2023 Official Astros World Champs Offseason Thread

[Hank Chinaski 6310]

Just now, tx 3 putt said:

 

Astros 2nd base men - Morgan, Biggio, Altuve. Morgan was only traded because the team had a fucking hick racist manager from Mississippi. easily the worst trade in team history. the reds owe us one, he was a HUGE spark for the Big Red Machine 

If I were older I’m sure this trade would irk me more than any other; but the Lofton trade makes me ragey every time I think about it. I was a goddamn high school freshman when I read about that trade and I remember thinking it was a bad move at the time.

Imagine prime Lofton in CF during the 90s Bagwell/Biggio years. Ugh goddamnit. 

[tx 3 putt 76159]

5 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

If I were older I’m sure this trade would irk me more than any other; but the Lofton trade makes me ragey every time I think about it. I was a goddamn high school freshman when I read about that trade and I remember thinking it was a bad move at the time.

Imagine prime Lofton in CF during the 90s Bagwell/Biggio years. Ugh goddamnit. 

 

91 surly thread and many posters here would have been calling for lofton's head and cheering him being traded. that trade sucked. for the first time in a long time, we had a legit CF and fucking trade him after 74 fucking at bats. lofton pushes the killer b teams over the top 

Edited February 5, 2023 by tx 3 putt

[texashorne 1177]

25 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

91 surly thread and many posters here would have been calling for lofton's head and cheering him being traded. that trade sucked. for the first time in a long time, we had a legit CF and fucking trade him after 74 fucking at bats. lofton pushes the killer b teams over the top 

Yall can go to YouTube and type in stuff like "Yordan homer" and "Chas catch" and it helps you forget about the decades of fuckery that we had with this franchise.

[Gourmand 7774]

 

[rvm96 1643]

6 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

 that trade sucked. for the first time in a long time, we had a legit CF and fucking trade him after 74 fucking at bats.

Does Steve Finley not count?

[Wulaw Horn 18963]

I Think the most fun way to do this is to pick the actual year that you’d want the guy playing for you and it has to be with the Astros of course. That solves the problem of if Kenny Loftin or Lil Joe should make the list.  ERA+, OPS+ and WAR are your friends here imo. 

[TonyTexas 10478]

Another way to look at is to ask,  if the player were elected to the Hall of Fame, would he go in as an Astro? If the answer is yes then he’s eligible. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by TonyTexas

[uoftorange 1386]

8 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

bagwell never played one game with the Red Soxs 

And Lofton played 20 total for the Astros.  Its the same thing

And I completely agree about being rage-y about trading him for freaking Taubensee 

Edited February 5, 2023 by uoftorange

[Hank Chinaski 6310]

55 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I Think the most fun way to do this is to pick the actual year that you’d want the guy playing for you and it has to be with the Astros of course. That solves the problem of if Kenny Loftin or Lil Joe should make the list.  ERA+, OPS+ and WAR are your friends here imo. 

I’m going to try without looking anything up, tell me how I do.

C - Biggio ‘92

1B - Bagwell ‘94

2B - Altuve ‘17 (I think Biggio had some better seasons but we already have him at catcher)

3B - Bregman ‘19

SS - Correa ‘21

LF - Berkman ‘01

CF - Cedeno ‘73

RF - Alou ‘98

DH - Yordan ‘22

P - Richard ‘79

P - Scott ‘86

P - Verlander ‘22

P - Nolan ‘87

P - Clemens ‘04

P - Wagner ‘99

[Guest]

8 hours ago, texashorne said:

Yall can go to YouTube and type in stuff like "Yordan homer" and "Chas catch" and it helps you forget about the decades of fuckery that we had with this franchise.

I watched that shit for like 2 hours yesterday.

Probably will do it again today.

[UTexasFight 9369]

10 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

Astros 2nd base men - Morgan, Biggio, Altuve. Morgan was only traded because the team had a fucking hick racist manager from Mississippi. easily the worst trade in team history. the reds owe us one, he was a HUGE spark for the Big Red Machine 

I just read the Joe Morgan chapter in Joe Pos’ Baseball 100 the other  night, so this hits close to home.

pretty frustrating 

Edited February 5, 2023 by UTexasFight

[billfromlaketravis 11352]

2019 will haunt me forever. Lost a game 6 and 7 at home. 
 

I think the ‘94 team had the potential to win it all, but the strike. I’m sure Bagwell is still pissed about it. 

