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Posted: Tuesday July 20, 1999 02:13 PM

They're Out?  

The umpires' hardball threat to resign may well backfire on them

By Stephen Cannella and Jeff Pearlman

The umpires say they are set to walk on Sept. 2, but will baseball find them irreplaceable? Jed Jacobsohn

What's foul is fair these days in the bizarro world of major league umpires. Consider the obviously foul ball hit by Brian Jordan of the Braves that was ruled a home run last Saturday at Yankee Stadium. But that play wasn't the umpires' most shocking call of the week. That distinction belonged to the one made by 57 of the 68 umpires when, in response to what they thought were imminent mass firings, they launched a counterattack against Major League Baseball. They quit, effective Sept. 2.

The announcement came after a July 14 meeting in Philadelphia. The success of the umpires' gambit will turn on one question: Can baseball get by without them? Many Major League Baseball officials would gladly try, with league officials welcoming a chance to restock the roster of umps and revamp the terms under which they work -- even if it means having college and other amateur umpires work the 1999 World Series.

Commissioner Bud Selig wants fundamental changes in the umpiring system, beginning with executive vice president of baseball operations Sandy Alderson's assuming operational control from the two league presidents. The umpires, who earn a base salary of between $75,000 and $225,000 for the regular season and whose five-year contract with Baseball expires on Dec. 31, have handed owners the opportunity to start over, not only by centralizing umpire supervision but also by installing an evaluation system that more easily allows for demotions and firings and by enforcing a strike zone that more closely resembles the one in the rule book. All are measures the men in blue have resisted. Major League Baseball can begin implementing these changes for $15 million. That's how much it contractually owes in severance pay to 47 umpires with at least 10 years of service. The umpires would not be due that money if they were fired.

"It's an incredible mistake on the umpires' part," says one owner. "The money doesn't bother me. It's $500,000 per team. It's money that was due them anyway."

Says Richie Phillips, a Philadelphia-based litigation attorney and general counsel to the umpires' union for 21 years, "I believe [the umpires] are now in a better position than they would have been in if they had allowed the season to lapse, allowed the CBA to expire and allowed Baseball to take away $15 million by saying, 'We are eliminating all of you.' That was their plan, to take 45 of the 68 back after doing all of that." A high-level Baseball executive denies the existence of such a plan, saying that Phillips "has been telling lies" to the umpires to unify them.

Phillips claims Major League Baseball has been "deliberately provoking" the umpires. He cites the exclusion of major league umpires from two exhibition games between the Cuban national team and the Orioles because the umps and Baseball couldn't agree on compensation (Cuban and college umpires worked those games); the hiring of former replacement and amateur umpires to supervise minor league umps; a spring-training edict to umpires to call the high strike per the rules; and the assignment of club officials to review home plate umpires' ball-and-strike calls.

On June 30 the board of directors of the umpires' union unanimously authorized a strike vote. The idea evaporated, however, when the umpires realized their labor agreement bars them from striking. Thus, the resignation plan was hatched. The umpires also voted to form a corporation, Umpires, Inc. When the resignations take effect on Sept. 2, each umpire begins a 2 1/2-year contract with Umpires, Inc. The contract includes a noncompete clause that would prevent an umpire who might have reconsidered his resignation from returning to the major leagues.

Phillips says minor league umpires (to whose yet-unrecognized union he is also general counsel) have pledged not to work as replacements. On Monday, however, the minor league umpires declined to set a strike date, deferring that decision until after a conference call scheduled for Tuesday. If the minor league umps do strike, Baseball intends to fill the openings with amateur league umpires.

The next move is up to Selig. He could refuse to accept the resignations and open what figure to be unpleasant negotiations, or he could accept the resignations and hire replacements -- an option Phillips is betting will prove unattractive enough to make his side a winner. Says Phillips, "The umpires depend on one thing: They are the only 68 umpires in the world that have 1,000 years of [combined] experience at the major league level, and there is no alternative workforce that can possibly replace them." Fair or foul?

