Buster Posey gets destroyed, Agent Jeff Barry whines

[OnTheWarpath15]

Completely clean play. I'm sure this guy would be whining like this had it happened to some ****stick that plays for Pittsburgh.

ESPN discusses the play:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...=ESPNHeadlines

Video:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?co..._copy_15201655

Giants catcher Buster Posey is awaiting word of just how serious he is hurt, after he apparently suffered a significant leg injury while blocking home plate in the 12th inning of San Francisco's game Wednesday night. But his agent is not waiting to lobby for change.

Posey suffered a broken bone in his ankle, according to a source, CSNBayArea.com reported Thursday.

Posey's agent, Jeff Berry, said Thursday morning he reached out to Joe Torre, leader of on-field operations for Major League Baseball, and raise the idea of changing the rules regarding plays at the plate. He also spoke with the players' union about the play.

Over time, it is has become accepted practice for catchers to block home plate, and for baserunners to launch themselves into catchers.

"You leave players way too vulnerable," Berry said. "I can tell you Major League Baseball is less than it was before [Posey's injury]. It's stupid. I don't know if this ends up leading to a rule change, but it should. The guy [at the plate] is too exposed.

"If you go helmet to helmet in the NFL, it's a $100,000 fine, but in baseball, you have a situation in which runners are [slamming into] fielders. It's brutal. It's borderline shocking. It just stinks for baseball. I'm going to call Major League Baseball and put this on the radar. Because it's just wrong."

Scott Cousins scored the go-ahead run in a brutal collision with Posey at home in the 12th inning, injuring the star catcher in a 7-6 loss to the Florida Marlins. Posey went for X-rays on his left ankle and the Giants said there would be no test results released until later Thursday, when he'll have an MRI exam.

"It's huge. He's one of the leaders of the team already and what he brings every day is something you can't replace," Giants right fielder Nate Schierholtz said. "I'm just hoping for the best. I couldn't really see what happened from out there. I was just hoping for the best. Maybe he got the wind knocked out of him or something."

Berry, in a statement issued Thursday after he'd contacted MLB and the players' union, said Posey was in front of home plate and never blocked the plate, while Cousins, who had room to slide, lowered his shoulder as he approached home.

"At [the] point of impact, all of Buster's body is still two feet in front of the plate leaving all of the plate exposed for the runner," Berry said.

The play came after the Giants rallied from four runs down in the ninth in one of the wildest nights of their young season.

The deciding play came when Emilio Bonifacio hit a shallow fly ball to right-center off Guillermo Mota (2-1) for the second out. Cousins tagged from third base on the sacrifice fly, beating the throw from Schierholtz and lowering his shoulder to slam into Posey for a clean -- albeit cringing -- hit on the reigning NL Rookie of the Year.

Cousins was safe as Posey never quite could corral the ball. Cousins, who attended the University of San Francisco, lives in the Bay Area and had almost a dozen friends and family in attendance, said he felt sorry for injuring Posey but believed it was a clean baseball play.

"I felt like he was blocking the dish. It's the go-ahead run to win the game, I got to do whatever I can to score," Cousins said. "I'm not trying to end anybody's season or anything like that. I just was trying to play hard and score the go-ahead run. He didn't say much and you could tell he was in pain.

"And when their manager, when Bruce (Bochy) came out, he was pretty frustrated. I didn't want to make things any more tense."

After several minutes of being attended to at the plate, with fans finally chanting "Posey! Posey!" he was helped off the field by two team trainers, holding his left leg and looking stunned.

"It's the toughest play in baseball. You hate to see it," Bochy said. "As a catcher you know what it's like, and you don't like it. Believe me. When I see him laying there, it's certainly not a good feeling."

Cousins said he felt for Posey and repeatedly mentioned that he wasn't trying to injure him. He said he would find a way to contact Posey to wish him well.

"It's a baseball play. I feel bad for Buster Posey, I really do," Cousins said. "I'm going to send a message over there to them."

[Blankey]

Yeah let's change a 100+ year old rule just because a young star broke his leg

[KevB]

Originally Posted by Blankey

Yeah let's change a 100+ year old rule just because a young star broke his leg

Carlos Santana was also a young star who broke his leg doing the same thing last year. I'd say it's worth looking at.

[ClevelandBronco]

So is this Berry bundle of sticks suggesting a fine? The threat of a fine wouldn't change that play.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

It's an unfortunate rule.... But if catchers can block the plate, then what can you do?

