Two months after Opening Day, here are three things to keep an eye on around the world of baseball this Tuesday:
1. Angel Hernandez retires:
Umpire Angel Hernandez, a controversial figure in Major League Baseball for more than 30 years, is hanging up his hat. He issued a statement via MLB on Monday evening confirming his decision. Hernandez said umpiring in the majors was a “childhood dream” come true, but cited spending “more time with my family” as the primary reason for his retirement. However, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that Hernandez “reached a settlement to leave Major League Baseball,” effective immediately. Bob Nightengale of USA Today adds that the sides had “spent the past two weeks negotiating a financial settlement before reaching a resolution over the weekend.”
Hernandez was one of the most senior umpires in the league, but he has long had a reputation for making incorrect calls and unnecessary ejections. In recent years, he has been in and out of the headlines as he attempted to sue Major League Baseball for racial discrimination. He ultimately lost the suit and his subsequent appeal.
More on Hernandez and his retirement will likely trickle out in the coming days, such as statements from his fellow umpires and the commissioner’s office, and perhaps more news about the terms of his settlement.
2. Cristian Javier, José Urquidy to undergo imaging:
Astros manager Joe Espada says his starting pitchers Cristian Javier and José Urquidy will undergo imaging today (per Chandler Rome of The Athletic). The team will likely offer an update on their respective injuries ahead of tonight’s game against the Mariners. Javier landed on the injured list on Monday (retroactive to May 24) with right forearm discomfort. Urquidy, who has been out all season with a right forearm strain he suffered in spring training, recently left a minor league rehab start with the same issue: more forearm discomfort in his pitching arm.
The Astros have had to deal with several injuries to their starting pitchers this season, though thankfully for Houston, Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander are back in the rotation, as is Ronel Blanco, who was recently suspended for 10 games for violating MLB’s foreign substances policy. Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti currently round out the big league rotation, while recent minor league signing Eric Lauer offers additional depth.
3. MLBTR chat today:
This past weekend brought the news of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s season-ending injury and a report that teams are planning for NPB star Roki Sasaki to be posted this winter. If you have any questions about how your favorite team is playing so far, or perhaps questions that look ahead to the July 30 trade deadline or the upcoming offseason, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will host a live chat with readers today at 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, and that same link will allow you to join in on the chat once it begins or read the transcript after it is completed.
Lloyd Emerson
When I read the news about Angel Hernandez last night, well golly, that’s the happiest I’ve been since I had a hemorrhoid removed.
Joe says...
To quote Curly Bill: “Well… Bye.”
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – Which was the better news, this retirement or Joe West’s?
Joe says...
FPG I’d take West over Angel any day. West has the advantage of being a fellow North Carolinian.
rememberthecoop
At least West was a good ump in terms of balls & strikes. This Angel was a devil when it came to making judgment calls. Both inflamed situations unnecessarily but I’d take Country Joe over Hernandez any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – Safe to say your favorite ump was Richie Garcia?
Joe says...
LOL! He should be in the HOF.
Pads Fans
As long as West didn’t try to sing.
LordD99
As someone else noted, West wasn’t regarded as a bad umpire. He was annoying because he’d insert himself into the game, so we’d all notice him more when he blew a call, but overall he rated pretty well. Not the case with Angel Hernandez.
Next up: Laz Diaz!
A'sfaninLondonUK
@the coop, @joe
Yeah, I liked country Joe too. Did lots of under the radar stuff for kids, and held his ground under pressure. His stand off with Bumgarner was high noon classic stuff.
Hernandez would exacerbate the problem, toss the player/coach and look like a clueless tool in the process.
Hoping Hernandez is DDA’d to little league for a season and a half in order to get the payoff.
In hindsight that might be unfair.
On the kids….
deweybelongsinthehall
Steve Palermo was the best ump I ever noticed. Truth be told, those who do their job well shouldn’t be talked about that much.
Pads Fans
This! The better the umpire, the less you know their name.
How many of you have heard of Pat Hoberg? How about Quinn Wolcott? Ryan Wills?
Exactly!
Non Roster Invitee
Jocko Conlan?
