It's Time to Get Serious

Everybody bemoans the Matt Duffy for Matt Moore trade. And yet, the lefty has ability. But something is seriously wrong with how this "lefty" has been handled.  If this guy cost you someone you claim you did not want to trade, why is Trevor Brown catching him?

I understand, the Miami game was after an epic 14-inning game but this is THE guy you traded Matt Duffy for and Trevor Brown, a rookie, is not giving him what Buster gives pitchers.

Buster is becoming the best defensive catcher in baseball and he has a way with pitchers.  As a fanatic of the game, it just feels odd that a catcher can STEAL strikes. But if you have a way with making close pitches look like "can't miss" pitches I suppose you can get an umpire to lean that way.

Look, I never made it to the Major League level. Doesn't mean I don't know what a strike is no matter how anyone begs to differ.  There's politics in choosing umpires just as there is maneuvering in selecting the president of the United States. Legacies are in every line of work. If an umpire can be fooled into calling a ball into a strike this is what leads to what is wrong with baseball. It is a major flaw if someone assigned to call balls and strikes is easily swayed by the way a catcher receives a pitch.

The flaw lies with the arbiter of what is and is not a STRIKE. Those umpires whose strike zone changes from inning to inning or in the 4th inning he begins to "squeeze" the ZONE or any other kind of adjustments other than the first inning for both teams doesn't deserve to umpire a game.

His actions must justify his opportunity to put the gear on and position himself behind the catcher. If he is so unaccustomed to deciphering a ball in or out of the strike zone and needs the receiver of the pitch to clarify his understanding I think either eye glasses or a consult is in order. It is this unexplainable effort that makes the fan wonder why one team is getting one strike zone while the other is getting another strike zone entirely. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN.

This is giving one team a decided advantage and that is exactly why umpires where incorporated into the game in the first place. Was so such a thing WOULD NOT HAPPEN.

Let them do the bases only for that is what they are qualified to do. And if, in seeing enough replays that question their calls on the bases proves them to be inadequate for the bases, then get rid of the bum!!

Kevin J. Marquez