Matched set: Tigers as bad as umpires
To paraphrase Ian Kinsler, I’m surprised at how bad a manager Brad Ausmus is. I don’t know how, for as many years as he’s been in the league, he can be that bad. He needs to re-evaluate his career choice, he really does. Bottom line.
Of course, writing that won’t lead to a $10,000 fine, as it did for Kinsler when he used those words to indict Angel Hernandez, questioning his qualifications as a major-league umpire and suggesting he just leave the profession.
Writers can say whatever they want about the performance of a manager, a player, an owner or even an umpire. No one at MLB can censor us, unless, of course, we write for MLB.com.
The same can’t be said of players, which is why Kinsler expected a heavy fine when he made the caustic remarks about Hernandez after being tossed out of an Aug. 14 game.
In normal times, Kinsler would’ve paid his fine and gotten on with his career, and Hernandez would go back to being a bad umpire. But these aren’t normal times. Hernandez announced in July he was suing MLB for discrimination, so he already was in the spotlight before Kinsler lit him up by saying what most players think.
MLB’s response to Kinsler’s criticism — a heavy fine but no suspension — was deemed a slap on the wrist by major-league umpires, who staged a surprise protest last Saturday, with many wearing white wristbands during games.
In a tweet announcing their disgust with the lenient disciplinary measure by MLB, the World Umpires Association issued a statement about “escalating verbal attacks” and claimed it was “open season” on umpires.
No other incident was mentioned, so no one was sure exactly what they were talking about.
Minutes later, the union’s Twitter account tweeted a photo of umpire Joe West wearing a white wristband in the umpires room at Wrigley Field.
West is the president of the World Umpires Association, so it probably makes sense he’d approve his own photo being used in a tweet about umpire mistreatment. To anyone else, using one of the game’s most polarizing umpires as the poster boy against bullying by players and managers would seem like a nutty idea.
West recently was suspended three games by MLB for calling Adrian Beltre the game’s biggest complainer in a USA Today interview. Recusing himself from the protest over umpire mistreatment would’ve been a more logical decision, but no one said this was a logical affair.
It got even better when Ausmus called the umpires’ protest “petty” and said the fine was the biggest he’d ever seen.
“To single out one player is completely uncalled for,” Ausmus said.
The next day, MLB agreed to meet with the umpires, ending their one-day protest. Suddenly mute, West declined to talk to the media, saying he didn’t want to be seen as the spokesman for the union. West referred the media to the union spokesman, who did not return multiple calls.
In other words, they wanted publicity for their complaint but didn’t feel the need to answer any questions.
Instead, the union sent out a tweet linking an article with the headline “3 Reasons MLB Messed Up and Should Have Suspended Ian Kinsler.” Enough said.
Commissioner Rob Manfred met with the umpires’ governing board this week, and their union tweeted it was a “very constructive meeting.” Of course it was.
Meanwhile, as if the Kinsler controversy weren’t enough, the Tigers then engaged the Yankees in a beanball war Thursday that led to five suspensions, including Ausmus. It won’t matter much to the Tigers, who are out of contention.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi called out Ausmus afterward, claiming his counterpart swore at Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner during one of the three benchclearing incidents.
“Brad Ausmus is going to [curse out] one of my players?” Girardi said. “C’mon, Brad. What is that?”
That’s Ausmus, the manager of a fourthplace team that began the season with a $199,750,000 payroll, second highest in baseball, according to Forbes. He’s on the hot seat in the final year of his contract, though that’s nothing new. Earlier this season he told Detroit reporters he was not “comfortable unless my [butt] is hot.”
Best of luck in your next job.