You said the union forever
The MLBPA should have used their power to help support and thus end the minor league umpire strike. I know it’s close to being settled now, but the state of umpiring in the minors is bad enough without scab umpires taking twenty minutes to make horrible calls.
The MLB Players Association gets attacked all the time for being a bunch of horrible spoiled millionaires, and I’ve defended them again and again over their right to bargain on issues like drug testing, or salary caps, or whatever. It’s their livelihood and I respect their right to act in whatever way they think best benefits their own interests. I’ve differed with them on a lot of issues — their lack of attention to the situation of minor leaguers is pretty horrible, for one thing — and this is another one.
A lot of the resentment of the MLBPA comes from something most people don’t really think about though: they don’t act like a union. They never respect strikes by other unions and seem, at best, to give only glancing attention to those issues. They act more like a guild of the rich. This isn’t unique to the MLBPA. Like other unions, pro athlete or not, too many are led by the veterans and all too willing to sell out the newest members on the chain (there’s an exemption for signing players with more than 5 years of experience — take it out of the draft pick structure).
I’m not arguing that the MLBPA should honor every strike — but it should at least take them seriously. If there was a serious threat the players wouldn’t take the field over an issue like that, that’s an enormous pressure to settle things amicably and fast. And if it means that blue-collar janitors have the team’s star player looking out for them in some small sense, that’s worth a lot.
In cases like this, though, where it’s a union the players aren’t exactly allied with but who have a great affect on their working environment, they’re obligated to act. Every person on the 40-man roster is a member of the players’ union, even if they’re in the minor leagues. They’re also disproportionately the cream of the system. For example, guys in the Mariners’ minor league system as I write this who are not on the 25-man:
Pitchers
Yorman Bazardo, Travis Blackley, Renee Cortez, Jesse Foppert, Emiliano Fruto, Jeff Harris, Cesar Jimenez, Clint Nageotte
And then the hitters:
Wladimir Balentien, TJ Bohn, Shin-Soo Choo, Mike Morse, DOYLE(!!!)
That’s the high-level talent in the system. The Rainiers would barely field a team without those guys. Supporting the minor-league umpires’ strike would force a quick resolution to the negotiations because teams would be a team short until they settled.
Now, there are obvious sacrifices to be made. Unless the MLBPA puts on its own camp to let these guys all play (and hey, staff it with the striking umps), they’re losing development time, and I’m against that (plus, it might violate the terms of their contracts).
It means teams would have a lot harder time working out rehab schedules for players coming off the DL.
It inflicts a lot of pain on the minor league teams: instead of having horrible umpiring, they’d have much worse teams. It could be a big blow to their pockets, and minor league teams as a whole are running pretty close to the red anyway. However, they’re employing scab umpires, so I’m not sympathetic.
But for the pain, there’s a greater long-term win here. The MLBPA has been losing the public relations fight with the owners for years, as the owners have successfully painted the players are spoiled brats who are against drug testing, lower ticket prices, and cute puppies.
In sticking up for minor league umpires, they had an opportunity to stick up for a fellow union that’s directly connected to their ability to do their job, honor the sacrifices of those who fought for the collective bargaining rights they enjoy, and also to shed their image as a self-interested boy’s club where they light their cigars with hundred-dollar bills and chuckle at news of the poor and downtrodden.
Maybe next time.
Incompetent clowns
Go to the minor league baseball site’s audio page.
Go back to the May 3rd page.
Pick the “Oklahoma RedHawks @ Round Rock Express” game.
Fast forward to the 1 hour, 47 minute mark.
Listen. It’ll take a minute or two of neccessary exposition before you get to the good stuff.
Game 30, Mariners at White Sox
Happy Felix Day.
Lawton playing center field again. Good thing Felix is all ground balls, all the time.
Contreras is due for a shallacking. His ERA doesn’t come close to matching his performance so far.
Guardado removed from closer role
Everyone gets their wish – Eddie Guardado is no longer the closer for the Mariners. If the M’s encounter a save situation today, expect to see J.J. Putz on the hill.
Game 29, Mariners at White Sox
RHP Gil Meche vs RHP Freddy Garcia. Freddy faces the team he would hardly recognize! Gil Meche faces the fourth-highest-scoring team in the AL! White Sox hitters beg (beg!) Ozzie Guillen to give them a start today!
Lemme throw this out there, then: why not start Livingston? The Sox are a crazy 13-2 vs RHP so far this year and 5-6 against lefties. Meche is a hittable righty. Even if Livingston’s a hittable lefty, he’s a much better option against this team if you want to win the game.