[Dondrysdale1 363]

11 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

2019 will haunt me forever. Lost a game 6 and 7 at home. 
 

I think the ‘94 team had the potential to win it all, but the strike. I’m sure Bagwell is still pissed about it. 

I was only 8 at the time but I don’t think the club had the pitching and they would have had to go through the expos or those braves of the 90’s at the time.

[runthebone 7929]

Yeah, I wouldn't assume that a Biggio (career playoff ops .618) and Bagwell (.685)-led team would perform in the playoffs.

[Hank Chinaski 6310]

20 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

2019 will haunt me forever. Lost a game 6 and 7 at home. 
 

I think the ‘94 team had the potential to win it all, but the strike. I’m sure Bagwell is still pissed about it. 

Agree on 2019 - we’ll never have a better roster than that.

As for 94 - Bagwell broke his hand right before the strike. In a weird twist, the stoppage probably got him the MVP award. Bonds or Gwynn probably wins it if the season kept going.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Hank Chinaski

[Gut Wagon 8052]

1 hour ago, runthebone said:

Yeah, I wouldn't assume that a Biggio (career playoff ops .618) and Bagwell (.685)-led team would perform in the playoffs.

Their bats weren't long enough to reach those "strikes" the Braves staff depended on. 

[Wulaw Horn 18963]

4 hours ago, Hank Chinaski said:

I’m going to try without looking anything up, tell me how I do.

C - Biggio ‘92

1B - Bagwell ‘94

2B - Altuve ‘17 (I think Biggio had some better seasons but we already have him at catcher)

3B - Bregman ‘19

SS - Correa ‘21

LF - Berkman ‘01

CF - Cedeno ‘73

RF - Alou ‘98

DH - Yordan ‘22

P - Richard ‘79

P - Scott ‘86

P - Verlander ‘22

P - Nolan ‘87

P - Clemens ‘04

P - Wagner ‘99

I haven’t done a deep dive (I will) but off the top of my head correa in 2015 was God level wasn’t he?  Johnson 98 also has to be on there imo. I know it was 3 months (and Correas was 4) but those samples were meaningful enough to me I’d make it a thing (I get the argument against).
of you don’t  give partial credit then it’s hard for me to credit Bagwell 94 with the strike and the broken hand that ended his season the day before the strike. 

[tx 3 putt 76159]

20 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

Their bats weren't long enough to reach those "strikes" the Braves staff depended on. 

 

[formermav43 4599]

5 hours ago, Hank Chinaski said:

I’m going to try without looking anything up, tell me how I do.

C - Biggio ‘92

1B - Bagwell ‘94

2B - Altuve ‘17 (I think Biggio had some better seasons but we already have him at catcher)

3B - Bregman ‘19

SS - Correa ‘21

LF - Berkman ‘01

CF - Cedeno ‘73

RF - Alou ‘98

DH - Yordan ‘22

P - Richard ‘79

P - Scott ‘86

P - Verlander ‘22

P - Nolan ‘87

P - Clemens ‘04

P - Wagner ‘99

Biggie wasn’t catching anymore in 92.

[Hank Chinaski 6310]

11 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

Biggie wasn’t catching anymore in 92.

Ah, must have been thinking ‘91 then.

[tx 3 putt 76159]

[tx 3 putt 76159]

 

 

 

 

[tx 3 putt 76159]

 

[rvm96 1643]

I wonder what the Astros could have gotten for trading Whitley at the 2018 deadline after his suspension. 

[tx 3 putt 76159]

9 minutes ago, rvm96 said:

I wonder what the Astros could have gotten for trading Whitley at the 2018 deadline after his suspension. 

the world 

[APMP 685]

Prediction---after everyone rips on the new GM for not doing enough at the deadline, Whitley is gonna turn into a swing pen/starter weapon for the stretch run a la Hunter Brown.

[Snake Diggity 4614]

10 hours ago, Hank Chinaski said:

I’m going to try without looking anything up, tell me how I do.