Guard the Vogt
Joe, I clown on Angel’s umping abilities all day… But, You know, Angel really wasn’t that bad of a person, just a terrible umpire. I was at a reds/Indians game in Cincy about 5 years ago and Angel had 3b and my son and I were sitting on the 3b line and in between innings he came over and talked to fans and had multiple conversations with my son asking him what positions he plays and all the old school BS about listening to his parents and stuff… I thought that was pretty cool.
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Lord, I was going to say next up: CB Buknor. That guy has attitude problems. I can still recall Lou Piniella’s epic meltdowns that were usually instigated by CB.
deweybelongsinthehall
Fever,
usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2024/05/28/angel-her…
olmtiant
Oops… well done Joe!!!
nukeg
Now if CB Buckner follows him out the door, we all need to go buy a lottery ticket.
deweybelongsinthehall
Will be interesting to see what terms come out as to the agreement. Most will probably not come out due to a confidentiality section but I’m guessing the league paid for him to leave in exchange for an agreement that will prevent further suits.
Deke
100% they had to pay him to leave. He’s so arrogant and delusional that he likely has no concept of just how awful he is. When players have the ability to challenge balls and strikes he would sue the tech companies and claim they are racist.
Pads Fans
If they use the same challenge system in MLB they have in AAA right now, games would take 4+ hours with Hernandez behind the plate.
Non Roster Invitee
And Laz Diaz.
sufferforsnakes
Like yesterday. That guy is terrible.
hyraxwithaflamethrower
Reading that this morning was like getting a birthday present from MLB.
bhambrave
1. Angel Hernandez retires:
And there was much rejoicing.
Monkey’s Uncle
*waves tiny flags*
yaaaaayyy….
KnightOfNiii
And they ate Robin’s minstrels…
CO Guardening
It’s like spring skipped Summer, Fall and Winter and went right back to spring again.
Non Roster Invitee
Once he turned me in to a newt!
User 3180623956
Did you get better?
Non Roster Invitee
After my gig in Aliens.
ib6ub9
Thank you MLB!!!!!
sea-mari-fan
Shame on you MLB for allowing this controversial ump to keep his job for 30 years.
Lars MacDonald
It was the Union’s fault.
That’s where the blame falls.
Just another example of why Unions suck.
baseballandbrews
Best call of Angel Hernandez’s career
User 3014224641
Probably the only correct one.
deweybelongsinthehall
Second correct call. First was to become an ump given the retirement package he likely has …
thomasg1951
Angel was a cancer in baseball.
RunDMC
Honor Angel’s retirement by eating a meal off the plate today.
scarfish
That was excellent
Monkey’s Uncle
Outstanding
Woods Rider
@RunDMC – That’s SOLID GOLD!
rememberthecoop
Dude, that was LOL personified!
Old York
The Youtube channel, Baseball Doesn’t Exist, did a nice presentation about how Hernandez isn’t really the worst umpire and sadly enough, if he was umping in 2008, he’s probably be one of the more accurate umpires in baseball.
Nice to see some positive information about the guy. Sorry to see him go.
semut
Did their presentation use the actual data that is widely available and which shows beyond a shadow of a doubt how bad he was?
Old York
@semut
Yes, they did. They even pointed out that one of the games he umped, he actually did better based on the MLB rating than the X/Twitter Umpire Report card.
Meanwhile, fans are using their emotions to rate someone. I wonder who has the data and who has the crybabies.
Pads Fans
MLB paid Hernandez GTFO and they have the data. He really was as bad as fans AND players believe he is.
justsaying
This is 2024, not 2008. And if pigs had wings they would fly.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
The best umpires won’t miss 3 calls in 4 innings in the playoffs, or striking someone out on 3 pitches a foot off the plate (I’m still amazed at angels last blunder behind home plate)
Old York
@sad tormented neglected mariners fan
True, but I don’t think you’ve watched Maddux pitch or most of the umpires in the 90s that were given 3 inches off the plate as strikes. If we’re crying about baseball umpiring today, imagine how terrible it was back in the 20s.
