More to come from Bradley against suspended umpire?
Posted: Thursday, September 27, 2007 7:25 PM
A sweep around the pennant races is stalled for a moment by the stunning news of Mike Winters’ suspension. Anyone who has been around baseball for any length of time could never have imagined the sport taking a tough stance against an umpire. It hasn’t happened since Sandy Alderson left the league office for San Diego and it didn’t happen while Alderson was in Oakland.
But this was grotesque. Winters clearly baited a player -- Milton Bradley. He stepped so far beyond his role as an impartial arbiter that MLB felt compelled to act. While we wait for the reaction from other umpires (will there be a legal or job action?), stop for a moment and recognize the power of NBA commissioner David Stern.
That’s right -- only the precedent set by Stern in l’affaire Joey Crawford allowed MLB to take this same action.
How important is it? Winters was reportedly to work this weekend’s series in Milwaukee with the Padres!
Another question: although Bradley should be responsible for his reaction to Winters’ behavior, a torn ACL could cost him substantial dollars on the free-agent market. Could a player consider suing an umpire for loss of earning power?
Some other topics:
Any AL team looking for an over-40 batter with aching legs who can no longer play the field but can flat out hit to be a DH next year has an obvious candidate in Moises Alou. That’s right, look at the numbers as Alou carries the Mets offense through their September collapse with a 30-game hit streak and a .427 September average. He is playing every day with legs that need rest. But his performance assures a job in 2008 and a wise AL team will grab him quickly if the Mets don’t exercise a contract option.
Atlanta has survived into the final week with a most unusual Braves team. The formula that carried Atlanta through most of its dynasty -- deep starting pitching -- is gone. The Smoltz-Hudson duo has been terrific, going 30-16, with a 3.15 ERA before Wednesday. But the other starters -- eight in all -- have been 27-38, 5.54 ERA. Where will the Braves get pitching? Perhaps Yunel Escobar, their impressive young infielder, is trade bait in the winter.
Truth has been leaking from Dodgerland about a split that has developed over the course of this season. The many veterans, most of whom have played on winning teams, have been stunned by the attitude of a talented young corps that composes the future of the team. Management must address this schism in the offseason.
A fade this week seems doomed to land the Angels a first-round match with Boston. Isn’t it astounding that the Angels have such dominance over the Yankees, but struggle against Boston, 14-22 at Fenway since 2000?
Too often much is made of “one-run records.” A look at this year’s numbers show that Arizona and the Mets lead the NL in that stat. Legit. But the next three in the category are the Dodgers, Cincinnati and Washington, all non-playoff teams. A one-run game is not automatically a close game nor is a close game automatically determined by one run.
With four days to play, who could have imagined that the Cubs would be closest to clinching a NL playoff berth? Reading comments from the Mets, you'd think they were one game from elimination rather than one game ahead in the NL East. They need to change that mindset tonight in a one-game makeup with the Cards. Think last year's Game 7 will be on anyone's mind?
Last Sunday, Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter both may well have played their final home games after long and outstanding careers in their respective cities. Behind A-Rod they are this winter's most attractive free agents.
This space riffed on agent Scott Boras for the A-Rod story about a possible move to the Cubs. Then we read a take from Rob Neyer that was wise. Perhaps Boras planted the story to begin changing the thinking on A-Rod. We shouldn’t put it past Boras to introduce a new concept: player as owner. It was that very thought that Don Fehr and Gene Orza repeatedly rejected in the 1994-95 shutdown.
