Posey’s Injury Shouldn’t Bring Baseball To Rush A Rule Change

ESPN personality Mike Greenburg has voiced his thoughts in favor of one on Mike and Mike in the Morning. San Francisco Giants fans are probably screaming for one. It has already been confirmed that Buster Posey’s agent Jeff Berry has called for one. I urge the rest of you, though, to take a step back and assess the entire situation before demanding that Major League Baseball make a rule change about plays at the plate.

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey’s nasty collision with Florida Marlins right fielder Scott Cousins during the 12th inning of their game on Wednesday night was as bad as it looked. Posey now has a fractured left fibula and three torn ligaments in his left ankle, and there is a good chance that he will be out for the rest of the 2011 season. Worse yet is the fact that Posey is one of the game’s rising stars, and an injury like this could affect the rest of his career.

Obviously, you always feel bad when something bad like this happens. You especially feel for a player like Posey, a blossoming superstar whose career could be altered by one play that in the grand scheme of things doesn’t mean all that much. However, keep in mind that this was only one play. When the NFL decided to make a rule to protect “defenseless” players, decades worth of players’ current conditions as a result of repeated blows to the head were examined. In addition, there have been many cases in the past year alone involving violent collisions resulting in concussions that brought the issue of defenseless players to the forefront of the NFL’s problems at hand. Before Wednesday night, I don’t recall any strong lobbying to change rules concerning plays at the plate.

It is important that the MLB doesn’t let the passionate arguments of some people prompt them to make a snap decision without thinking about its consequences first. Of course Jeff Berry is going to be upset. He has good reason to be, too. Posey signed a one-year contract worth about $575,000 in March, and was due to make a lot more money in the upcoming offseason considering his potential to be a bona fide star in the league. There is good reason to believe that Posey, and indirectly, Berry, may have lost out on millions after Wednesday night. While this might not be the sole reason for Berry’s insistence on a rule change, it would be naive to assume that it did not at least partially play into his motivation.

There is something else to keep in mind. Major League Baseball has been extremely stubborn on the issue of instant replay, something that has been talked about for years, and could be helpful on almost a nightly basis. What would it say about the league if they were to quickly make a change on something that largely became an issue overnight, whereas they continue to remain steadfast on an issue that has been on the table for years in instant replay?

There is no problem with Major League Baseball investigating the issue and looking into a possible tweaking of rules concerning plays at the plate. However, a full-scale revision of the rule is unnecessary and would be unwelcomed by the majority of the baseball community. Quite honestly, the league has bigger fish to fry.

– K. Becks