CHW 4, MIN 3: Donaldson Ejection Steals the Show, White Sox Take Series

 

We are 4 games up on Cleveland in the win column, and we have the tiebreaker so that's effectively 5 wins up.

 

Cleveland also has 4 with the White Sox next week among their 10 games remaining. If they sweep DET and PIT, and split vs CHW, that's 8-2. The Twins would need to go 3-5 in that scenario to drop to third place.

I'm hoping they get swept by DET and PIT and then sweep CHW.

 

 

I find Donaldson very difficult to root for. His strikes me as the selfish, overly-competitive personality that could lead to a post-baseball series of domestic disturbances.
 

 

This is ridiculous and I think you know it.

Will double down on the above comments. I also was disappointed in Donaldson's antics. Also don't understand why Maeda didn't go another inning, although not being in the dugout means I don't have the information they did.

 

As for the playoffs, looks like it is going to be the Yankees. Huge to play well enough these last 8 to stay ahead of them for home field which would be huge with how this team has played at Target Field.

 

I see a key being getting Arraez back asap to have someone in the lineup who is going to take great at bats and battle to get on base a lot. Other key is to keep Buxton hot and get someone, anyone else heated up. Gotta believe we will see Maeda game 1, who goes second is a big question mark.

Why do they pull Berrios and Majeda so early.  If anyone can work out of a jam it is them.  Seems like if a pitcher lets a team score 2 runs they are pulled.  Seems they are pulling more often after 5 innings now than 7.  I would trust either of these two even if they have 100 pitches more than I trust some people in BP.

Buxton has to play the rest of the games or we could be resting him for nothing or to play the Yankees in the first round.

This whole series shows how bad umpiring can get under players skin.  Overall, the umpiring was terrible on balls and strikes, but what do you expect when you are dealing with a crew led by Angel.  It was bad on both sides, but when some are so bad it starts to pile up.  A difference of a single pitch can change the whole at bat and possibly game.  Yes, Donaldson should not have been dumb, he still won the at bat.  However, Cruz has been getting hosed on so many outside sliders being called strikes early in at bat that it makes him swing at them later more often.  

 

I have been advocate for electronic zone for years.  Manfred claims it is not good enough tech, but they use the tech to judge umps on accuracy, so it is good enough to judge the people on accuracy, but not accurate enough to be used?  Seems odd to me.  Sounds more like umps pushing against it and too many old traditionalist pushing against it.  I know it will happen eventually.  Normally, it takes a major call in a major game to be blown to say okay enough is enough.  That is where HR replay came in, and then other replay.  I mean how many years was replay in NFL and so many bad calls remained in MLB and people just said, well the human element of bad calls is just part of the game, why?  If you can get the call right, get it right.  

 

I also wish you got more than 1 challenge, so many times you see a loss early on, and then later on you get the clear wrong call but cannot challenge.  It should not be a decision on what could happen later will affect your decision now.  Yes, I do not want unlimited allowing a ton of challenges on every close play, but at least a second one should be allowed.  It does not slow it down that much most of the time.  

 

We are 4 games up on Cleveland in the win column, and we have the tiebreaker so that's effectively 5 wins up.

 

Cleveland also has 4 with the White Sox next week among their 10 games remaining. If they sweep DET and PIT, and split vs CHW, that's 8-2. The Twins would need to go 3-5 in that scenario to drop to third place.

Tank for 8th! I feel like it's inevitable the Yankees will catch us and I'd much rather go to Chicago, Tampa or Oakland. Frankly I'd rather play them on the road than the Yankees at home.

 

I think the tech issue at this point isn't accuracy, it is speed -- they need to get the call to the ump on the field immediately so the rest of the play can proceed (think baserunner advancement, etc.). I think I read that in the trials they have done so far, there were occasional delays -- they need to eliminate those before they can deploy at the major league level.

 

I don't doubt there will be other resistance to the idea, but there are still real tech challenges here -- it's not just an excuse.

Why does the call need to go to ump on the field?  Why could there not be a display showing the call, then no need to relay it?  In cases of 3 ball runner going situations, runner should assume it is a strike until otherwise indicated, so should fielders.  If you want to assume it is a ball and stop running or not throw that is up to the players.  The other day there was what appeared to be a delayed strike call by ump causing runner to slow down thinking it was a ball four situation, well that is on runner for slowing down.  I cannot think of other plays were knowing in an instant would implicate the outcome of a play.  

 

There is no need to have someone tell the ump on the field that was strike or ball, or even a buzz or anything.  Display it on score board, or some guy who has video feed can hold up a sign.  I mean we watch the box in real time and see, how long does it take to have someone watching in real time relay that info?  That even makes it easer on umps they can pay attention then to foul ticks, hbp, or other things and not have to take any brain time on listening to some relay of if pitch is called strike or not.  

 

Unless the tech is not reliable and breaks down I see no reason to delay in using it.  If it is not reliable no need to use it to judge umpires.  So that leaves breaking down, which yes will be a concern, what to do if that happens?  Figure that out, then go from there.  Maybe backup system.  I would not want to then put on umps because they will have lost their edge and practice, or maybe they will get better because they can think strike, and oh look at that I was wrong, or yup I was right and get instant feed back.  

 

This whole series shows how bad umpiring can get under players skin.  Overall, the umpiring was terrible on balls and strikes, but what do you expect when you are dealing with a crew led by Angel.  It was bad on both sides, but when some are so bad it starts to pile up.  A difference of a single pitch can change the whole at bat and possibly game.  Yes, Donaldson should not have been dumb, he still won the at bat.  However, Cruz has been getting hosed on so many outside sliders being called strikes early in at bat that it makes him swing at them later more often.  

