Confirmed: 2013 will feature three new MLB umpires & three new crew chiefs. The retirement of three long-time arbiters, all chiefs, has also been confirmed. The UEFL's hiring rumor post from January 10 may be seen here. The initial rumor was confirmed by Honig's Whistle Stop, which is in attendence at the annual pre-season MLB umpire meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Hired: Vic Carapazza, Manny Gonzalez, Alan Porter.
Retired: Derryl Cousins, Ed Rapuano, Tim Tschida.
Promoted to Crew Chief: Ted Barrett, Fieldin Culbreth, Jim Joyce
Hires
Vic Carapazza (Palm Harbor, Florida), completed his 4th full year in Triple-A in 2012 as a member of the International League (IL). Prior to joining the Pacific Coast League (PCL) in 2008, Carpazza worked the Gulf Coast, Florida Instructional, New York-Penn, Midwest, Florida State, Arizona Instructional, Eastern, Arizona Fall and Dominican Leagues. An MLB fill-in since 2010, his first season was 2003, working the FL Instructional and Gulf Coast Leagues.
Manny Gonzalez (Valencia, Venezuela), completed his 5th full year in Triple-A in 2012 as a member of the IL. Prior to joining the IL in 2008, Gonzalez worked the Gulf Coast, New York-Penn, South Atlantic, Florida State, Texas, Southern and Arizona Fall Leagues. An MLB fill-in since 2010, his first season was 2002, working the Gulf Coast Lg. He is the first native Venezuelan MLB umpire.
Alan Porter (Warminster, Pennsylvania), completed his 5th full year in Triple-A in 2012 as a member of the IL. Prior to joining the IL in 2008, Porter worked the Gulf Coast, New York-Penn, South Atlantic, Florida Instructional, Carolina, Arizona Instructional, Eastern and Arizona Fall Leagues. An MLB fill-in since 2010, his first season was 2002, working the Gulf Coast Lg. Porter was the UEFL's 2012 Fill-In Umpire of the Year.
Retirees
Derryl Cousins (Southern California), 34 years of MLB service after joining the Major League staff in 1979, which rivals only veteran arbiter and National Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Klem's 37-year career, while his 4,496 MLB games worked at the conclusion of the 2012 season was the most of all active big league umpires. Cousins worked 3 All-Star Games, 5 Division Series, 7 League Championship Series and 3 World Series. Cousins was an initial hire from the Pacific Coast League. Cousins concludes his career with 118 MLB ejections.
Ed Rapuano (Florida), 22.5 years of MLB service after joining the Major League staff in 1991. Rapuano worked 2 All-Star Games, 8 Division Series, 5 League Championship Series and 2 World Series. Rapuano was an initial hire from the Triple-A Alliance and will remain with MLB as an umpire supervisor. Rapuano concludes his career with 47 MLB ejections.
Tim Tschida (Wisconsin), 27 years of MLB service after joining the Major League staff in 1986. Tschida worked 2 All-Star Games, 10 Division Series (tied with Gerry Davis and Bruce Froemming), 3 League Championship Series and 3 World Series. Tschida was an initial hire from the American Association. Tschida concludes his career with 85 MLB ejections.
Promoted to Crew Chief
Ted Barrett (Arizona), 16 years of MLB service after joining the Major League staff in 1999. Barrett has worked 1 All-Star Game, 1 Wild-Card Game, 7 Division Series, 5 League Championship Series and 2 World Series. Hired from the Pacific Coast League, Barrett presently holds 52 career MLB ejections and was the UEFL's 2012 Honorable Umpire of the Year (with Joyce).
Fieldin Culbreth (South Carolina), 16 years of MLB service after joining the Major League staff in 1999. Culbreth has worked 1 All-Star Game, 5 Division Series, 6 League Championship Series and 2 World Series. Culbreth was initially a hire from the International League (by way of the Pacific Coast League). Culbreth presently holds 33 career MLB ejections.
Jim Joyce (Oregon), 25 years of MLB service after joining the Major League Staff in 1989. Joyce has worked 3 All-Star Games, 9 Division Series, 4 League Championship Series and 2 World Series and served as an interim crew chief during the 2012 season. Joyce was initially a hire from the Pacific Coast League (by way of the International League). Joyce presently holds 66 career MLB ejections (coincidentally, his uniform number) and was the UEFL's 2012 Honorable Umpire of the Year (with Barrett).
Three solid promotions to CC.
ReplyDeleteSad to see Tschida retire. I always enjoyed seeing him work.
I like the hiring of Alan Porter and Manny Gonzalez. Thought they both did a nice job during the times when I saw them work in recent seasons. Haven't seen much of Vic Carapazza, so I don't really have an opinion on him.
ReplyDeleteSorry to see three solid veterans like Cousins, Tschida, and Rapuano gone. But they were replaced with three excellent choices for crew chief. Although, I'm sort of surprised to see Culbreth get the nod over Wally Bell or Angel Hernandez, who they've seemingly been grooming for crew chief positions in recent years.
I think Bell, Hernandez and Nelson will be the next 3 CC's with Everitt, O'Nora and Miller shortly behind. Barrett and Culbreth are the first 2 Umpires hired during the 1999 mass resignation to become a Crew Chief. Congrats to the new CC's and hires and good luck to the three retiring umpires. Can't wait for Baseball to come back. Spring Training is only in about 5-6 weeks.
ReplyDeletereally happy for 6 promotees...glad to see, but a bit surprised, by cubby- seems like the others that have been mentioned have been more groomed towards the CC positions. What does this mean for Campos, the Mikes, and DJ??
ReplyDeleteThe PCL umpires for 2013 are up on their website and none of the PCL umpires who worked MLB games last year have been dropped including Campos, Muchlinski and Reyburn. The Int. League list for 2013 is not yet available.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the PCL Website The Following Umpires will not be returning from last year: Eric Loveless, Barry Larson, Shaun Francis, Michael Lusky, Matt Schauffert, Jason Arends, Brian Sinclair and Jimmy Volpi. Larson, Loveless and Schauffert were around for quite a while so I am not as surprised to see them go. Volpi being gone after 1 year is pretty surprising.
ReplyDelete