The Red Sox/Angels ALDS umpiring crew has been announced by Major League Baseball, and it includes veteran Joe West. West will be joined by C.B. Bucknor, Eric Cooper, Greg Gibson, Brian Gorman and Dan Iassogna. A number of these umpires have had run-ins with the Red Sox and they also have less than favorable reputations that follow them.

Crew chief Joe West is one of the most respected(or feared) umpires in the game and he takes his job extremely serious. He umpired his 4,000th major league game this season, and has a ton of post-season experience including the 2004 ALCS. He was behind the plate when Curt Schilling had the bloody sock and he was also the home plate umpire for Clay Buchholz’s no hitter against the Orioles in 2007 at Fenway Park. The bad part about West is that he really does not get along with a lot of players. However he keeps a game under control, even though he is rather old and sometimes slow.

In a 2003 Sports Illustrated survey given to major league players, CB Bucknor was voted as the league’s worst umpire, with 20.7% of the vote. In an updated 2006 Sports Illustrated survey given to current major league players, Bucknor was again voted the league’s worst umpire, with 21% of the vote. On May 23rd, 2007 in a game against the Yankees in the Bronx, Bucknor had some rather questionable strike calls against Julio Lugo in the 9th inning. Lugo gave a look back on a 2nd called strike, before Bucknor provided plenty of theatrics as he called a third strike on him. The only problem was that the “strike” was clearly a pitch well out of the strike zone. Bucknor appeared to be putting on a show as he argued with Lugo, before Terry Francona emerged from the dugout and appeared to be telling Bucknor and not Lugo to calm down.

Julio Lugo argues a call with home plate umpire CB Bucknor on May 23, 2007.

Eric Cooper is a guy that is known to have a bit of a pitcher’s strike zone. He is 1 of only 2 active umpires to have been behind the plate for multiple no-hitters. He called both of Mark Buehrle’s, as well as Hideo Nomo’s Red Sox no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles on April 6th, 2001. He has had no noteable issues with the Red Sox.

In 2005, Red Sox hitting coach Ron “Papa Jack” Jackson was ejected by Greg Gibson after a close, two-out, bases-loaded pitch by Bronson Arroyo which walked in a run. Jackson claimed that the only thing he said was `That wasn’t a strike?’ He was then ejected from the game before running onto the field to yell at Gibson. Manager Terry Francona said Gibson claimed to him that Jackson said something inappropriate, and he’d “read his lips.” After the game Francona said, “The explanation was he read his lips. That guy can’t see the (bleeping) ball in front of him. That was a (bad) answer. The way he threw him out, it’s hard to take when someone’s not honest with you. When a guy misses a pitch like that he has to take some heat. That was a fabulous pitch. The only one fooled more by the pitch than Sheffield was the umpire.”

It was only 2 weeks ago that Gibson tossed Zack Greinke and Royals manager Trey Hillman in a game against the Red Sox. It all started when Greinke, who wasn’t even playing in the game, shouted about the strike zone for pitcher Anthony Lerew. Lerew later pitched a bit inside on Mike Lowell before Gibson warned both benches which upset Hillman to the point where he came onto the field to argue and was quickly run.

Brian Gorman was a part of the crew that worked the 2007 ALCS. He worked the plate in game 3 of that series and simply put he was consistently bad. He made some calls in this game that were head scratchers but it went both ways.

Dan Iassogna is remembered for having an absolute atrocious game behind the plate in 2007 for the Red Sox in Oakland. Here is how Rotoworld summed it up at the time:

Wakefield wasn’t aided by perhaps the worst umpiring performance we’ve seen this year, courtesy of Dan Iassogna. It wasn’t that he was biased. It’s just that he’d randomly call pitches 6-12 inches above the belt strikes and ignore those at the knees. Further enraged by two incidents — a HBP against Wakefield when Mark Ellis obviously leaned into a knuckleball and a check-swing third strike against David Ortiz that Iassogna called on his own, even though the replay showed that Ortiz didn’t go — Red Sox manager Terry Francona finally had enough in the eighth, getting himself tossed when a curveball that wouldn’t have been in Richie Sexson’s zone was called a strike against 5-foot-7 Dustin Pedroia.

