Ladies, gentleman and Justin Upton the Chase Utley rule is
coming. Much like Major League Baseball, and specifically Commissioner of Major
League Baseball Rob Manfred, vowed to protect the catchers in the game the
league is now making strides towards protecting their middle infielders as
well. We all know the back story by now, Chase Utley went hard and late into
second base during the NLDS against the New York Mets sliding well past the bag
in a play that resulted in a broken fibula for the Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada.
The slide was dirty and it was late but the slide was no worse than any other
in recent memory but despite all that Utley was suspended for two games, which
he is appealing, for the play. The league, its fans and the players, Justin
Upton I’m looking at you here, were immediately up in arms about the play voicing
their opinions and those opinions have been heard.
The Chase Utley rule is coming. The rule likely won’t be
called that but I think the nickname will stick. Manfred wants to meet with the
owners, the players, the umpires and the unions to hammer out a plan to protect
middle infielders before the beginning of the 2016 season. Manfred said he
began contemplating a rule change as early as this summer, before the Utley and
Tejada incident, before the Didi Gregorius and Jose Altuve incident, before the
Jung Ho Kang and Chris Coghlan incident that also resulted in a broken leg for
the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie and other incidents happened this season. The
Utley and Tejada incident was just the icing on the cake for Manfred to work
with the league to get a deal done in some capacity.
The league may be reactive instead of proactive here but
with a union, the strongest union in the world mind you, and so many moving
parts sometimes that can be impossible. Kudos to the league for doing something
to protect their assets, MLB is a business first and foremost, and for
protecting the young stars playing the game. Some may say the game is getting
soft or following in the NFL’s footsteps (the No Fun League) but let them talk
because Ruben Tejada’s not having any fun right now and neither is Chase Utley.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)