Old York
@ justsaying
That’s data. MLB has seen an increase in umpire accuracy since the beginning of the pitch tracking era in 2008, umpires have improved their accuracy in calling balls and strikes every single year. Accuracy has gone from 81.3% to 92.4%. If an improvement of 11.1% in 15 years doesn’t sound particularly big, consider it this way: incorrect calls have been cut by nearly 60%.
blogs.fangraphs.com/we-may-never-find-out-how-good…
Non Roster Invitee
80%? During a game there is over 200 pitches . That means 40 pitches are are called incorrectly. That totally changes the game.
Bring on automation.
Old York
@Non Roster Invitee
MLB says it’s not ready, even for 2025.
Pads Fans
Its ready. Has been for years. Go watch a AAA game. Its working well there. Both full ABS and the challenge system that is used on weekends.
If you believe Manfred, I have beachfront property in Arizona I would like to sell you.
kje76
While the automated ump will have its day, that 80% figure was 15+ years ago, not yesterday. Most umps get a couple wrong, expanding the zone a bit. It’s the egregious umps that are really inappropriate.
Non Roster Invitee
Not a couple wrong unless you’re talking about one inning. Just watch a game and mark down how many pitches are called incorrectly. I have and it’s more or less around two dozen.
When I umped college baseball I had to score 90% or I would get written up. Too many write ups and back to high school ball you go.
crise
His problems weren’t exclusively ball/strike though. He had a randomly quick ejection thumb some days, his checked swing calls were often wrong and his laconic style when challenged just infuriated people even further. There are many younger, less famous umps doing a far better job these days and it’s well past time to let them move up. Thanks Angel, enjoy the time with the grandkids, here’s your watch.
Old York
@crise
I’ve watched a few umpire ejections recently that were not linked to him and it’s odd that you’re bringing this up for him. How is it possible that the umpire ejects Boone from the game when a fan said something to the umpire? This seems to be more of a problem with umpires in general having a greater sense of importance than they really have.
DrDick
And how are you related to Angel… because you must be.
Old York
@DrDick
I’m his business partner. We’ve been working to make sure baseball strike zones are bad to bring in robo-umps that we’re invested in to make money.
Pads Fans
It worked. ABS is coming. It will be here in the next CBA.
Joe Kerr
Its Angel’s account, everyone else must be wrong, no way he fooled so many eyeballs actually watching the game. Its clearly a mistake by us ALL for the past how many decades?? Good riddance. I bet there’s way more than 1 YouTube channel showing exactly how “great” he actually was. People believe literally anything they see on the internet over what they see IRL, SMFH.
Old York
@Joe Kerr
So, a random internet user raging about bad calls vs. data? It’s hard to decide which one is right… Oh noez! My favorite team lost the game because umpires are humans. If only we could play the game on the computer and no bad calls would ever happen!
Joe Kerr
wait, so now your argument is that when we have technology to make correct calls, no, f that, let’s keep them wrong. where is the common sense?
Pads Fans
Angel Hernandez has the 3 worst strike calls since 2015 when they started using pitch track and later Trackman. One was 6.75″ off the plate.
He has the two worst ball calls with one being 4.5″ inside the strike zone.
He also hold the record for largest percentage of borderline calls, pitches within 1 ball diameter (2.9″) inside or outside of the strike zone called incorrectly. He has had 21 games in the last 3 seasons in which his overall accuracy was under 90% and borderline calls missed was greater than 40%.
Because of the 1/10 of 1 inch accuracy of the Trackman system, Hernandez would not have had a job once they started using ABS with a challenge system.
Melchez17
I remember back in the day, they had a lot of phantom tags. The tag out at a base was always an out if the ball beat the runner. The turning of the double play was just if you were close to the bag. 1B pulled his foot often. They called a lot of strikes… batters swung at it if it was close.
Different times back then.
Old York
@Melchez17
Yeah, I always wondered why the SS/2B didn’t have to touch the bag on those DPs. Does that mean the 1B doesn’t need to touch the bag either? The catcher can just be close to tagging the runner and he’s out?
I miss the days of wide strike zones, 4 inches off the plate. Good ol’days. Now kids on here are crying because it’s one one-thousands of a micro-inch off the plate. Oh, no! Heaven forbid you have to swing at something close. I guess that’s the problem with kids growing up with video games. They assume real baseball should be the same.
Manfred Rob's Earth Band
I wonder who wanted him gone. A specific player? Maybe a manager? Or did the owners go in one it and say get rid of the bum!