C - Biggio ‘92

1B - Bagwell ‘94

2B - Altuve ‘17 (I think Biggio had some better seasons but we already have him at catcher)

3B - Bregman ‘19

SS - Correa ‘21

LF - Berkman ‘01

CF - Cedeno ‘73

RF - Alou ‘98

DH - Yordan ‘22

P - Richard ‘79

P - Scott ‘86

P - Verlander ‘22

P - Nolan ‘87

P - Clemens ‘04

P - Wagner ‘99

Best pitching seasons in Astros history by fwar: 78/79 Richard, 86 Scott, 18/19 Cole, 69 Dierker, 18/19 Verlander, 02/04/05/06 Oswalt, 87 Ryan, 66 Cueller, 05 Clemens, 99 Reynolds

Catcher: 77 Joe Ferguson (who?)

1B: Bagwell (97 was his best year but he owns most of the best 1B seasons in franchise history)

2B: Biggio (97 was also his best year; there is an argument for Altuve)

SS: ‘21 Correa (83 Thon has the best season but Correa has the career mark easily)

3B: ‘19 Bregman (03-06 Ensberg was damn good tho)

OF: 72/73 Cedeno, 00 Hidalgo, 01 Berkman, 98 Alou, 65/69 Winn

DH: 19/21 Yordan

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=1964&ind=1&team=21&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=1964-01-01&enddate=2021-12-31

[HtownHorn 14446]

'00 Melusky was the best catcher season in Astros history.

[Dondrysdale1 363]

3 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

'00 Melusky was the best catcher season in Astros history.

Had a friend on the grounds crew during that season who said meluskey would bum a dip everyday and take a 4 finger pinch. Always saying he left his can in the clubhouse. Never got him back at all.

[Gut Wagon 8052]

https://www.facebook.com/676816133/posts/pfbid02VtbZ6juMqxqe5hYqCxtCjSU9aVh5PBTrfNmvrLhYQkB8Z1zcAoiqpZmbGTaxDNBkl/?mibextid=v7YzmG

[UTexasFight 9369]

8 hours ago, Hank Chinaski said:

Agree on 2019 - we’ll never have a better roster than that.

As for 94 - Bagwell broke his hand right before the strike. In a weird twist, the stoppage probably got him the MVP award. Bonds or Gwynn probably wins it if the season kept going.

Matt Williams 

 

edit: ok. bonds’ numbers were pretty good that year too

Edited February 6, 2023 by UTexasFight

[Gourmand 7774]

4 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

'00 Melusky was the best catcher season in Astros history.

You lucky assholes get to sneak a peek of the ball he hit over the right field fence vs Cincy at Enron Field on May 14, 2000 for his 5th HR of the season, right at my drunk young dumb face. It was kinda crazy hearing the spin on that laser as it hit me right in the palm of my right hand. I lost a beer but many were bought for me right after. 

[tx 3 putt 76159]

 

[tx 3 putt 76159]

 

[The Dog 43771]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

rest that arm Framber.

[WBT 20397]

Um, hopefully he'll also talk to the team doctors?

 

 

 

 

[tx 3 putt 76159]

 

[Huckleberry 32685]

On 2/5/2023 at 7:03 PM, Snake Diggity said:

Best pitching seasons in Astros history by fwar: 78/79 Richard, 86 Scott, 18/19 Cole, 69 Dierker, 18/19 Verlander, 02/04/05/06 Oswalt, 87 Ryan, 66 Cueller, 05 Clemens, 99 Reynolds

Catcher: 77 Joe Ferguson (who?)

1B: Bagwell (97 was his best year but he owns most of the best 1B seasons in franchise history)

2B: Biggio (97 was also his best year; there is an argument for Altuve)

SS: ‘21 Correa (83 Thon has the best season but Correa has the career mark easily)

3B: ‘19 Bregman (03-06 Ensberg was damn good tho)

OF: 72/73 Cedeno, 00 Hidalgo, 01 Berkman, 98 Alou, 65/69 Winn

DH: 19/21 Yordan

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=1964&ind=1&team=21&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=1964-01-01&enddate=2021-12-31

Was going to check Hidalgo. Still so underappreciated. 

[Wulaw Horn 18963]

How is it that none of you duckers managed to let me know Terrible atom Hallion and his absurd lawnmower retired. Fucker probably cost us a WS in 2021 as his bullshit in Game 3 basically gave the Sox the game and Le’s to the chain of events that got LMJ hurt. 
I’d prefer he be shot into the face of the sun (after Phil Maton of course) but retirement so he doesn’t fuck up any more games is ok I guess. 
now to get rid of shit or brains twins CB Buckner and Angel Hernandez

[Gourmand 7774]

Good to see new blood replacing these shitty old farts who suck at their job. 

https://theathletic.com/4140128/2023/02/06/mlb-new-umpires/

 

Spoiler

MLB will see 10 rookie umps replace veterans as position faces more changes, challenges than ever

By Nick Groke

Feb 6, 2023

60

---

A flood of new umpires will patrol games this season with 10 rookies replacing retiring veterans across Major League Baseball, MLB vice president Michael Hill said last month. It will be the big leagues’ largest first-year class of umps in more than 20 years.

