Malicuous contact in MLB???

[JRutledge]

Should MLB make the plays that took place out Buster Posey for the rest of the season (catcher collision at home plate) illegal like other levels do with the malicious contact rules? Or is this just baseball and should continue and never have a rules change?

BTW, Posey's agent made this suggestion and they have been talking about it on ESPN all morning.

Peace

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Should MLB make the plays that took place out Buster Posey for the rest of the season (catcher collision at home plate) illegal like other levels do with the malicious contact rules? Or is this just baseball and should continue and never have a rules change?

BTW, Posey's agent made this suggestion and they have been talking about it on ESPN all morning.

Peace

It's time. Question is: Will Posey ever be the same again?

[Ump Rube]

For those that have not seen it:
Buster Posey likely out for season with leg fracture | MLB.com: News

The left (HP side) ankle of the catcher is where the injury is. The last replay (about 2:40 in) is the most graphic.

[UmpTTS43]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

It's time. Question is: Will Posey ever be the same again?

Nice. Coming from a Guy who I believed said the DH rule is bad. This is a can left unopened.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by UmpTTS43

Nice. Coming from a Guy who I believed said the DH rule is bad. This is a can left unopened.

My feelings on the DH are this: I'm OK with it, but both leagues should use the same rule. I'd prefer to see pitchers bat. Cliff Lee had 2 hits and 3 RBI yesterday. Roy Oswalt had an RBI single tonight.

Violent collisions at the plate are of dubious value. Once the catcher has the ball, it rarely comes out. Most times there's a collision, the runner would score without the collision anyway.

[David B]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

My feelings on the DH are this: I'm OK with it, but both leagues should use the same rule. I'd prefer to see pitchers bat. Cliff Lee had 2 hits and 3 RBI yesterday. Roy Oswalt had an RBI single tonight.

Violent collisions at the plate are of dubious value. Once the catcher has the ball, it rarely comes out. Most times there's a collision, the runner would score without the collision anyway.

Well and now with NCAA and HS having rules, the future MLB players have grown up with rules that protect at 2nd and home.

Then they get to MLB and all of a sudden its "gloves off". Interesting to read on ESPN what some old MLB players said. Obviously they don't have a inkling that today in college and in HS there are rules to protect the F2.

Many of the comments were "there is no way to govern what happens at the plate etc., " Guess it shows a little head in the sand for those guys.

I agree that most collisions at the plate are unnecessary - and that the runner would have scored anyway.

Thanks
David

[MikeStrybel]

Many of today's MLB players did not grow up with Fed or NCAA rules. OBR governs much of the planet from adolescents on up. They permit take out slides, brush backs and MC. We have those rules because of litigation and a desire to protect. Much of the world plays hardnosed baseball.

[PeteBooth]

Rut if MLB is going to institutue an MC rule then IMO they also need to amend the OBS rule.

Presently in OBR F2 or any fielder for that matter CAN block the ENTIRE base without the ball as long as he is considered in the act of fielding.

The reason F2's get injured is because they are blocking the ENTIRE plate and in some instances the only recoarse the runner has at attaining home plate is to bowl over or dislodge the ball from F2.

Therefore you cannot have "your cake and eat it to". If you want an MC rule then the OBS rule needs to be amended as well.

It's my gut (especially with the kinds of money these ball players are making) that OBR will put in more safety provisions and it would not shock me to see OBR mirror some NCAA or FED safety rules. (ala the FPSR)

Pete Booth

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

Rut if MLB is going to institutue an MC rule then IMO they also need to amend the OBS rule.

Presently in OBR F2 or any fielder for that matter CAN block the ENTIRE base without the ball as long as he is considered in the act of fielding.

Who cares if they amend the rule? It is not impossible to change the rule. Also he was not blocking the plate.

Peace

[PeteBooth]

I guess we see things differently. Posey was blocking the plate well before he received the ball. IMO, that's why R3 did what he did.

Pete Booth

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

I guess we see things differently. Posey was blocking the plate well before he received the ball. IMO, that's why R3 did what he did.

Pete Booth

Not in the videos I've seen. Catcher was up the 1BL a bit. Not saying it was illegal as MLB is called right now ... but he was not yet blocking the plate -- the runner clearly was going to dislodge the ball and nearly missed the plate entirely because of it.

It won't surprise me at all if we some changes because of this.

(Edit to add ... just watched the replay above - at no point is Posey actually in the runner's way - until the runner decided to go for him instead of the plate.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

I guess we see things differently. Posey was blocking the plate well before he received the ball. IMO, that's why R3 did what he did.

Pete Booth

Not sure what we see differently, because I am not making the point you are or debating the validity.

But the runner went inside when he when he could have gone outside. In other words he had access to the plate from what I saw in the video. Instead he went straight at Posey to take him out. I agree with you that the rule would have to change about blocking the plate, but that is not why this happen. You do not need to block the plate for these plays to happen at the MLB level anyway. I am just wondering if it is time to change the acceptability of this play regardless of what the catcher might have done. And at the college and HS level, blocking the plate would not exonerate the actions of the runner anyway.

Peace

[MikeStrybel]

My first thought is that the reason we have MC rules is to protect those who aren't being paid to play - many times, minors. MLB catchers know the risk they run, as do the players who collide with them. I don't see it as cheap. It was hardnosed and brutal but something that is expected at that level. Ray Fosse was the recipient of such a play and even he is on record as saying that pro catchers must be ready to be knocked down when trying to tag out a runner. If Ray can say that after Pete Rose separated his shoulder in an All Star game, that speaks volumes about pro expectations.

Upon further consideration, I think that introducing MC to professional baseball is simply a way to protect investments while winking at purpose pitches and slides that break up double plays. Plenty of pros have been injured by such slides but few call for them to be outlawed. I hope Buster recovers but not at the expense of pseudo-safety rules in pro ball.

Listen to the KNBR interview with Bruce Bochy. Even he admits that it is part of the game and that Cousins believed that Posey was going to come up with the ball for a tag. Bochy said that it sucks but that's baseball.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

I guess we see things differently. Posey was blocking the plate well before he received the ball. IMO, that's why R3 did what he did.

Pete Booth

Absolute nonsense. Posey was completly in fair territory and R3 had a path to the plate that did not require the take out hit.

This is not to argue that R3 shouldn't have, as a precaution to be safe, taken him out. But he didn't have to take him out to reach the plate.

[jdmara]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Should MLB make the plays that took place out Buster Posey for the rest of the season (catcher collision at home plate) illegal like other levels do with the malicious contact rules? Or is this just baseball and should continue and never have a rules change?

BTW, Posey's agent made this suggestion and they have been talking about it on ESPN all morning.

Peace

I agree with Rich, it's time

-Josh