RunDMC
If Manfred wanted robot umps, which it appears he does, Angel was a great way of bringing it to the forefront. That being said, his calls were getting so much negative attention across the board that it’s hard to justify him. While I imagine no ump would speak against him, as he’s one of the few names that is recognizable, his quiet walk away could be a sacrificial lamb to stave off robot umps as Manfred looks like he has his finger on the button itching to bring into the league.
dhud
This is the greatest thing to happen to the game in the modern era
LordD99
Angel Hernandez’s goal was to become such a problem that MLB would force him out with a very nice parting gift. Success.
Fever Pitch Guy
Lord – Agreed, and he had likely planned the racial discrimination lawsuit for a long long time.
I doubt the additional “terms of the settlement” will ever come out though, as the confidentiality is typically part of an NDA.
deweybelongsinthehall
Fever, I hadn’t read your comment and basically said the same thing.
Fever Pitch Guy
dewey – No worries, great minds think alike ;O)
I wouldn’t expect anybody to read through every comment prior to posting, I certainly don’t do that.
deweybelongsinthehall
Fever, on another front do you think Sale will remain healthy and if he does, will be tire in August and September like he did previously? I’m actually rooting for him but he does have a history of tiring.
Fever Pitch Guy
dewey – I would never attempt to predict any player’s health, other than to say that Sale is due for a healthy year after 6 injury-plagued seasons.
As for tiring, I’d lean toward no because he is pitching with at least 5 full days rest between every start.
deweybelongsinthehall
Thanks. Hope not because he showed he wanted to pitch in Boston. Just unfortunate. That said, he throws so hard and reminds me of Bruce Hurst in that both got tired at the end. In 86 when Hurst was great it was because he missed half the season. Hopefully Atlanta continues to monitor Sales.
rememberthecoop
Um, that’s what an NDA is. It’s a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Fever Pitch Guy
coop – Yeah I could have worded that sentence better, my bad.
LordD99
@Fever, I’m surprised there wasn’t any buzz this was coming because apparently Angel hadn’t umpired a game since May 7th.
Fever Pitch Guy
Lord – I’m guessing umpire assignments aren’t followed that closely by media, I know I don’t keep track of the umpiring crews. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the players! LOL!!
This one belongs to the Reds
I knew he would retire when they said the automatic strike zone tech was coming to MLB.
rememberthecoop
This has nothing to do with that. The owners have wanted him out for a while now. And look, he fricken sued MLB. If you sued your employer, don’t you think they would love to get rid of you? And anyway, Manfred said it likely won’t be ready until 2026.
Fever Pitch Guy
coop – Right you are about suing current employers, and it affects even future employers. Would I hire someone who has a history of suing their employer? Heck no, fear of lawsuits is real in preventing being hired.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Finally they posted an article about Hernandez
raisinsss
On behalf of #thetroops, I think we can all agree that Memorial Day shall from this point be celebrated instead as the day that Angel Hernández left baseball.
Digdugler
Never has an ump been so bad the league had to pay him to retire. This is Chris Davis levels of umping!
For Love of the Game
It’s called “addition by subtraction” – frequently your organization gets stronger simply by getting rid of a problem employee.
Stormintazz
That was for the union.
James Midway
Yay the second worst umpire is gone. Doug Eddings is still out there ruining games.
For Love of the Game
CB Bucknor says “Yo!”
Johnny utah
2nd best news in a while
Best news was hearing manfred is retiring
Too bad we have to wait 5 yrs for that
Rexhudler86
STRIKE. your out of here. If I was in the umpire union I would force the crappy ones out, so you don’t get replaced by the robo umps.
astros_fan_84
I don’t understand why the union protects weak performers. Unions typically protect salaries and workforce size.
Rexhudler86
@astros_fan_84 Jeff passan was saying the last time they were on strike the mlb fired all of the crappy ones, so they put something in the contract to protect them, also angel has sued the mlb for discrimination so probably didn’t want to open that can of worms. We definitely won’t hear the whole story but he got a deal and was forced to resign.
DrDick
I spent 32 years representing management where we had 4 unions. They try to protect everything and anything… and if an employee is terrible, its management’s fault of course.
