Umpire Winters suspended for season after Bradley altercation

Padres closer Trevor Hoffman compared the quick action by baseball commissioner Bud Selig's office to decisions by the NFL's Roger Goodell and the NBA's David Stern.

"You can see what commissioner Goodell has done in the NFL, you've seen how commissioner Stern takes care of business," Hoffman said. "This is an opportunity for our commissioner to have a stronger voice in all facets of the game. It's an opportunity for commissioner Selig to have a stronger voice with how the players react. Bob Watson hears a lot of this stuff, but it doesn't seem to be deterring anything."

Hirschbeck, president of the World Umpires Association, declined comment.

"I want to wait until I have a chance to talk our attorneys in the morning," Hirschbeck said.

Bradley tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will need surgery, which is expected to sideline him for at least six months. His injury was a blow to the Padres, who began Wednesday with a one-game lead over Colorado and Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race.

"I think it's good to tell the players that the umpires are going to be kept in line. It'll be good to retain order during games knowing there's going to be repercussions if you let things get out of hand," Padres second baseman Geoff Blum said. "It's got to be satisfying to Milton knowing that what he said was true and that some consequence came of it."

Trouble began when plate umpire Brian Runge asked Bradley if he had flipped his bat in the ump's direction after taking a called third strike that ended the fifth inning. Runge indicated that Winters told him that Bradley had.

The dispute escalated after Bradley singled, then asked Winters if he told Runge he threw his bat.

"It's terrible. And now, because of him, my knee's hurt," Bradley said after Sunday's game. "If this costs me my season because of that, he needs to be reprimanded. I'm taking some action. I'm not going to stand pat and accept this because I didn't do nothing wrong."

The remainder of Winters' crew -- Froemming, Mark Wegner and Runge -- is scheduled to work San Diego's season-ending series at Milwaukee this weekend.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.