Joe West May Be Suspended

[trk001]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Al0Hmtxowww9VZrUNcUDSicRvLYF?slug=jp-west052710

Earlier this week, Joe West’s personal publicist sent out a mass email offering up his client for interviews.

(Pause, to allow the proper spit-take at the fact that a baseball umpire is self-absorbed enough to keep a P.R. man in his employ. Now, clean up that screen.)

Such emails are not uncommon. With a resistance to the spam boxes in which they ought automatically deposit themselves, the blasts show up every few weeks. West is always promoting something. His country music CD. His line of umpiring gear. And, without fail, himself.

He seems to have forgotten the cardinal rule of umpiring: stay invisible. Anonymity is godliness to baseball’s arbiters, and Joe West is an infidel, an attention whore of Lady Gaga proportions whose proclivity for theatrics shames the umpiring profession.

Mercifully, Major League Baseball has tired of his antics. A source said the league plans to suspend or fine West, one of its most tenured umpires, after he solicited reporters this week to talk about the controversy he created in April when he called the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox “pathetic and embarrassing” because of their long game times.

Between West dredging up a subject MLB was peeved he addressed in public in the first place, and the fallout from his ejections of Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and pitcher Mark Buehrle(notes) on Wednesday, his behavior reached a tipping point for baseball officials. MLB reprimanded West during a phone conversation Thursday and will continue to consult with the World Umpires Assocation – of which West is president – to determine the severity of his punishment.

More in the rest of the article, but it's mostly an editorial about how bad Joe West is. Really hope this does go through. It's like getting Al Capone on tax evasion, but I'll take it.

[RenegadeOsFan]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Al0Hmtxowww9VZrUNcUDSicRvLYF?slug=jp-west052710

More in the rest of the article, but it's mostly an editorial about how bad Joe West is. Really hope this does go through. It's like getting Al Capone on tax evasion, but I'll take it.

I too would like to see a suspension...that's guy's ego is waaaaaayyyy too big right now. Time to pop it in my opinion.

However, the likelihood of any kind of severe punishment like a suspension is not likely since he is the President of the Union IMO.

[waroriole]

Good. While they're at it, fire Bucknor and Angel Hernandez too.

[trk001]

Rapuano needs a reality check too.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=8226363

[The Wedge]

Most of them need a reality check. Which sucks for the few good-to-great umps in MLB right now. All the "look at me" umps overshadow their work to the point that we really remember the bad ones.

[waroriole]

Most of them need a reality check. Which sucks for the few good-to-great umps in MLB right now. All the "look at me" umps overshadow their work to the point that we really remember the bad ones.

They way I see it is if an ump has been around for a while and I don't know anything about him, he probably does a good job.

[RenegadeOsFan]

Rapuano needs a reality check too.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=8226363

Wow...doesn't take a lip reader to know the words that were coming out of Rapuano's mouth.

That is uncalled for in my opinion. These umpires need to treat the players with the respect that they expect to be treated.

When the team broke the two up, you could clearly see how Rapuano said, "$*#* You!!" to Bush. I think that was a bit excessive there, don't you?

[The Wedge]

They way I see it is if an ump has been around for a while and I don't know anything about him, he probably does a good job.

Exactly, and how sad is that when you come right down to it?

[The Wedge]

I also like how that argument brings up Ed Hochuli as the epitome of a "high profile" official who is still a consummate professional.

[Can_of_corn]

I wonder if MLB can convince them all to resign again?

[RShack]

They way I see it is if an ump has been around for a while and I don't know anything about him, he probably does a good job.

This is exactly right.

There are two ways in which an ump can be bad at his job: (a) making bad calls more often than every once in a great while, and (b) inflaming on-field situations rather than defusing them like a professional should. When an ump does both, well...

[BaltimoreTerp]

Here's the question I haven't heard anybody ask...

Why the hell does an umpire need a publicist?

[The Wedge]

Here's the question I haven't heard anybody ask...

Why the hell does an umpire need a publicist?

...it says it right in there. He fancies himself a country music artist, amongst other things.

[BaltimoreTerp]

...it says it right in there. He fancies himself a country music artist, amongst other things.

I figured thats what it was (reading the actual post? Psht ), but still. If I were MLB and an umpire sent out something league-related through his publicist, the next press release that publicist would sent would be their client's notice of unemployment.

[The Wedge]

I figured thats what it was (reading the actual post? Psht ), but still. If I were MLB and an umpire sent out something league-related through his publicist, the next press release that publicist would sent would be their client's notice of unemployment.

Well, that's part of their problem, really, though it's not an immediate reaction, more like a "okay, enough is enough" reaction.