2013 UEFL Awards: Fill-In Umpire of the Year: Clint Fagan (82)
Voting Results (min. 10%): Fagan (15%), Quinn Wolcott 10%.
Clint Fagan is the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League's 2013 fill-in (AAA) umpire of the year. In his third Major League Baseball fill-in umpiring season, Fagan finished 2013 with eight ejections, including a six-ejection Diamondbacks-Dodgers brawl. After Fagan's first two dismissals of the year in Ejections 057, 058 (6/2), one UEFL'er surmised, "Great call, great poise, great assistance by rest of the crew. Wonderful example of how to handle situations."
Another critiqued of Fagan, "this umpire was a bit dismissive too. He ejects Molina and then walks away. He can't even take an argument." Zac pointed out the dichotomy between yielding and confrontation: "Wait a minute. People say umpires are confrontational and should just 'walk away' after an ejection. Then they do just that, like in this situation, and you tell them they need to 'take it like a man.' Make up your damn minds."
In August, Fagan called 712 pitches over the course of an 18-inning D'Backs-Phillies game, umpiring the equivalent of nearly two-and-a-half regulation baseball games. Furthermore, Fagan set an MLB umpiring record by calling the 18th inning at 100% accuracy with 32 correct ball/strike calls. As one UEFL'er commented, "Who needs robot technology? Just clone Clint Fagan!"
Clint Fagan now has 30 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (28 Previous + 2 Award = 30).
The next postseason award, Crew Chief of the Year, will be released later today.
Clint was very professional. Glad he got put in the situations he did. These situations allowed him to show he can handle crunch time at the MLB level and I think he should be rewarded for this. Great pro umpire for us younger guys to model ourselves after. I try too myself!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he will be hired to replace Wally Bell, any thoughts on which AAA Call-Up(s) might get promoted to the full time staff for him and possible retiring crew chiefs? I've noticed that Muchlinski, Campos, and Estabrook have been call-ups for a while now and am curious if they will ever make it. One last thing, any ideas on which crew chiefs might retire before next year? I've heard rumors Hirschbeck might and am thinking maybe Cederstrom too because he didn't work full time this year and said he might retire at 57. What do you guys think?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on this are if campos estabrook muchlinski and reyburn don't get jobs this season they will all be let go. I think Fagan gets job and depending on how many more jobs there are I think lance barret and Jordan baker get jobs and for crew chiefs I think Angel Hernandez and Bob Davidson are pretty much locks to be crew chiefs then it's between Mike Everitt and CB Bucknor if there is more than two crew chiefs retiring
ReplyDeleteI could see Everitt and Jeff Nelson getting crew chief positions in the near future. Not sure if Angel Hernandez, Bob Davidson, or Larry Vanover have the leadership ability to be crew chiefs, even though they have the seniority. Even before someone like Bucknor I could see guys like Bill Miller, Ron Kulpa, and Brian O'Nora being considered
ReplyDeleteOh I forgot Reyburn has been a call up as long as the three I mentioned! Good point. For crew chiefs: I was going with Wally Bell but unfortunately that's not an option now. Jeff Nelson, Brian O'Nora, and Angel Hernandez were my other picks but the first two both had "off years" in 2013 and Hernandez was just mediocre. And he didn't handle that home run call well. I believe Miller, Kulpa, Gibson, Everitt, and Marquez could also be considered. I would say Vanover too but I'm not because he hasn't been in a world series and him making the playoffs isn't necessarily consistent. I don't think Balkin' Bob though, even though he has improved, his prime was in the 90s when he made the '92 fall classic, only one playoff assignment since being reinstated after the mass resignation.
ReplyDeleteAlso just to put it out there: what current crew chiefs do you see retiring?
ReplyDeleteI could see there being four current crew chiefs retiring those being Cederstrom Davis Hirshbeck and DeMuth
ReplyDeleteThe next new hire is going to be Jordan Baker and you can take that to the bank. That is not necesarily the first guy I would pick but it is clear Randy Marsh and Chris Jones feel differently. Baker definitely had a better 2013 season than 2012 but I am just not sure he is MLB quality yet. He still has issues with his strikezone but is getting better with that. He also seemed to really calm down and have a solid season after he stopped with the whole gum throwing thing. Jordan Baker will be on the MLB roster next season.
ReplyDeleteAs far as CC's retiring I would not be surprised if none of them do yet. Even though Gerry Davis and Joe West are over 60 years old they still have a couple years left and I expect them both to be back. Demuth just worked the World Series so I do not see him going anywhere. The 2 CC's most likely to retire are Hirschbeck and McClelland but I ultimately think both of them stay and Baker will be the lone new hire.
The next CC's are probably going to be Jeff Nelson and Mike Everitt. I had Angel Hernandez up there with them but he took a huge step back this year. After that mess up he never really worked as a fill in CC and that is not good. Everitt because of his outstanding playoff record is an obvious choice to be the next CC. Now that 2 guys from the class of 99 (I think you guys can figure out what that means) have already been made CC's so I know Everitt has a good chance now. He has also been a number 2 on his crew for the last 4 years which is more than Nelson and Miller's 3. Nelson had his worst year in awhile this year but he is still a good Umpire and I see him as a CC very soon. He spent a lot of time as an acting CC in 2011 and 2012 when Tschida missed time and did a great job.
My next couple of CC's(in this order)
1. Everitt
2. Nelson
3. Hernandez (as long as he does a better job next season than he did this year)
4. Holbrook
5. Miller
Next Hires:
1. Baker
2. Estabrook
3. Wolcott (stll needs another year as a call-up, I think he will be MLB by 2014)
4. Hamari
5. Muchlinski
6. Fagan
7. Little
Tumapane and Fagan were looking good in the first half of the season but both were rarely used in the second half. Barrett and Reyburn were used a lot less in 2013 than 2012. Campos did not work an MLB game all season and did not work a AAA game after June so there is zero chance he gets hired. I think he might have left MLB and MILB anyways.
I honestly believe there will not be any retirements this off season. The collective bargaining agreement expires after the '14 season, which usually increases the pension and encourages guys to retire by offering incentives in different windows. There will definitely be one spot available to fill Wally's untimely departure. In addition there is likely to be up to eight hires to the staff to fill the need for replay.
ReplyDeleteI know John Hirschbeck had been indicating that he wanted to retire after this year. Also, couldn't the league use retired umpires like the NFL does for most of its replay assistants? There are a number of recently retired umpires (and some who are a little longer retired like Mark Hirschbeck) who MLB could hire for replay
ReplyDeleteI think Estabrook could be the newest hire. I believe he had a better 2013 than Baker. Muchlinski certainly should be in the mix as well.
ReplyDeleteRiley, I too feel that Estabrook is more MLB ready than Baker but MLB does not agree. Baker worked the most amount of games for call-ups last year and they just seem to be in love with him. Like it or not Jordan Baker will be a member of the 2014 MLB staff.
ReplyDelete