every year, but I don't have access to the data.
The rule about CCs is peculiar. If the CCs are the top guys (which they should be), then why not have them in the playoffs every year. If a CC is consistently missing the playoffs, maybe he should be demoted. Being a CC has never been solely about experience (Kellogg, Cederstrom, and Reliford were promoted early in their careers, while folks like Cousins waited a long time), so maybe MLB should make it completely merit-based.
Theoretically, I agree with you 100%. I'm inclined to say that I want the best 36 umpires (or you can argue for just using 24) in the playoffs regardless of experience. However, I do understand the idea of getting some new guys big game experience, because if you end up like the NHL or NBA, where they just use the same guys year in and year out for the later playoff rounds, then when those guys slip or retire, the younger guys are unprepared to handle the big stage.
I would add, however, that I think MLB evaluates very differently than fans/players/managers. Think about the guys who topped the last player survey (McClelland, Joyce, Wolf), none of whom have a World Series assignment since like 2006 I think? Wolf has only worked the playoffs 1-2x. By contrast, Rob Drake and Joe West were on the worst list, and Drake has gotten the best assignments of a relatively inexperienced guy the last few years, and West persistently gets the big assignments. Why the discrepancy? Because MLB focuses on accuracy, and I suspect, mostly quality of plate work. By contrast, fans/players also worry about the easier to evaluate base work and attitude. West is a great umpire with a lousy attitude so players don't like him.
Is it likely though that MLB uses different (or additional) criteria for ranking the crew chiefs come playoff time? If so, that might explain why Dale Scott and Ted Barrett got the nod for the LCS' over the likes of Jeff Kellogg & Tim McClelland. It probably also explains why Fieldin Culbreth was left off out of the postseason altogether.
Don't be so angry, Dan.
Who are your picks for the World Series umpires
HP - Dana DeMuth (CC)
1B - Jim Reynolds-first world series
2B - Another 1st timer, maybe Wendelstedt, Randazzo, or Emmel
3B - Wally Bell or Bill Miller
LF - Gary Darling
RF - John Hirschbeck
Maybe Vanover at the 2B as well
- Dana DeMuth (CC)
- Chris Guccione
- Wally Bell
- Tony Randazzo
- John Hirschbeck
- Tim Welke
This is Bryan again I just finalized mine! I made a few changes.
HP - Dana DeMuth (CC)
1B - Chris Guccione
2B - Jim Reynolds
3B - Wally Bell
LF - Tim Welke
RF - John Hirschbeck
I think we need Angel Hernandez in the mix to keep things interesting. I would put him in place of Bell.
Just curious -- of the guys who've been around dating back to 1999 and beyond, who has appeared in the post-season the LEAST?
Andy Fletcher. 0.
He was the 6th guy on his crew in the LDS. If they didn't trust him with a plate there, no way he gets the WS.
Yeah you're right. He is not in my finalized picks.
If we really wanted to mix things up we would have Joe West, Andy Fletcher, Constantly Bad Bucknor, Balkin' Bob, and Alan Porter to join Hernandez!
If DeMuth gets the nod for the Fall Classic...then this might be his last year working MLB.
World Series Crew: (my guess)
DeMuth (CC)
Guccione
Reynolds
Cooper
Hirschbeck
Darling
My guess/stab at the World Series Crew:
DeMuth (CC)
Guccione
Reynolds
Randazzo
Hirschbeck
Hallion
I like Hirschbeck and Hallion with their aggressive style/approach of calling strikes
Hirschbeck (CC)
Welke
Bell
Holbrook
Randazzo
Emmel
My Updated World Series Picks:
Hirschbeck (CC)
Emmel
Holbrook
Randazzo
Darling
Demuth
I really hope DeMuth is the crew chief. He deserves it.
World Series crew: John Hirschbeck (crew chief), Mark Wegner, Dana DeMuth, Paul Emmel, Bill Miller, Jim Joyce.
Released by MLB.
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