The newbies, ranging in age from 31 to 40, are joining a league that is rapidly evolving its rules amid a particularly anxious future for umpires.

This season, MLB will for the first time introduce a pitch clock, shift limits and larger bases, the league’s most seismic set of rule changes in nearly 50 years. And, for the first time this season, every Triple-A ballpark will employ an automated strike zone, so-called robo umps, after debuting the system last year.

MLB typically rotates a cast of 19 umpire crews in a season, each including four umpires who work the entirety of a series before moving along to another city. Those crews will see a thorough shakeup.

Tom Hallion was the longest-tenured among those umps who are retiring, with 30 years of experience. And Ted Barrett, who worked 26 seasons in the majors, is the only ump in baseball’s history to have worked two perfect games. Barrett was on the field when the Yankees’ David Cone pitched a perfecto against the Expos in New York in 1999 and when the Giants’ Matt Cain threw one against the Astros in 2012.

The other umps who are retiring: Jerry Meals (26 years of experience), Marty Foster (24 years), Greg Gibson (24 years), Jim Reynolds (23 years), Tim Timmons (23 years), Bill Welke (23 years), Sam Holbrook (22 years) and Paul Nauert (22 years).

Those umps are leaving behind a total of 243 years of collective experience. Together, they worked 16 World Series.

The last time baseball saw an exodus of umps to this degree came in 1999. That summer, the umpires’ union grew upset in their contract negotiations with the league and, unable to legally strike, instead resigned en masse, with 57 of them signing letters of resignation. By the next season, 22 of those umps had to be replaced. Eventually, 11 of those 22 were brought back.

Reynolds, as one example among those retiring, was one of those umpires hired to replace the lost 22 in 1999.

The new wave of umps includes 40-year-old Nick Mahrley, who worked the minor leagues since 2007 and has been a regular call-up ump, and 31-year-old Brennan Miller, who is now the youngest umpire on MLB’s roster. He is also the youngest rookie ump since Lance Barrett, who was 29 when he was promoted in 2014.

Beyond the knowledge drain that will follow those retiring umpires out the door, what level of accuracy is baseball losing?

Two sources for publicly-available umpire statistics, among several, offer us at least a glance at an umpire’s tendencies over time: Umpire Scorecards and Swish Analytics. And we can see where some of the retiring umpires and rookies fall on the scale of accuracy.

Umpire Scorecards culls data from the Hawkeye tracking system to determine if, when a batter takes a pitch, it was called correctly, using an algorithm to plot the likelihood the pitch was a strike. Their methodology is here. In these cases, we cross-referenced the results using Swish Analytics as quality control. And, for the most part, the results are similar.

According to Umpire Scorecard stats, here were the most and least spot-on umpires from behind home plate last season, by accuracy (ACC) and expected accuracy (AAX). The umpires in green are rookies; the umps in red are retiring:

Umpire accuracy 2022

UMPIRE	ACC
TOP
Pat Hoberg	95.5
Jeremie Rehak	95.4
Adam Hamari	94.9
David Rackley	94.9
Tripp Gibson	94.9
BOTTOM
Rob Drake	92.1
Malachi Moore	92.1
Greg Gibson	92.1
Jerry Layne	92.0
CB Bucknor	92.0
Marty Foster	91.7

Umpire expected accuracy 2022

UMPIRE	AAX
TOP
Jeremie Rehak	2.03
Pat Hoberg	1.96
Alex Tosi	1.82
Lance Barksdale	1.68
Nic Lentz	1.51
BOTTOM
Malachi Moore	-1.00
Andy Fletcher	-1.02
Greg Gibson	-1.45
Jerry Layne	-1.50
CB Bucknor	-1.66

The group of the most accurate umpires should not be a surprise. Three of them — Lance Barksdale, Pat Hoberg and Tripp Gibson — were part of the crew that umpired the World Series last season. Jeremie Rehak has been among the most accurate umps behind the plate in recent seasons. Adam Hamari has been umping since he was 12. And Alex Tosi, a rookie next season, was promoted for a reason, apparently.

