Following "an emotional" four-hour meeting yesterday in
Philadelphia, MLB umpires resigned effective September 2
"and will not work the last 4 1/2 weeks of the season,"
according to USA TODAY's Hal Bodley, who notes that 57 of
the 68 MLB umpires attended the meeting. MLB VP Sandy
Alderson: "This is either a threat to be ignored or an offer
to be accepted." The umpires' CBA, which pays them between
$75,000-$250,000, "ends" after the World Series. MLBUA
General Counsel Richie Phillips said that they can "collect
about" $15.5M in severance pay for resigning (USA TODAY,
7/15). In N.Y., Martin & Waldstein report that many senior
umpires "could get as much as" $400,000 in severance if MLB
decides to go that route. Alderson: "It might be our
cheapest solution" (N.Y. POST, 7/15). The 57 umpires have
"signed contracts" with Umpires Inc., an organization
incorporated by Phillips in the last few weeks that will
"provide umpiring services." Chass: "[MLB] presumably would
have to negotiate a contract with Umpires Inc. to gain the
services of the same umpires or hire non-union and amateur
umpires, as they have during previous work stoppages" (N.Y.
TIMES, 7/15). ESPN's Linda Cohn: "Phillips says he has
commitments from minor league umpires that they will not act
as replacements" ("SportsCenter," 7/14). ESPN's Sal
Paolantonio interviewed Phillips, who said, "There's not a
threat to resign. They've resigned" ("SportsCenter, 7/14).
THE RIGHT CALL? CBS SportsLine's Ian Browne: "In case
you haven't noticed, umpiring is a declining art. And
really, how much worse can it get?" (CBS SportsLine, 7/15).
ESPN.com's Jim Caple writes to umpires, "You guys want some
respect? You want a better contract? Fine. ... Lose some
weight. ... Give people a reason to feel threatened by your
resignations, not hopeful" (ESPN.com, 7/15). In
Philadelphia, Bill Conlin: "Umps are about to sign their own
death warrants" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 7/15).
SELIG'S ROMAN NUMERAL: MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said
last night on FSN's "The Last Word": "I don't see how it's
conceivable for baseball to have a work stoppage in my
commissionership or, frankly, even in the next generation.
We've had eight of them. We have really pushed things to
the limit." When asked baseball could "possibly survive
another work stoppage," Selig responded, "I think we
probably could, but we're not going to test that." Selig
addressed MLB's payroll disparity problem and said that his
Blue Ribbon Committee on Economics has "been meeting once a
month" and that the MLBPA "was at the last meeting" and they
"will be with us more often." Selig: "I hope we'll have
some plans and recommendations from them by the end of the
year, or even before" ("The Last Word," FSN, 7/14).