NEW YORK - Ralph Nelson has resigned as vice president of umpires in the commissioner's office.
Nelson's resignation was confirmed Friday by Rob Manfred, executive vice president of labor relations.
Nelson did not return telephones messages left at his homes in New York and Arizona and on his cell phone. Manfred said Nelson resigned for personal reasons.
No successor was announced.
Nelson's three-year tenure was marred by disagreements between the league and umpires, most recently over the QuesTec Umpire Information System.
Nelson, who coordinated all umpiring activities, a week ago compared umpires to the children of a dysfunctional family. "They just don't like being judged," Nelson told the Arizona Republic. "The analogy I use is that of a divorced family. The kids go to dad's house and have ice cream for breakfast. They come home to mom and have to live by stricter rules. So, of course, they want to stay at dad's house. They want to eat ice cream."
Manfred told ESPN.com that Nelson "was not terminated and this has absolutely nothing to do with QuesTec or any other issue related to the supervision of umpires."
Ball and strike calls have been the subject of controversy recently. Though Sandy Alderson, the executive vice president of baseball operations, has maintained that QuesTec's computerized evaluation tool, which monitors the accuracy of umpires' calls in 10 of 30 major-league ballparks, has contributed to better accuracy of calls, the World Umpires Association said it believes the system can be detrimental.
"Ralph Nelson is the person who signed the five-year contract with QuesTec," said Larry Gibson, attorney for the World Umpires Association. "He did so without obtaining any independent review of either the company or the system. He relied upon the claims of the vendors as to what the system could do. QuesTec has become an embarrassment to Major League Baseball.
"This development provides the opportunity to change that."
SOSA STAYS HOME: Sammy Sosa did not accompany the Cubs to Toronto for their three-game series against the Blue Jays. Sosa returned to Chicago from Baltimore on Thursday night after sitting out the first three games of his seven-game suspension for using a corked bat. Chicago manager Dusty Baker said Sosa will get more work done in Chicago than on the road, where teams are allowed 40 minutes to hit on the field.
RELIEVER TO JAPAN: Red Sox minor-leaguer Tom Davey signed with Japanese team Hiroshima. The right-hander was 1-2 with a 4.24 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 12 games for Triple-A Pawtucket.
REDS: Right-handed reliever Ryan Wagner agreed to a $1.4-million bonus with Cincinnati, which believes the first-round pick could be in the majors this season. Wagner, a sophomore at the University of Houston, was the 14th overall pick. He went 6-5 with a 1.93 ERA in 791/3 innings with 15 saves and a school-record 148 strikeouts.
