-=> Quoting Andrew Serrano To John Vickers Re: MLB./Inner League Pla <=-
AS> Good, I'm not the only one who saw umpiring go down the tubes last
AS> year.  If you want to talk about looking for arguments, just look
AS> towards John Hirshbeck, and what he did with that Alomar play.  I
AS> don't agree with how Alomar acted, but he had NO right to be thrown
AS> out of the game from the dugout.  After all, he was only
AS> complaining about it to HIS OWN TEAMATES.  I can see being thrown
AS> out if he was on the field arguring with the umpires, but not from
AS> the bench.  One of these days an umpire is going to get the crap
AS> kicked out of him by one of the bigger guys with no temper (namely
AS> Albert Belle). 
Andrew,
About the Alomar Hirshbeck situation, I only saw the highlights and 
of course what was shown was Alomar spiting in the face of Hirshbeck.
Alomar may have in fact been thrown out from the dugout before he 
ever came out on the field to spit at Hirshbeck.  To be honest, I
don't even remember the call Alomar was upset and arguing about.
Clearly, *any* player will be thrown out after he spits in the face
of an umpire.  I think his suspension should have started immediately
and gone through the playoffs as well as carrying over into the first
part of this season.  I think 10 games was *way* too light a
suspension.
As for players being ejected from the dugout, you may be too young to
remember Billy Martin who managed the Yankees a number of times.  
When Billy managed The Texas Rangers for a while, I saw him get 
thrown out of games more than once before games even started, during
the meeting at home plate with the umpires.  My friend who was radio
engineer for The Rangers at the time tells a story where he knows of
a player being thrown out from the dugout for arguing *before* a game
started.  Only problem was that the player thrown out was not the 
player who was arguing.
JV>Texas is really going to be in trouble next year if they let Pudge
JV>Rodriguez become a free agent.  I heard where the Rangers have said
JV>that they don't think Rodriguez will be productive as a catcher more
JV>than three more years.  If that is true, why didn't they sign him to
JV>a five year deal two years ago?  I am quite sure they could have
JV>gotten him for much less than the 85 million/10 year contract his
JV>agent recently proposed.  Like a sportscaster here said recently, 8.5
JV>million per year may be cheap for a catcher 10 years from now.
JV>I certainly don't think the Rangers have a catcher who can come up
JV>next year and do the things Pudge does if we lose him to free agency
JV>next year.
AS> If they ever lose Pudge they are going to regret it.
I agree with the Rangers that salaries are outrageous but like I said 
in my other message, the Rangers have no one who can catch who can do
the things Rodriguez does.  He is one of the Ranger marquee players
who put tails in the seats!
JV>I am upset because our cable company took WGN, the superstation out
JV>of Chicago off our cable system.  Now I won't get to see The Cubs or
JV>White Sox this year.  We still get TBS from Atlanta.  I don't
JV>understand why they took WGN off though.  I like to watch all the
JV>baseball I can, no matter how bad the teams are.   I told our
JV>cable company that I think their decision to take WGN off stinks!
AS> I also followed the Cubs, and was very dissapointed when WGN was
AS> cut from my area too.
Are you part of a TCI cable system Andrew?  I called our local TCI
office and they told me that WGN was no longer being carried by any 
of its systems around the country.  I told them I think that stinks!
I figure there must have been some kind of $$$ dispute with WGN.
AS> I'm a long time Yankees fan so I'm looking for a repeat.  As for
AS> the NL, the Braves still look good, but so do the Marlins.
Clearly I want the Rangers to do well again.  I think they will if
Gonzalez comes back healthy from his winter ball injury and the rest
of the team stays away from injuries.  You mentioned the Yankees.
How about the other American League divisions?  The Braves always 
look strong in the NL.  The Marlins came on strong last year but I
don't know that much about them.
                                  
                             Your Friend,
                                       
                                 John
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