"Buster Posey will put on his customary helmet, shinguards and chest protector when he gets behind the plate in a few months. But he won't get any additional safeguards in the rule book.

Although Giants officials remain in favor of a rule change that would protect catchers from being targeted in home-plate collisions, the matter didn't come up officially at the winter meetings last week in Dallas. It didn't get past Joe Torre, Major League Baseball's vice president for on-field operations.

Torre heard out Giants manager Bruce Bochy in several phone calls over the summer but declined to recommend that the rules committee take up the matter.

"Well, listen, I knew it was more emotional than anything else," Torre said last week. "None of us like to see that. But I really haven't heard anything that would encourage me to change anything or recommend a change. Being a catcher for a lot of years, I knew what the consequences were."

Bochy isn't giving up. He spoke informally with several managers at the winter meetings in an attempt to build consensus; he said at least four or five agreed that a change was warranted. Tony La Russa, who retired after leading the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series, was among those on board, Bochy said."