Otto371
Unions want more money for less work, end of story. They could care less about quality.
aragon
Most carpenters’ Unions require certain levels of skills before you can join. And, of course, they require higher compensation for better skills.
Skeptical
Whereas business wants more work for less money and doesn’t give a darn about quality. Interesting system we live in.
raisinsss
If your business doesn’t give a darn about quality, your business is the problem.
Stormintazz
Unions protect weak employees in every business. Unions reward tenure not quality of work.
Pads Fans
Union already approved ABS as long as no loss of jobs overall.
bhambrave
CB Bucknor, you’re up.
jimmyz
Doubt we as fans will ever know the structures and union bylaws of umpire contracts but there’s no way it’s a guaranteed lifetime gig. There’s either no performance review during contract negotiations, no system in place to develop qualified candidates to replace bad umps or most likely both along with a long list of other lack of oversight type issues from the league. This is probably the biggest reason why an automatic strike zone system should be put in place.
justsaying
Isn’t it just wonderful that people are paid to go away due to their overall incompetence?
clrrogers
Angel Hernandez retiring really should be its own article. Such a happy day in baseball.
Silas
I am sorry Angel, “Hispanic” is not really a race OR a “minority”. They control an entire continent an a huge chunk of another. You were not made a crew chief because YOU SUCK at your job.
ruff kuntry
MLB offered him a boat load of money to retire.
Rexhudler86
@ruff kuntry I bet the union told him to retire because of the media attention, he will probably be a talking head for the mlb network when there’s a call that’s getting challenged.if he’s goes less people will be calling for robo umps even if there’s 5 others that suck as bad
Stormintazz
Now that would be hilarious. Let’s go to our eye in the sky Angel Hernandez for his ruling on the instant replay.
Rexhudler86
@stormintazz I bet you it’s going to happen, the dude got some kinda deal you don’t abruptly retire during the season, and say you want to spend more time with your family when your 61. I’m not against it either he can’t screw up the game anymore.
olmtiant
Gentleman.. any of you remember Ron Luiciano?? Not sure how good or bad he was as umpire but enjoyed his rifts with Earl weaver… also I remember he would shoot you OUT on a close play….. Big John McSherry and the animated Terry Tata.. and his SO punch out… Damn I’ve watched too much baseball growing up!!!l
aTouchOfSarcasm
I wonder if the all the recent attention to his horrible calls via social media had something to do with it…it seemed like every time I was on TikTok or saw a Youtube short he was popping up. Although I never get tired of seeing the Kyle Schwarber explosion.
foppert2
I would think so. Social media ridicule is not a good look. My algorithm exposed me to a non stop diet of Hernandez mocking this year. I wonder what it cost them to get rid of that problem.
wefwewefwe
So the first Latino umpire- and an extremely fair and humble ump- retires, and MLBTR posters celebrate
Foul ball.
The same posters who will celebrate when Arte- the first Latino owner in MLB history and the one who brought Anaheim their first and only championship- sells the team.
Strike 2.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Please don’t make this about race. Plenty of Latino umps still in MLB. Hernandez was anything but humble.
reddit.com/r/baseball/s/xONFFOuy9S
wefwewefwe
The first Latino ump in MLB history retires and posters cackle and celebrate.
You do the math.
vtadave
We’ve “done the math”. He was awful. There have also been awful white umpires, black umpires, etc.
wefwewefwe
Don’t worry, Dan Halem is being groomed as the Commissioner replacement by Manfred, after Manfred was groomed as the Commissioner replacement by Selig.
And the beat goes on.
ATinz
We will do the math when you stop doing the meth.
rememberthecoop
Stop it. Why does everyone think that race is the reason behind everything? HE SUED MLB. Right or wrong, how many of us could sue our employers and have said employer want you to stay under their employment?
wefwewefwe
Lets see your reaction when your employer spits all over your ethnicity.
Tigersin2050
That’s a pretty childish non sequitur. Nobody is saying the same about John Fisher, a white Republican. This is about baseball. Be consistent.
Canuckleball
@ Jason@aol:
Arte didn’t bring a championship to Anaheim. They won in fall 2002.
He bought the team in spring 2003.
He bought into a championship team and hasn’t won once in 20 years.
