I hate traditions. I hate “that’s how we always do it” as an answer. I hate that people still complain about instant replay and interleague play as though they are ruining baseball. I hate that traditions have driven the practice of things from politics to daily life to sports. Heck, I even own a shirt saying it.

That being said, not all rules need to be changed.

Case in point, Buster Posey. If you aren’t one of the many Giants fans that just groaned at the mention of Buster Posey, let me explain. Posey is the young, up-and-coming catcher for the world champs and a big reason why the Giants became world champs in the first place. He’s the club’s cleanup hitter and the everyday rock behind the plate, anchoring San Francisco’s deadly pitching staff.

Or I should say, he was. That all came to an end last Wednesday in the 12th inning of a game against the Florida Marlins. Scott Cousins, a young outfielder who went to college at the University of San Francisco before joining the Marlins, went barreling into Posey during a play at the plate. Cousins scored the go-ahead and eventual winning run on the play, but the play is remembered more for Posey’s body going one way while his left leg did not.

Posey’s ankle folded on itself, and he lay on the dirt near the plate in agony until he could be attended to by the training staff. As expected, later test results showed that the damage would require season ending surgery. Left without one of their brightest stars, the Giants have been justifiably angry. This anger has led to many people, including the team’s general manager Brian Sabean, calling for a rule change.

Currently, baseball allows players to run into the catcher at home plate in an effort to dislodge the ball. The injury to Posey is making many people feel that a change needs to be made to this rule. Looking at the video of the play, it seems that Cousins probably could have chosen to go around Posey instead of through him.

But does this injury necessitate an overhaul of the rule book? I say no. The injury was definitely sad, but injuries are part of the game. They are part of all sports, in fact. Caring about players’ safety is very important and should not be underestimated. But reacting to every major injury by changing the rules is just a naive waste of time.

What rule could stop the injury that just happened to Posey? Some people, including Sabean, have said that players should be required to slide into home plate just like any other base. But slides have their own negative effects. In April, the Twins’ new acquisition, second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka, broke his fibula when Nick Swisher slid legally into his planted leg. And that’s just one example. Bringing in mandatory slides at home could put the runner in more danger going up against a well-padded catcher in an exposed position. Legal plays have their costs, and there aren’t enough rule changes to get rid of these plays.

It’s only natural to try to prevent serious injuries from happening again, but in some cases, that’s all you can do. My hometown Angels has lost their best batter for over a season and a half, because he broke his leg celebrating a walk-off grand slam. Pitchers break their hands punching water coolers, and players strain their backs playing with their children. Injuries happen, and athletes are fragile. Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Learning from one mistake is often the best way to stop bad things from happening in the future, but too often people overreact to an injury. Concussions are a big problem in football, but the current plan of fining and penalizing more and more people for every big hit is pointless. Yes, concussions should be minimized, but taking a player’s money for a legal hit is silly. Instead of changing rules, change how players are taught to tackle. Educate players on what is safe and what isn’t.

You’ll never take injuries out of sports. Any athlete who has played any level of organized sports or even a pickup game of anything physical can tell you that accidents happen. Instead of trying to manipulate the rules to solve every individual problem, attack the bigger problems, and maybe you’ll find some results.

Jacob Jaffe once suffered a wrist strain after vigorously typing this column. Send him some writer safety suggestions at jwjaffe “at” stanford.edu.