MLB taking close look at sliding on force plays

After watching Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada carried off the field with a broken leg during the playoffs when the Dodgers’ Chase Utley upended him, Major League Baseball is examining whether to adopt a rule eliminating slides not directly at bases on force plays.

The discussion comes two years after MLB banned homeplate collisions. Central baseball officials spoke with teams, and the rules committee met at this week’s annual gathering of general managers. There will be more talk at next month’s winter meetings and consultation with the players’ association.

“We don’t want to have guys carried off the field,” Joe Torre, MLB’s chief baseball officer, said Wednesday. “Obviously, you can’t lose sight of what the game is about. You don’t want somebody just not trying to get to second base and not trying to keep the inning going. It’s a thin line that you have to walk, and that’s why it’s really tough to put pen to paper.”

In Game 2 of an NL Division Series, New York led 2-1 with one out in the seventh inning and runners at the corners. Los Angeles’ Howie Kendrick hit a grounder up the middle and second baseman Daniel Murphy flipped to Tejada, who took the throw awkwardly for an apparent force as Utley slid past the bag. Utley slammed into Tejada, whose back was turned. Tejada flipped over as the tying run scored from third. Tejada fractured his right fibula, Utley was ruled safe on video review and the Dodgers scored four runs in the inning en route to a 5-2 victory.

Torre later suspended Utley for two games, ruling the slide illegal, discipline the players’ association has appealed.

Pittsburgh’s Jung Ho Kang broke his left leg and tore a knee ligament on a takeout slide in September by the Cubs’ Chris Coghlan, an injury projected to sideline the shortstop for six to eight months. Also at the meetings: With more runners called out on slides when they pop up off a base as fielders keep tags on them in the hope of winning a video review, Torre said MLB plans to review the issue.

The Yankees acquired switch-hitting outfielder Aaron Hicks from Minnesota for catcher John Ryan Murphy and traded infielder Jose Pirela to San Diego for minor-league pitcher Ronald Herrera.

The Mariners re-signed outfielder Franklin Gutierrez to a one-year deal.

Brock has leg amputated: St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock, who stole a National League-record 938 bases, has had his left leg amputated below the knee because of an infection related to diabetes.

The Cardinals and a longtime friend, Dick Zitzmann, confirmed Wednesday that Brock, 76, had had surgery last month. Brock is undergoing therapy at a hospital and will be fitted for a prosthetic leg.

Hanson details: An overdose is possible in the death of former Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tommy Hanson, but the cause of his death has yet to be determined, authorities said.