Schilling Fined for Camera Hit

Arizona Diamondback pitcher Curt Schilling was fined about $15,000 by major league baseball Monday for destroying a camera used to evaluate umpires.

Schilling smashed part of the QuesTec Umpire Evaluation System on May 24 during a home loss to the San Diego Padres and said umpires have told him they are changing their strike zones to match the machine.

“He was fined the cost of the camera, and then there was a fine imposed on the disciplinary side,” said Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations in the commissioner’s office.

Schilling plans to appeal. He said what he did was “immature,” but he hasn’t changed his mind about the QuesTec system.

“The process doesn’t work,” he said. “QuesTec itself, the actual machines, I’m sure they work. But machines don’t call the balls and strikes. The umpires do. The process by which this was integrated into Major League Baseball is horribly flawed.”

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The San Diego Padres signed reliever Rod Beck and sent right-handed starter Charles Nagy to triple-A Portland of the Pacific Coast League.

Beck was released by the Chicago Cubs on May 31 despite going 1-1 with an 0.59 earned-run average in 21 appearances for triple-A Iowa. He sat out last season while recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery.

The 34-year-old right-hander last pitched in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox in 2001, when he was 6-4 with a 3.90 ERA and six saves in 68 games.

Beck has a 35-41 record with 266 saves and a 3.28 ERA in 11 major league seasons.

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Dwight Gooden, currently a special advisor for the New York Yankees, will be the pitching coach this summer for the team’s rookie league club in the Gulf Coast League.