[ClevelandBronco]

Originally Posted by Lemon_Pie

It's an unfortunate rule.... But if catchers can block the plate, then what can you do?

Allow the catcher to call for a fair catch, direct the runner to the dugout, and reconstruct the play using CGI that would determine the likelihood of the runner reaching the plate. If the software determines that the runner would have a 60% likelihood of scoring, his team would be awarded 0.6 runs. In fact, if this idea catches on, teams wouldn't really have to have any real players. It's in the game.

[thebrad84]

Watched the video. I agree that a player shouldn't be allowed to crush the catcher like that and have absolutely no intentions of doing so to be able to get to the plate. It was blatantly obvious that the runner slammed in to Posey with the only intention of preventing him from catching the ball. The only time a player should be able to run in to the catcher is if the catcher is completely blocking the entire plate and the runner is just trying to clear room so he can get to the plate. Would be tough to enforce I guess, but I suppose it would just be a judgement call made by the home plate ump.

[DeezNutz]

The problem with that play is that Posey doesn't have the plate blocked completely. The back portion was exposed (not on purpose, mind you), so contact could have been avoided.

That said, if I'm the runner, I'm going to initiate contact in that situation.

[chiefzilla1501]

I think it's a legitimate gripe and one I never really thought of. In football, the big "no-no" is launching yourself at an offensive player. I think what this guy did is a lot different than just plowing someone over. I don't think you should get tagged for helmet to helmet or anything like that. But I think if you leave your feet to launch at a catcher, that's something they should stop.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I think it's a legitimate gripe and one I never really thought of. In football, the big "no-no" is launching yourself at an offensive player. I think what this guy did is a lot different than just plowing someone over. I don't think you should get tagged for helmet to helmet or anything like that. But I think if you leave your feet to launch at a catcher, that's something they should stop.

Well then you have to stop the players from trying to break up a double play at 2cd too. You know sliding in with thier spikes or sliding late and catching the defensive player up in the air and fliping him over.
Where would it ever stop.

[thebrad84]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

Well then you have to stop the players from trying to break up a double play at 2cd too. You know sliding in with thier spikes or sliding late and catching the defensive player up in the air and fliping him over.
Where would it ever stop.

Well, wouldn't it stop if they just enforced the rules on those two scenarios? Those are the only two scenarios in baseball where they allow the runner to make contact with teh fielder and it not be deemed runner/player interference. Not sure when and why they started allowing it, but as someone above already stated, there are rules already in place that should make both scenarios against the rules. They just don't enforce them.

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by thebrad84

Well, wouldn't it stop if they just enforced those two rules? Those are the only two scenarios in baseball where they allow the runner to make contact with teh fielder and it not be deemed runner/player interference. Not sure when and why they started allowing it, but as someone above already stated, there are rules already in place that should make both scenarios against the rules. They just don't enforce them.

If they started making contact illegal, the fielders would have to make some serious adjustments since they rarely are touching the base on force-outs anymore.

I'd love to somehow become a MLB umpire and just piss everyone off because I actually required an infielder to catch the ball and touch the base. No more courtesy out calls. Just one time, I want to see an umpire look at the fielder for a second, signal safe, then explain to the fielder that he never touched the base while possessing the ball.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by thebrad84

Well, wouldn't it stop if they just enforced those two rules? Those are the only two scenarios in baseball where they allow the runner to make contact with teh fielder and it not be deemed runner/player interference. Not sure when and why they started allowing it, but as someone above already stated, there are rules already in place that should make both scenarios against the rules. They just don't enforce them.

The difference is at home there has to be a tag. As a runner you just going to give up and let them tag you when part of the rule is that they have to keep possession of the ball through the tag for it to be an out? At second the fielder has to have his foot on the bag. So by Rule you have to be in the way. As the runner you have to keep going full speed because you don't know when a fielder is going to make an error and you would be safe.

These professionals are taught this stuff from the time they start playing ball.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

The problem with that play is that Posey doesn't have the plate blocked completely. The back portion was exposed (not on purpose, mind you), so contact could have been avoided.

That said, if I'm the runner, I'm going to initiate contact in that situation.

That was a chickenshit play by the runner. He just launched his shoulder in to the catcher. Reminded me of Pete Rose / Ray Fosse. He could have slid. He he had helmet to helmet contact. That would be a fine in the NFL let alone MLB.

[kstater]

His client could always get out of the way if he's afraid of getting hurt.