The good thing about Iassogna is that barring injury to another umpire, he will not work the plate in this series.

Curt Schilling posted his thoughts on this crew on The Sons of Sam Horn message board:

FWIW that might be the worst umpiring crew in the history of post season baseball. Bucknor, Gibson AND Merriweather? Oh and Joe West, the umpire who is well known to hate the Sox as much as any man ever. At least in Joe’s defense he’s a decent ump, albeit one who has stated EXPLICITLY on the field he holds grudges and gets even, CB, Gibby and Chuck just suck, no two ways about it. Chuck’s at least a nice guy though. He feels bad when he blows calls. CB has never been good enough to ID a bad or missed call and as far as Gibby knows he’s NEVER MADE a bad call.

Direct quote from Greg Gibson during a game “Do you know you are arguing with the best young umpire in the game right now?”
Dead serious when delivering it too….

Greg Gibson will have major impact on one or more games this post season. The obvious choice would be for the game(s) he’s behind the plate, and I can assure you I’d lobby to not be on the mound for that game. He’s an umpire, when all is said and done, who would WORK to make you know he’s the KING over getting a good questec score. Oh and for you trivia buffs, I think Iassonga or whatever his name is, is the man I am holding directly responsible for the death of the quest tec camera in Arizona.
“The machine won’t let me call that pitch a strike” was the quote he gave me…

Schilling did make a mistake in his post.  Chuck Meriwether will not be working this series. He has been assigned to the Yankees/Twins ALDS.

Here are each of the umpires Strike Percentage for the 2009 season
Joe West: 61.50%
CB Bucknor: 62.06%
Eric Cooper: 63.36%
Greg Gibson: 62.41%
Brian Goreman: 63.18%
Dan Iassogna: 62.56%

The umpires play a very significant role in the playoffs because games are typically close, and bad calls have had significant impacts in the past. For a team like the Red Sox that works the strike zone and extends at bats, the strike zone needs to be consistent. There is no doubt that umpires hold grudges and a few of these guys might have them against the Sox. It should be interesting to see if the umpires play a major role in this series. Hopefully those watching won’t even notice they are there.

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I found this video today and It is pure awesomeness. Don’t forget to hear Zo on Tanguay and Zolak Every weekday on 98.5 The Sports Hub from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Roger Goodell vs. DeMaurice Smith

The NFL and the NFL Players association will get together next week for their third formal meeting with the purpose of working towards a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Daily.

This news comes only a day after the Players Association notified its members that union dues for the 2009 and 2010 seasons are being increased from $10,000 to $15,000 per player in order to create a “lockout fund.”

DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director of the union has complained through the media about a lack of progress in getting a new deal completed. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the beginning of the month said, ” none of this gets resolved by talking about it in the media. People want to talk about football now, not the CBA negotiations. That’s for us to deal with.” The owners opted out of the current Collective Bargaining agreement last year, which is set to expire after next season.

An important part of this situation is if and when either of the two sides decide to walk away from the table. Has the NFL or its players created a personal deadline to get a deal done? If no agreement is reached by March of 2010, the current deal provides for a season without a salary cap. Players may be making the assumption that an uncapped season would provide for huge free agent contracts. However, owners will likely be reluctant to give out such contracts with an unstable and unpredictable labor situation. Patriots owner Robert Kraft has already stated that his team will not be extending players beyond the current agreement. “We don’t know what the rules will be and we don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we could be penalized for making poor decisions now when we don’t know what the rules are. No one knows, we don’t know.”

The union points to the $8 billion in league revenue last year as a sign that players are not paid well enough. Meanwhile owners claim that rising costs offset the rising revenues including the cost of new stadiums. “Saying that stadium costs means that we need to change the CBA ignores the fact that the players have been a part of the stadium growth over the last decade,” Smith told USA Today. The players union has asked for franchises to open their books and create a sense of transparency but owners have resisted.

It is critical for both sides to find middle ground sooner than later. A lockout or strike in any professional sports league can have major effects. The obvious loss is in terms of revenue, but the bigger risk is losing fan support. The NFL has proven to be one of the fastest growing and most popular leagues in the United States. Considering the current economic climate in this country, there are sure to be people who cannot sympathize with billionaire owners and millionaire players arguing over how to divvy up their money pie.   The owners need to stop crying poor mouth if they don’t want to back it up and open their books, and the players union needs to focus their attention on aggressive negotiations instead of spreading their rhetoric.