—Tom Verducci and Lester Munson

Brewers Trade Talk:  
Doubled Up At Second

Just when the Brewers, desperate to acquire pitching help, have an extra second baseman for trade bait, no team with available arms needs to fill that position. The Braves, with the steady Bret Boone at second, are willing to give up lefty prospect Bruce Chen, but they crave a first baseman with power. The Orioles, with young Jerry Hairston and veteran Delino DeShields at second, are shopping righthander Scott Erickson but need a young starter. The Royals hope to unload righty Kevin Appier but have Carlos Febles at second. The Blue Jays, the Rockies, the Yankees -- all have arms to swap, but none is in the market for a second baseman.

Thus Fernando Viña, an All-Star last year, and Ron Belliard, an All-Rookie team candidate this season, wait and wonder: Which one of them will depart Milwaukee and when? "You have to trade from your strength, and our number one strength is second base," says manager Phil Garner. "We've talked to several teams about Fernando, but it hasn't happened."

The Brewers were close to sending Viña, 30, to the Braves or the Cardinals in the off-season, but an injured left quadriceps that twice landed him on the DL this year has hurt his market value. While Viña mends (his return is expected around July 31, the trading deadline), Belliard, 24, who was ticketed for Triple A Louisville, flourishes. In 56 games through Sunday, he was batting .325 with five home runs and 26 RBIs. He doesn't have the range or quickness of Viña, but Belliard reaches most balls and turns a smooth double play. He is, by all accounts, Milwaukee's second baseman of the future.

Viña, in his fifth year with the Brewers and hitting .266 before he went on the DL the second time, in early June, understands the situation. "I can't be bitter toward Ron," he says. When Belliard was a September call-up last season, Viña took him out to dinner several times, gave him a couch to sleep on and was quick to advise him on defensive positioning. Says Belliard, "He's been great to me. Maybe we can both find a way to play here."

Maybe not. Viña never officially demanded a trade, but he made it clear to Garner and general manager Sal Bando that, although he expects to return to the starting lineup as soon as he's healthy, a trade to a contender would appeal to him. "I don't think it's blowing smoke when I say I've proven myself as one of the best second basemen around," Viña says. "There are definitely teams I can help."

Marlins' Makeover:  
The Long and Short of It

The interleague portion of the major league schedule ended on Tuesday, so what will probably be the most enjoyable part of the Marlins' season is over. At week's end Florida was 10-6 against the American League in 1999 and had the majors' best record (30-17) in three years of interleague play. Still, the Marlins, 22 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the National League East, had the worst overall record in the big leagues this season, a 34-58 mark befitting a team with the game's second-lowest payroll and only 10 players who began 1999 with more than a year of major league service. So it's little pleasures such as interleague dominance that keep manager John Boles from despair.

"You look for positive things, like the fact that we're improving and that we might have three or four guys on the All-Rookie team," says Boles. "The thing you cling to is that there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel."

The question is, just how long is that tunnel? As the July 9 deal that sent closer Matt Mantei to the Diamondbacks for pitching prospect Brad Penny and 24-year-old reliever Vladimir Nunez showed, the Marlins are good at stockpiling young talent but are still far from being a contender again. Though the rebuilding project that followed the tearing down of the 1997 world champions is still in its early stages, there are those "positive things" that Boles speaks of.

At the top of the list is the acrobatic Alex Gonzalez, 22, who last week became the first National League shortstop to make the All-Star team as a rookie. Through Sunday he was hitting .287 with nine home runs. "That's one position we don't concern ourselves with," says Boles. "We know we have a shortstop for the next 10 years."

Thanks primarily to Gonzalez and three other rookies -- outfielders Preston Wilson (tops among rookies with 17 homers) and Bruce Aven (.327, 49 RBIs) and first baseman Kevin Millar (a major league-leading .471 average with runners in scoring position) -- the Marlins are vastly improved from Opening Day. After a 6-22 start they had gone 28-36 through Sunday.