 

I have been advocate for electronic zone for years.  Manfred claims it is not good enough tech, but they use the tech to judge umps on accuracy, so it is good enough to judge the people on accuracy, but not accurate enough to be used?  Seems odd to me.  Sounds more like umps pushing against it and too many old traditionalist pushing against it.  I know it will happen eventually.  Normally, it takes a major call in a major game to be blown to say okay enough is enough.  That is where HR replay came in, and then other replay.  I mean how many years was replay in NFL and so many bad calls remained in MLB and people just said, well the human element of bad calls is just part of the game, why?  If you can get the call right, get it right.  

 

I also wish you got more than 1 challenge, so many times you see a loss early on, and then later on you get the clear wrong call but cannot challenge.  It should not be a decision on what could happen later will affect your decision now.  Yes, I do not want unlimited allowing a ton of challenges on every close play, but at least a second one should be allowed.  It does not slow it down that much most of the time.  

You said something Trov that really hit me. It was your comment about MLB using tech to judge accuracy and grade umps. There are what, 75-80 or so umps in MLB? If they are grading them, why aren't they taking those evaluations at the end of each year and saying goodbye to anyone who has been in the bottom couple for a couple years straight. Would open up slots for the best new guys coming up from MiLB. Might also encourage some to get better.

 

Unfortunately, there is probably something in the Ump Association contracts that won't allow it. Instead we continue to watch absolutely horse crap calls behind home plate.

 

I think the tech issue at this point isn't accuracy, it is speed -- they need to get the call to the ump on the field immediately so the rest of the play can proceed (think baserunner advancement, etc.). I think I read that in the trials they have done so far, there were occasional delays -- they need to eliminate those before they can deploy at the major league level.

 

I don't doubt there will be other resistance to the idea, but there are still real tech challenges here -- it's not just an excuse.

Have thought for a long time that there is a middle ground. Increase each umpire crew to 5. Put the 5th in the press box with access to the screens showing the box. Give him direct verbal communication with with the home plate ump. When a call is made that is clearly wrong, ie, ball called on pitch that is mostly within the zone, or strike called on ball outside the zone, he just tells the ump he missed it and the home plate ump corrects it. 

 

I imagine there are personalities behind home plate that would balk at this. And there could be questions of another play being effected by the wrong call. Another would be money, but baseball is a multi-billion dollar sport, adding 15 umps to sit in the press box ain't gonna destroy the sport. 

I haven't read all of the previous comments, so apologies in advance if I'm repeating what others have said. I'm more than ready for an electronic strike zone. Especially in a shortened season like this one, every at bat is magnified in importance. The number of indefensible balls and strikes calls has been appalling.

 

I found myself amused, supportive, and horrified all at the same time over what Donaldson did. I regret that he did it, but I totally understand why he did so. Ideally it will end up lighting a fire under this team.

How long before we start regretting Donaldsons contract?

They need an umpire on the field anyway for other calls, and also as backup in case the automated system fails to function. And given his proximity to the action, and the fact that players are already trained to listen for his call while they follow the action on the field, it makes sense to have him signal the call as he currently does.

 

I know folks have been frustrated by human umpires, but we've been dealing with that frustration since the dawn of (baseball) time. It's relatively easy to wait a little longer for the automated system. Don't worry, it's coming -- I don't think MLB would have sponsored the system in the Atlantic League and Arizona Fall League if they didn't have an intention of bringing to the majors once it was ready. But MLB teams and players aren't willing to be guinea pigs like indy leaguers or minor leaguers either.

Im not so sure robot umps would even solve these problems. Everybody that says this has gone on forever is right. This is a team game....it takes probably one at bat to evaluate the strike zone for that whole day. You communicate it to your teammates and let them know how it looks to you. We tried the robot ump in intrasquad and it did not go well. Im not saying its never going to happen, Im saying it's way farther away than some people seem to think. Who is going to regulate the robots? Obviously current senior umpires. How strong is their union? I think we know from previous examples that it is pretty strong. So now we are going to ask an Umpire to oversee a machine that took 75-80% of his colleagues jobs away? I hope i am not around to see the ramifications of that.

Okay. Now that Donaldson has doubled down on his jackass move by claiming incompetent umpiring threatens his livelihood I am officially a hater. He has hundreds of millions in income and he can’t realize his dumb move may have cost his team a win. This guy is not a team guy. Get ready for another 3 years of this crap.

 

You said something Trov that really hit me. It was your comment about MLB using tech to judge accuracy and grade umps. There are what, 75-80 or so umps in MLB? If they are grading them, why aren't they taking those evaluations at the end of each year and saying goodbye to anyone who has been in the bottom couple for a couple years straight. Would open up slots for the best new guys coming up from MiLB. Might also encourage some to get better.

 

Unfortunately, there is probably something in the Ump Association contracts that won't allow it. Instead we continue to watch absolutely horse crap calls behind home plate.

Yes, I agree if they are not going to use electronic zone they should use grading to determine what league they get to up in, kind of like players.  However, I would bet that in the contract with umps that is not allowed.  I disagree with Donaldon who claims the umps do not care if they are good at all.  My guess many do care about being good, but what happens when they just are not?  I am sure there has to be some kind of performance thing in the contract if not, there should be.