And it’s not as if you’d be messing up a critical part of the rotation, or anything. Plus, there’s a lot of debate over whether Livingston’s minor league success can translate at the major leagues. There’s not a similar debate about whether Meche is going to be contributing to the next good Mariner team. Why not look for opportunities like this to get him some work and see how he holds up?
On the Marlins claiming Borchard
From the press release:
Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Bill Bavasi announced today that the Florida Marlins have claimed outfielder Joe Borchard off waivers.
The Mariners had designated Borchard for assignment on Sunday, April 23.
Borchard, 27, appeared in six games with Seattle this season, including making two starts in center field. Borchard, 27, appeared in six games with Seattle this season, including making two starts in center field.
Florida’s been running out a horrible outfield that Borchard would improve. No, really, go check it out.
Josh Willingham has the range of narcoleptic cow in left.
Reggie Abercrombie’s in center.
Chris Aguila’s in right.
You could put Huey, Dewey, and Louie the ducks out there and do as well. I wonder what those three are up to these days, anyway? Selling speakers out of a van to gullible teenagers in the suburbs? Running a gas station at some arbitrarily-established “town” along the I-5 corridor, spending their time fixing flats and glaring at the customers using the pay-at-pump feature?
His legacy will be ridding the team of Matt Thornton. In Chicago so far, his 3.18 ERA conceals a standard Thornton performance so far: a hit, a walk, and a strikeout every inning. That’s our boy. Go get ’em, tiger!
Sexson Green with envy or something
Sexson’s in a funk, if you haven’t noticed. But, like Middle-Aged Man, he’s working on it (PI). Time to see that Pentland magic (wait, no, can he fix Beltre and Sexson at once?). Also, some bad puns on Green’s name in today’s notebooks at the dailies.
On the charter flight to Chicago:
Bloomquist: I’m on fire! Guys, guys, have you seen me hit lately?
Lopez: Yes.
Bloomquist: Was the bat smoking?
Lopez: No.
Bloomquist: Because I’m on fire!
Lopez: I heard that.
Bloomquist: Guess how many hits I have.
Lopez: No.
Bloomquist: Go on, guess.
Lopez: No.
Bloomquist: Come ooooooooooooooonnn.
Lopez: You have no hits.
Bloomquist: Higher…
Lopez: One.
Bloomquist: Come on, you’re not even trying.
Lopez: No, I’m not.
Bloomquist: Nine! Nine hits.
Lopez: You’re on fire.
Bloomquist: Yes! Guess how long it took me to get nine hits last year.
Lopez: You got nine hits last year?
Bloomquist: Of course I got nine hits last year.
Lopez: Uh huh.
Bloomquist: May 29th! Can you believe it? And this year I got it on May 2nd! Wow.
Lopez: Skip, can I throw Willie out of the plane?
Hargrove: Okay, but you have to be the emergency catcher.
Lopez: It’s not worth it.
Bloomquist: You couldn’t throw me out. You’d burn your hands.
Lopez: Because you’re on fire, yes. I get it already.
Game 28, Mariners at Twins
Jarrod Washburn vs Johan Santana in a battle of southpaws who couldn’t be more different. Santana’s fastball routinely hits 95 MPH, which translates to 142 on the gun Fox Sports was using last night, and his change-up is about as unhittable as any pitch in the majors.
Washburn, on the other hand, has an 87-90 MPH fastball and… not a lot else. But he throws strikes and the Twins have a worse offense than the Tacoma Rainiers, so I’m thinking we’ll see another quality start from Washburn.
Also, WFB is not only back in the line-up, but he and his .308/.345/.308 line are hitting second while Jose Lopez takes his .514 slugging percentage to the eight hole. Even better, since Bloomquist is starting and we have no other backup middle infielders on the roster, we can’t pinch hit for him late in the game. Mike Hargrove is about as useful to the Mariners winning ballgames as a potted plant.
Tuesday Marinerosity
Today features accounts of Beltre’s joke on Hargrove(PI), which is good fun. It would have been cool if they’d actually done it, too. Still, funny (TNT).
Pineiro is the new version of good Franklin, except with better stuff.
I plug Deanna’s book club again
Deanna, of Marinerds fame, has a bookclub thing going for M’s fans. Next meet is Saturday at Elliot Bay, where they’re doing Baseball Between the Numbers and editor-dude Jonah’s going to show up and frolic about in his amusing Jonah way.