Cross-referencing all these stats against Swish Analytics’ K-boost, BB-boost and run-boost stats — which measure each umpire’s calls relative to league average — surfaces most of the same names at the top and bottom.

The bottom of the list sees some familiar names, too. Greg Gibson and Marty Foster are among the 10 retiring umpires. CB Bucknor last season ticked off two managers in one half-inning in Arizona.

We should remember that the home plate box on television broadcasts is not an accurate view of the strike zone and an umpire has a better look at pitches. And we weren’t able to know what Bucknor, for instance, saw in those at-bats. But we also understand that a hitter of Nolan Arenado’s caliber has a good sense of where the zone sits, too.

And, it’s perhaps an endorsement of today’s umpires that the most and least accurate of the bunch are separated by less than four percent of calls. It supports the idea that, overall, MLB umps are consistent — perhaps more than at any time in the measurable past.

“When you sign up to be an umpire, you’re not signing up to make new friends,” retired MLB umpire Dale Scott told The Athletic in 2021. “When people are yelling at me on the field, they don’t know Dale Scott. They’re yelling at a uniform. They’re yelling at the guy who made an out call they don’t like …

“But when you get into social media, with your name and your stats, it feels like a much more personalized thing,” Scott said. “They still don’t know Dale Scott. They read about him every fourth day after a plate job, or they see him on a goofy call on the bases, and suddenly it seems much more personalized, like they’re attacking you and not necessarily just a uniform that made a call.”

For a scale that intends to measure an umpire in a more holistic way, Umpire Scorecards offers average total run impact, which tries to add up the true impact of those missed calls. Here are those numbers:

Umpire average total run impact 2022

UMPIRE	AVG TRI
TOP
Jeremy Rehak	0.9
Pat Hoberg	0.9
Nic Lentz	1.0
Quinn Wolcott	1.0
Adam Hamari	1.0
Mark Ripperger	1.0
Mark Wegner	1.0
David Rackley	1.0
BOTTOM
Ted Barrett	1.6
Tom Hallion	1.6
Jerry Layne	1.6
CB Bucknor	1.6
Ed Hickox	1.8

More familiar names. Rehak debuted in the majors only in 2018 and was brought on full-time quickly afterward, in 2020. The World Series was apparently in good hands with Hoberg. The others are well-known among fans who keep scorecards at games.

Tom Hallion was crew chief for the 2021 World Series between the Braves and Astros and is retiring after a three-decade career of distinction. His Strike 3 call was perhaps the most recognizable in the league. Even casual fans can remember Hallion’s coincidental star turn, from a May night in Queens in 2016 when he had to talk Mets manager Terry Collins back to the dugout while defending the role of umps around the world.

The world wasn’t meant to hear that heated exchange. But it was a good reminder that an umpire’s job isn’t strictly to judge calls and enforce rules. They act as caretakers for the game, too. Their relationships and daily dealings with the people who play the game are just as important. And that can’t be measured.

In an interview with his hometown newspaper in Kentucky, Greg Gibson said of his retirement that he did not want to “be that guy where players are rolling their eyes when they see you coming out. I’ve seen that happen. I was getting to the point where it wasn’t fun.

“When I got into umpiring, it was my passion,” Gibson said. “I always said I wanted to leave when they still thought I was good. Not great, but good.”

 

[Scraps 13531]

2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

How is it that none of you duckers managed to let me know Terrible atom Hallion and his absurd lawnmower retired. Fucker probably cost us a WS in 2021 as his bullshit in Game 3 basically gave the Sox the game and Le’s to the chain of events that got LMJ hurt. 
I’d prefer he be shot into the face of the sun (after Phil Maton of course) but retirement so he doesn’t fuck up any more games is ok I guess. 
now to get rid of shit or brains twins CB Buckner and Angel Hernandez

Hey man if you see something....say something

 

(only the people who attend games in person will get that) 

[runthebone 7929]

3 hours ago, Gourmand said:

Good to see new blood replacing these shitty old farts who suck at their job. 

https://theathletic.com/4140128/2023/02/06/mlb-new-umpires/

 

  Hide contents

MLB will see 10 rookie umps replace veterans as position faces more changes, challenges than ever

By Nick Groke

Feb 6, 2023

60

 

---

A flood of new umpires will patrol games this season with 10 rookies replacing retiring veterans across Major League Baseball, MLB vice president Michael Hill said last month. It will be the big leagues’ largest first-year class of umps in more than 20 years.

