Via Rob Neyer, Buster Posey’s leg is in bad shape:
Unofficial update: #sfgiants Chris Stewart and Brandon Belt called up. Ford to D.L. Posey has broken leg and torn ligaments.
Breaks usually heal fine. Torn ligaments are a different story. I don’t think he’ll be back any time soon.
From Neyer:
This is essentially as terrible as terrible news gets. Without more details, we can’t know how long Posey will be out, but “broken leg” and “torn ligaments” usually mean surgery (or surgeries) and a long recovery process. Last August, Indians catcher Carlos Santana suffered a similar injury and missed the last two months of the season, but two months seems far too low for an estimate of the time Posey will miss. At the moment, it’s probably best to assume that Posey will not play again this season.
Maybe the Yankees can turn one of their catching prospects into a starting pitcher.
The word is out for the season. Now Posey’s agent wants a rule prohibiting runners from hitting catchers. I’m not holding my breath on that one.
Casey Abell » I wonder if Posey ever took out a catcher?
Carlton Fisk suffered a bad leg injury in 1974 on a plate collision and came back to have a fine career.
Then not allow catchers to block the plate. Isn’t that against the rules anyhow?
There’s an endless comment thread on ESPN about the story on the agent’s complaints. The term “wussification” gets a workout.
I’ve looked at the collision a zillion times. There’s no question that Posey was moving to block the plate and was partially in the baseline when he got hit. Cousins assumed he was going to be out unless he knocked the ball loose. In fact, that would have happened if Posey had made the catch. Since Cousins had no time to adjust to Posey dropping the ball, it’s not a clearly dirty play by any means.
Could Cousins have tried the go-around move with the outstretched arm towards the plate? Sure, but that’s very risky for the runner, leaving the arm and shoulder exposed to the catcher’s tender mercies. Not to mention the possiblility of injury even without the catcher’s assistance (ask Josh Hamilton).
rbj » As my dad likes to point out, Bill Dickey broke the jaw of a player who refused to slide into him. That sort of discouraged that kind of behavior.
@David Pinto: I had not heard that one before! What player?
I actually saw a similar play to the Dickey story. Can’t remember who the catcher was, but the runner was George Foster.
Poor George had his adventures on the bases, and the third base coach was holding him up on the play. But George ran through the stop sign. The catcher had the ball waiting for him.
George meekly slid feet first. The catcher was so disgusted by this diplay that he tagged Foster out hard right on the kisser.
Found it on wikipedia: In 1932, Dickey broke the jaw of Carl Reynolds with one punch in a game after they collided at home plate, and received a 30-day suspension and $1,000 fine as punishment.
On that page they have a picture of some of the 1937 AL all-stars. I didn’t realize how big Greenberg was – especially with Jimmie Foxx standing next to him!
@Casey – I remember that Foster play as well. Good stuff!
1. Having dropped the ball, Posey had nothing to gain by blocking the plate. Yes, it happened very quickly, so this is excusable. But if you’re going to block the plate,
2. GET LOW! The runner is coming with a full head of steam, aiming for a target that is on the ground. The only chance a stationary catcher has is to get under the runner and blow him up. Posey has obviously never played football or rugby.