Roger Beshen's Patented FootballSlider
Arte bought the team AFTER they won a WS. I think Disney owned them at the time. Nice try trying to make this about race, when I haven’t seen a single racist post about this… until yours.
Rexhudler86
@bauer the only good thing arte did after buying the angels was lowering beer prices.
wefwewefwe
Strike 3, youre out.
Silas
@Jason, nice try 2-bit punk
wefwewefwe
Silas: You’re ejected, chump.
Silas
@Jason, shouldn’t you be out saving the children of Gaza?
wefwewefwe
You’re now suspended 60 games, Silas. Don’t like your tone.
C Yards Jeff
@Jason, I did not know the ethnicity of Moreno or Hernandez until you just shared it here. And to echo what others have posted, Disney was the owner when they won the 2002 WS.
I do not criticize umpires. I like that outcomes of games are decided by human beings not robots. No beef with Hernandez.
I am critical of Moreno.
The Angels are heading towards a ninth season in a row of losing baseball. He was the owner during the Tyler Skaggs tragedy. And he was/is the owner that had two teammates, and documented as close friends, caught up in illegal gambling activity. At some point, like the NFL owners did with Dan Snyder, I feel the owners and MLB will ask him to leave.
Rexhudler86
@C Yards Jeff you forgot bribing the mayor to get a stadium built.
aragon
It was Disney who had the champion in Anaheim. Moreno bought it right after.
Stormintazz
This proves it. If you look long enough you will find racism.
FatChance65
Angel’s “childhood dream” became everyone else’s nightmare. Good riddance!
towinagain
Angel out…automated strike zone in!
Rsox
The man who single handedly robbed Armando Galarraga have the biggest achievement of his career finally retires. Good riddance…
FatChance65
I believe that was Jim Joyce.
mike127
Poor Angel was so bad he’s now getting blamed for calls that he had nothing to do with. Yes, it was Jim Joyce. (and to be fair, Joyce handled that entire situation with dignity and class….I’m sure nobody, including Galarraga, feels worse about that call than Joyce).
vtadave
Yep and his 10-foot wide strikezone on Livan Hernandez in the 1997 World Series was unforgettable.
This one belongs to the Reds
Speaking of bad umps back in the day…two words: Eric Gregg.
olmtiant
Didn’t want to mention being an also full figure man but his livan Hernandez game was epic!!!
DarkSide830
Boy, I hope the door hits him on the way out. And he’ll find a way to say the door checked it’s swing.
FatChance65
LOL. He has to SEE the door first.
Well....shoot
Thank you!
slowcurve
In the past few weeks, MLB has signed a streaming deal with no blackouts and gotten rid of Angel “Hellen Keller” Hernandez. #Winning
Non Roster Invitee
I miss Gary Darling (most f bombs ever!) and Lance Barksdale.
fljay73
MLB had to do something with Hernandez. It could have gotten ugly on the field at some point.
Butter Biscuits
This call doesn’t need any type of review
Attystephenadams
Hernandez was hands down the worst ump I’ve ever seen in the 55+ years I’ve been watching ball games both for his bad calls and his demeanor. And yes, I’ve seen CB Bucknor, Country Joe West, Eric Gregg, etc.. Honestly, I don’t know what took MLB so long to just buy this guy out. There’s no need for calls of racism or union bashing here. He was just a lousy ump who was bad for the game.
Rsox
God challenges the Devil to a Baseball game
“How can i lose?” God says “i have all of the best players up here”
“How can i lose?” the Devil says “i have all the Umpires down here”…
BirdieMan
Angel Hernandez= worst umpire since Eric Gregg
terrymesmer
Articles keep calling Angel Hernandez “controversial” because they don’t want to say, “arrogant pile of garbage.”
its_happening
This does not pass the smell test. We might be getting the result we all wanted but we’re not getting the full story here. If all it took was a payout, approach Laz Diaz, CB Bucknor and whoever else is severely underperforming.
jabgdn
Next up, CB Bucknor and the clown ump that throws his chewing gum all over the field.
Dock_Elvis
Good for Angel Hernandez! Retire and spend time with your family! I’m sure you missed them too all these years…probably missed them more than the average mlb umpire. Woefully, and utterly missed them sometimes.