The newbies, ranging in age from 31 to 40, are joining a league that is rapidly evolving its rules amid a particularly anxious future for umpires.

This season, MLB will for the first time introduce a pitch clock, shift limits and larger bases, the league’s most seismic set of rule changes in nearly 50 years. And, for the first time this season, every Triple-A ballpark will employ an automated strike zone, so-called robo umps, after debuting the system last year.

MLB typically rotates a cast of 19 umpire crews in a season, each including four umpires who work the entirety of a series before moving along to another city. Those crews will see a thorough shakeup.

Tom Hallion was the longest-tenured among those umps who are retiring, with 30 years of experience. And Ted Barrett, who worked 26 seasons in the majors, is the only ump in baseball’s history to have worked two perfect games. Barrett was on the field when the Yankees’ David Cone pitched a perfecto against the Expos in New York in 1999 and when the Giants’ Matt Cain threw one against the Astros in 2012.

The other umps who are retiring: Jerry Meals (26 years of experience), Marty Foster (24 years), Greg Gibson (24 years), Jim Reynolds (23 years), Tim Timmons (23 years), Bill Welke (23 years), Sam Holbrook (22 years) and Paul Nauert (22 years).

Those umps are leaving behind a total of 243 years of collective experience. Together, they worked 16 World Series.

The last time baseball saw an exodus of umps to this degree came in 1999. That summer, the umpires’ union grew upset in their contract negotiations with the league and, unable to legally strike, instead resigned en masse, with 57 of them signing letters of resignation. By the next season, 22 of those umps had to be replaced. Eventually, 11 of those 22 were brought back.

Reynolds, as one example among those retiring, was one of those umpires hired to replace the lost 22 in 1999.

The new wave of umps includes 40-year-old Nick Mahrley, who worked the minor leagues since 2007 and has been a regular call-up ump, and 31-year-old Brennan Miller, who is now the youngest umpire on MLB’s roster. He is also the youngest rookie ump since Lance Barrett, who was 29 when he was promoted in 2014.

Beyond the knowledge drain that will follow those retiring umpires out the door, what level of accuracy is baseball losing?

Two sources for publicly-available umpire statistics, among several, offer us at least a glance at an umpire’s tendencies over time: Umpire Scorecards and Swish Analytics. And we can see where some of the retiring umpires and rookies fall on the scale of accuracy.

Umpire Scorecards culls data from the Hawkeye tracking system to determine if, when a batter takes a pitch, it was called correctly, using an algorithm to plot the likelihood the pitch was a strike. Their methodology is here. In these cases, we cross-referenced the results using Swish Analytics as quality control. And, for the most part, the results are similar.

According to Umpire Scorecard stats, here were the most and least spot-on umpires from behind home plate last season, by accuracy (ACC) and expected accuracy (AAX). The umpires in green are rookies; the umps in red are retiring:

Umpire accuracy 2022

UMPIRE	ACC
TOP
Pat Hoberg	95.5
Jeremie Rehak	95.4
Adam Hamari	94.9
David Rackley	94.9
Tripp Gibson	94.9
BOTTOM
Rob Drake	92.1
Malachi Moore	92.1
Greg Gibson	92.1
Jerry Layne	92.0
CB Bucknor	92.0
Marty Foster	91.7

Umpire expected accuracy 2022

UMPIRE	AAX
TOP
Jeremie Rehak	2.03
Pat Hoberg	1.96
Alex Tosi	1.82
Lance Barksdale	1.68
Nic Lentz	1.51
BOTTOM
Malachi Moore	-1.00
Andy Fletcher	-1.02
Greg Gibson	-1.45
Jerry Layne	-1.50
CB Bucknor	-1.66

The group of the most accurate umpires should not be a surprise. Three of them — Lance Barksdale, Pat Hoberg and Tripp Gibson — were part of the crew that umpired the World Series last season. Jeremie Rehak has been among the most accurate umps behind the plate in recent seasons. Adam Hamari has been umping since he was 12. And Alex Tosi, a rookie next season, was promoted for a reason, apparently.

