When catcher Buster Posey was steamrolled in May and broke his ankle, the Giants were outraged. GM Brian Sabean blasted Marlins runner Scott Cousins for trucking Posey. Posey’s agent was livid that his golden ticket got injured and lobbied MLB to change its rules. The question quickly became a talking point amongst sports fans for the next week. But guess what? The Giants continued to win games, remain in first place, and all was mostly forgotten. Even in the MLB offices, apparently.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News included this note in a column posted Thursday:
As I understand it, there’s been little response from Major League Baseball on the Giants’ request to look at making rule changes designed to protect catchers from being targeted by baserunners when they aren’t blocking the plate. MLB vice president Joe Torre doesn’t believe any changes are warranted, and for all the Giants’ passion over the issue, it doesn’t appear it will gain much traction.
Good. It shouldn’t gain much traction. We may not be pleased with Torre’s reluctance to proceed with instant replay in baseball, but at least he has the right idea here. Why change 100 years of the way the game’s been played because one promising young player got hurt? Do we need to outlaw inside pitches because players get injured from that? Of course not. The outrage from San Francisco was extreme and misguided. Would they have lobbied for the same changes had Eli Whiteside been hurt? Of course not. I’m glad MLB doesn’t appear to be caving.