Last week, The Patriots traded Richard Seymour to the Raiders for a 2011 first-round draft pick. According to reports. the Patriots insisted that the pick be in 2011 because they believe a rookie salary cap will be in place by that time under a new collective bargaining agreement.

“From nearly the day he arrived in 2001, Richard Seymour established himself as one of our premier players for nearly a decade,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a statement. “His presence has been felt as a force on the field, a respected man off it, and a multi-year champion. Any transaction we make is with the goal of what is best for our team and, as difficult as it is to part ways with a player of Richard’s stature, many factors were taken into account when we considered this trade. As an organization, we feel the trade with Oakland brings sufficient value and is in the long-term interest of the club. We are extremely grateful for the huge impact Richard’s elite level of performance had on our success and we wish him the very best during the rest of his career.”

Coach Belichick referenced the long-term interest of the club. This trade has clearly stirred a lot of debate not only because of the history Seymour has with the team but because it appears this will hurt the team in 2009. A major question is how will the team replace the presence that #93 brought to the defensive front. Here are a number of instances in which the Patriots front office failed miserably to replace some key play-makers.

Cornerback Ty Law left after the 2005 season and was replaced by Chad Scott and Ellis Hobbs. Asante Samuel left the Patriots after 2007 and was replaced by the simply atrocious Deltha O’Neal.

In 2005 Monty Beisel and Chad Brown were signed as free agents to fill gaps at the Linebacker position. Tedy Bruschi was second on the team in tackles in 2004 with 78 before suffering a stroke in February of 2005 while Ted Johnson and Roman Phifer had both announced their retirement prior to the 2005 season. Brown came to New England as a 3-time Pro Bowler but in a Patriots uniform he looked completely lost and painstakingly slow. He started 6 games in 2005 and after that season would not start another game in the NFL. Beisel was signed after a promising season in 2004 with Kansas City. He was known primarily as a special teamer, and even though fans were told how great he would fit the New England system, he quickly proved that his previous season was a flash in the pan. Beisel is back with the Kansas City Cheifs for 2009 after 3 seasons in Arizona during which he started 4 games.

In 2006, the Patriots entered training camp without receiver David Givens who signed a free-agent deal with the Titans. Receiver Deon Branch was entering the final year of his contract with New England. He held out of training camp looking for a new deal and when one wasn’t reached the Patriots traded him to the Seahawks for a 2007 first-round draft pick. Branch’s deal in Seattle was for six years and worth $39 Million. It included a $7 million dollar signing bonus and his cap hit for 2006 was only $3.3 Million.Givens and Branch had combined in 2005 for 137 receptions for 1,735 yards and 7 touchdowns. Bill Belichick’s solution to the loss of these 2 guys was Reche Caldwell. Caldwell was drafted by the Chargers in the 2nd round (48th overall) of the 2002 draft and had 4 unimpressive seasons in San Diego. Ben Watson, Troy Brown, and Kevin Faulk were the other 3 receivers to carry the load while Doug Gabriel saw some limited action.

The result of the trade was the team passing for 742 fewer yards than in 2005. Statistically speaking, the team did not suffer significantly, but Caldwell dropped 2 important passes during the Patriots’ 38-34 loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship game. The Patriots did have a 21-point lead at the half and the defense is partially to blame for the loss. However there is no denying that Branch or Givens would have put the team in a much better position to win a championship. The trade of Branch did hurt the team in 2006, but because of the trade the Patriots were able to select Jerod Mayo and trade for Randy Moss. With two first round draft picks in 2007, New England used the pick from Seattle to select safety Brandon Meriweather (24th overall). The other pick went to San Francisco in a trade for their 2008 first round pick and 2007 fourth round selection. The 4th round pick ended up being traded to Oakland for Randy Moss. The 1st round pick in 2008 was Jerod Mayo (6th Overall). The team sacrificed success in 2006 with the hopes of improving the team in the future. It appears that history may be repeating itself with the trade of Richard Seymour.