The Marlins, however, have fallen prey to one of the hazards of a youth movement: Some players who start hot quickly flame out. First baseman Derrek Lee and outfielder Todd Dunwoody, two prospects who were expected to blossom in their second full seasons, are back in Triple A after struggling at the plate. Second-year outfielder Mark Kotsay is still with the big club but was hitting .251 with just six homers.

There was more uncertainty ahead: As the trade deadline drew near, rumors continued to fly about deals involving Florida righthanders Livan Hernandez and Alex Fernandez, who's making $7 million this year -- $4.5 million more than any other Marlin. General manager Dave Dombrowski says owner John Henry, who bought the club in January, has approved budgets for the 2001 and '02 seasons that will increase Florida's payroll and allow him to pursue free agents. Until then, Dombrowski says, he has to be open-minded about any trade that he feels would improve the team. "We like a lot of our players," he says, "but when you have the worst record in the league, you can't think everything's fine."

In 14 years with the Reds, shortstop Barry Larkin has always been a team player. Through the Reds' lean years, when asked to bat in the uncomfortable leadoff or cleanup spots, he did so without complaint. Finally, his patience seems to be wearing thin.

Larkin's contract expires after the 2000 season, and he has told the club that if the Cinergy Field artificial surface is not replaced with grass, the Reds could lose him. "I definitely feel the effects of playing on turf for years and years," says Larkin. "It's important for me to play in Cincinnati, but it's more important to play as many years as I can."

Larkin made his concerns clear to John Allen, the team's managing executive. Allen was somewhat taken aback. The Reds are scheduled to move into a new stadium with a grass field in 2003 -- when Larkin is 38.

Alan Trammell says he may resign as the Tigers' hitting coach after this season if the team's offense doesn't pick up. The disappointing seasons of first baseman Tony Clark (.245, 11 home runs, 43 RBIs through Sunday) and rightfielder Bobby Higginson (.241, nine homers, 37 RBIs) have contributed to Detroit's .258 team average, which is second worst in the American League to the Athletics' .243. "The bottom line is we're graded on results -- wins and losses," Trammell says of a Tigers team that was 37-55. "If you grade our team and myself, our grade isn't very good."...

White Sox shortstop Mike Caruso , seemingly cured of the yips after an error-rich rookie year (35, most in the majors at any position last season), has reverted to '98 form. Caruso, who committed just five miscues in the first 52 games this season, had 11 in his next 24 starts. Manager Jerry Manuel is giving rookie infielder Craig Wilson (.267, three errors in 47 games) an extended look at short....

If Paul Byrd has run out of gas, the Phillies' playoff hopes may have ended as well. Byrd, a 28-year-old righty who emerged from obscurity to go 10-3 in his first 14 starts and earn an All-Star berth, was just 1-3 with a 6.82 ERA in his last five starts. That stretch brought his season total to a whopping 127 2/3 innings -- the 13th highest total in the National League. "I definitely think about what my arm has gone through," he says....

Don't believe the Ed Sprague -to-Cleveland rumors. Indians general manager John Hart , in need of starting pitching more than another bat, says he'll probably wait until third baseman Travis Fryman (partially torn posterior collateral ligament) returns from the DL in September, eschewing Sprague, the Pirates' third baseman, who at 32 is having a career year (.307, 18 homers, 59 RBIs). "I'm not going to give up a quality prospect for a guy we'll use for two months," says Hart....

Before his two-run blast against the Angels last Saturday, Dodgers rightfielder Raul Mondesi had gone a career-long 113 at bats without hitting a home run....

The Braves and the Pirates approached Devil Rays G.M. Chuck LaMar about acquiring veteran catcher Joe Oliver , who is batting .298 for Triple A Durham (N.C.), but Tampa Bay refused to let him go. Infuriated, the 34-year-old Oliver is considering retirement....

After the A's turned down a package of righthander Brett Tomko and outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds , Reds G.M. Jim Bowden officially took his team out of the running for lefthander Kenny Rogers .

Issue date: July 26, 1999

 

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