Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler recently suggested that Angel Hernandez may be in the wrong line of work. Former MLB GM Steve Phillips didn’t care for Kinsler’s comments and said so during a long monologue on MLB Network Radio. While he acknowledged that Hernandez is not a good umpire, he was clear that Kinsler and players enjoy a double standard.
“An umpire can’t say that a guy should be sent to the minor leagues to find a new job, that he’s not good enough to play in the league,” Phillips said. “It would be completely inappropriate.”
Phillips also cited the recent suspension of Joe West, which came after comments he made about Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre.
Some of Phillips’ comments are on point. Unfortunately, others miss the point and do so in a rather large way.
We’ll start with what Phillips got right. Arguing with an umpire is one thing. But publicly suggesting that he shouldn’t be umpiring any more is over the line.
So, where was Phillips wrong? Well, in a few places.
First of all, Kinsler’s comments about Hernandez aren’t exactly apples-to-apples when compared to West’s about Beltre.
Let’s be clear and say West should not have been suspended for those comments. Both Beltre and his manager, Jeff Banister, agree on that point. But for the sake of argument, let’s assume that West’s suspension was fair.
West has had a history of disciplinary issues in his long career with MLB. This was not his first suspension. More than any other umpire, West needs to be reminded of the fact that nobody buys a ticket to see him. It’s safe to say that if any other umpire had made those comments, a suspension wouldn’t have even been discussed. If there is an exception to that, it would be Hernandez.
Kinsler has a good reputation. He deservedly gets the benefit of the doubt that West didn’t get.
Secondly, we can’t forget that Hernandez is in the middle of a lawsuit with MLB. A lawsuit that alleges his past issues with Joe Torre, as well as racial discrimination, have kept him from big game assignments and promotions.
Racial discrimination suits should always be taken seriously. Still, there’s generally a few different sides to the case. When they occur, they do put the performance of the plaintiff under scrutiny. To paraphrase Phillips, if it’s fair for Hernandez to allege that Torre is discriminating against him, it’s also fair for someone to point out that there may be more layers to the story.
Now, even if we dismiss both of those arguments, we have one glaring problem with what Phillips said. In his monologue, Phillips mentioned in passing that umpires “have to make decisions about players and players don’t have to make decisions about umpires.”
That is completely accurate and way more than a passing comment.
With replay, it isn’t quite as bad as it once was. But a bad umpire impacts the game in a huge way. If he’s calling balls and strikes (which are not reviewed), he impacts every pitch that is thrown. Therefore, he impacts every player who’s on the field on that given day.
But what if a player is terrible? Heck, what if a player is about as good as you’d see on your average T-Ball field? How does that impact the umpire? It doesn’t. Not at all. A pitcher who can’t throw a strike has no bearing on the umpire’s performance, nor does a hitter who can’t hit the ball, or a fielder who can’t catch it.
We can’t say the same about a bad umpire.
So, while Kinsler shouldn’t have made those comments in such a public forum, they were not as bad as Phillips would have you believe.