Cross-referencing all these stats against Swish Analytics’ K-boost, BB-boost and run-boost stats — which measure each umpire’s calls relative to league average — surfaces most of the same names at the top and bottom.

The bottom of the list sees some familiar names, too. Greg Gibson and Marty Foster are among the 10 retiring umpires. CB Bucknor last season ticked off two managers in one half-inning in Arizona.

We should remember that the home plate box on television broadcasts is not an accurate view of the strike zone and an umpire has a better look at pitches. And we weren’t able to know what Bucknor, for instance, saw in those at-bats. But we also understand that a hitter of Nolan Arenado’s caliber has a good sense of where the zone sits, too.

And, it’s perhaps an endorsement of today’s umpires that the most and least accurate of the bunch are separated by less than four percent of calls. It supports the idea that, overall, MLB umps are consistent — perhaps more than at any time in the measurable past.

“When you sign up to be an umpire, you’re not signing up to make new friends,” retired MLB umpire Dale Scott told The Athletic in 2021. “When people are yelling at me on the field, they don’t know Dale Scott. They’re yelling at a uniform. They’re yelling at the guy who made an out call they don’t like …

“But when you get into social media, with your name and your stats, it feels like a much more personalized thing,” Scott said. “They still don’t know Dale Scott. They read about him every fourth day after a plate job, or they see him on a goofy call on the bases, and suddenly it seems much more personalized, like they’re attacking you and not necessarily just a uniform that made a call.”

For a scale that intends to measure an umpire in a more holistic way, Umpire Scorecards offers average total run impact, which tries to add up the true impact of those missed calls. Here are those numbers:

Umpire average total run impact 2022

UMPIRE	AVG TRI
TOP
Jeremy Rehak	0.9
Pat Hoberg	0.9
Nic Lentz	1.0
Quinn Wolcott	1.0
Adam Hamari	1.0
Mark Ripperger	1.0
Mark Wegner	1.0
David Rackley	1.0
BOTTOM
Ted Barrett	1.6
Tom Hallion	1.6
Jerry Layne	1.6
CB Bucknor	1.6
Ed Hickox	1.8

More familiar names. Rehak debuted in the majors only in 2018 and was brought on full-time quickly afterward, in 2020. The World Series was apparently in good hands with Hoberg. The others are well-known among fans who keep scorecards at games.

Tom Hallion was crew chief for the 2021 World Series between the Braves and Astros and is retiring after a three-decade career of distinction. His Strike 3 call was perhaps the most recognizable in the league. Even casual fans can remember Hallion’s coincidental star turn, from a May night in Queens in 2016 when he had to talk Mets manager Terry Collins back to the dugout while defending the role of umps around the world.

The world wasn’t meant to hear that heated exchange. But it was a good reminder that an umpire’s job isn’t strictly to judge calls and enforce rules. They act as caretakers for the game, too. Their relationships and daily dealings with the people who play the game are just as important. And that can’t be measured.

In an interview with his hometown newspaper in Kentucky, Greg Gibson said of his retirement that he did not want to “be that guy where players are rolling their eyes when they see you coming out. I’ve seen that happen. I was getting to the point where it wasn’t fun.

“When I got into umpiring, it was my passion,” Gibson said. “I always said I wanted to leave when they still thought I was good. Not great, but good.”

 

 Who the fuck aspires to goodness instead of greatness?

[Hank Chinaski 6310]

20 minutes ago, runthebone said:

 Who the fuck aspires to goodness instead of greatness?

Someone’s not a Gen-X-er…

[Wulaw Horn 18963]

2 hours ago, runthebone said:

 Who the fuck aspires to goodness instead of greatness?

You misread it.  What he was saying was he wanted to step down while he was thought of as a good ump not a great one.  As in- he'd lost his fastball and wasn't as good as he once was in his prime- but he'd hang it up when his skills decreased but he was still good, and not waiting until he was washed up or Angel Buckner'ing it up.  

[Hornsbay22 461]

4 hours ago, Scraps said:

Hey man if you see something....say something

 

(only the people who attend games in person will get that) 

We are counting on you to make a call out here

[Scraps 13531]

So Altuve is 65 hits away from 2000 this season. 

By my scientific calculations taking everything into account I predict that will happen on June 18th, Fathers Day against the Reds at home 

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

 

[kevwun 15595]

I assume he has already kidnapped a few members of Tucker's family.

[tx 3 putt 76159]

21 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

[tx 3 putt 76159]