Results tagged ‘ Rollins ’
Current State of the Phillies– Spring Training is Going Along Swimmingly
Yesterday was the Phillies‘ first full-squad workout, and all players were there and accounted for. Most players showed up early, such as Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins, who usually arrives last minute.
Victorino spoke to the media a few days ago, and said some pretty Victorino-like things: “This team has one thing in mind, and that’s to win.” also, “We have a lot of things to go out there and work on, but that’s why we’re here, and we have to take it one day at a time.” Calm, cool, and collective. Mahalo, brah!
The very humble Chase Utley also spoke to the media: “For me, I try not to look too far ahead, but it’s no secret that we have a very strong pitching staff and experienced team, and we know how to win, so, we’re all working hard this off-season and continue to get better, so, we’ll just go from there.”
Jimmy Rollins made a prediction when he stated: “We’ll win 100 games, I really plan on going after, who is it, Seattle won 116 or something recently.” and he also feels very confident that he will remain on the team after the 2011 season, when his contract is up; “Obviously that’s up to me. I help them make a decision, so if I do good, it makes it easy on them. if I don’t do good, which I don’t plan on happening, it will be a very tough decision.” Jimmy should have one hell of a season, seeing that he arrived early to spring training, he ran 5 miles for 2 days of the week, and also did yoga on those 2 days.
Other than the players taking batting practice and the pitchers throwing bullpen sessions, there really isn’t much news. Spring training is going very well after 6 days, so I leave you with the fact that this is the last weekend without a baseball game for a long, long time.
I am now blogging for the Cape May County Herald, and I will not be posting articles on here as often as I usually do, so check out CBPhresh here.
Ranting and Worrying
My rant of the evening: Infielders and the bench.
I have more questions than I have answers. The number one thing that I worry about is injuries. “What if” is always a question that I face while thinking about the bench. What if Polly gets sent to the disabled list and Wilson Valdez follows? We do not have Greg Dobbs anymore, but we do have Tagg Bozied who played for the Reading Phillies in 2010, who is capable of fielding first base and third base. If there just so happens to be an idle Rollins and Valdez combination, we have on the farm: Brian Bocock. We saw him last year in a few late season games around the time the Phillies clinched the N.L. East. In the minors, Bocock started in 119 games at shortstop posting a .977 fielding percentage. I’m not worried about offense from the back-up men, because there are 7 other guys who will contribute to the offense party, 8 guys if Roy Halladay is starting that game.
I understand that the odds of Bozied or Bocock suffering an injury at the same time as Valdez and Polanco is highly unlikely, but let us take a walk down memory lane for a second. Think back to 2010 when Carlos Ruiz, Brian Schneider, and Paul Hoover were all injured, we had to put in Dane Sardinha, and if he were to have suffered an injury at the time, there were talks of Jayson Werth starting in the catchers position.
High Expectations Part 2
Infield regulars:
Ryan Howard, 1B-
Ryan Howard this year should easily be able to turn the power on, and never let it get turned off. After RyHo’s ankle injury last season, he only hit 8 homerun’s, and if you have not realized, he’s supposed to be the homerun king of the team. Some may argue that Ryan Howard just doesn’t have “it” anymore, but he’s a star, he truly is. The postseason was not his place in ’09 or ’10, but those weren’t our years anyway. This year will be our year. It’s not very often that Ryan commits an error at first, he’s only committed 78 in his 7 years as a Phil’, which isn’t awful if you think about it. Defense=solid. Offense=solid, as long as he stays injury free.
Chase Utley, 2B-
Chase was overly idle last season (don’t stretch a single into a double anymore, please) and that is the only flaw I could find. Defense was great, and offense was pretty much there. I’m going to be saying this a lot in this article, but as long as he stays away from the disabled list, he should be incredible as always. Order your ticket’s now for Utley’s corner (over here, insert filtered image of section) because that should be the prime spot for a ball hit by Mr. Utley.
Wilson Valdez’s Fate
It’s been a while since I’ve really talked about any players. I’ve talked about this guy alot, because he’s my favorite unsung hero; Wilson Valdez a.k.a Castaway. He has had his moments of fame from time to time, but I have a feeling that 2011 isn’t going to be a big year for him.
The only reason why Wilson Valdez played in 111 games in 2010, is because of the incredible amount of injuries between Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, and Jimmy Rollins.
Here’s what I’m thinking, if Jimmy Rollins has an injury-free season, and proves himself to be re-signable after the 2011 season, then Wilson Valdez isn’t going to see many opportunites. There’s always the fear that Placido or Chase are going to be sent to the DL again, which is the only way that Wilson will be the man to go to, to fill in the place of that injured player.
But, what if all three regulars have above average seasons without injury? Then what? Poor Wilson is left to fill in their spots only if Skipper Charlie Manuel gives them an off day.
There is a topic that many are avoiding: the 2011-2012 off-season. I’m dreading to see what will happen to free agents such as Cole Hamels and Jimmy Rollins. I can honestly see Jimmy Rollins being traded for $$, and Wilson Valdez replacing him in 2012. Which would leave room on the budget for Cole Hamels. That’s my theory, for now anyway, it’s up to their performances in 2011.
I hate to say it, because it kills me, but I really wish Wilson Valdez could play right field at CBP (keep it phresh, yo) because that would make the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies the (here comes a Jimmy quote) team to beat.
My Fabulous Saturday
Hello CBPhresh reader’s, long time, no write. So today on December 4th, 2010, I had what I thought was going to be the greatest day of my life. It wasn’t, but it was still freakin’ awesome.
First off, I was already planning on meeting Todd Zolecki of The Zo Zone , which I did! But then I found out about a baseball card/memoribilia convention at the Valley Forge Convention Center which to me sounded like heaven. On top of that, Shane Victorino, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Madson, and Cole Hamels were going to be there along with the 1980 World Champion Phillies. Oh my God. Of course I had to brag about it to my Facebook friends.
So I somehow convinced my oldest brother Matt to take me to CBP and Valley Forge in the same day, and he had to cope with my excitement the whole way there. Danielle 1, Matt 0.
So we got to CBP and there was no line at the time for Todd Zolecki’s book signing for “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (my favorite book!) so I approached him and probably scared the crap out of him, seeing that I came on a little strong…”HI, I’M DANIELLE, YOUR BIGGEST FAN.” Ha, oh well, he signed my book and I went on with my day merrily.
Next was Valley Forge to meet the greatest men who have ever lived. So we get there, and after 10 minutes of trying to find where it was in the building, we find out that the only player still left there was Bake McBride. This was a HUGE disappointment to me, I was so excited! But, oh well.
After a random 20 minute stop at the King of Prussia Mall, it was Wawa, then CBP again for a tree lighting ceremony.
Matt and I got there just as Scott Palmer (don’t really know what he does, exactly) started adressing the crowd. First off, it was absolutely freezing outside. Second, Phanta Claus and Jimmy Rollins were running a tad late. But after a few Christmas songs, and the ballgirls stalling, J-Roll had arrived. Before it was time to light the tree, he asked us what we wanted for Christmas, and after many had shouted “JAYSON WERTH!” I waited until it fell silent so that I could shout “RE-SIGN MIKE SWEENEY!” which got a chuckle out of J-Roll. I felt so accomplished! Behind the tree is a banner of Roy Halladay and his Cy Young award. Here’s a before and after:
So that was my fabulous Saturday, how was yours?
Who’s Jimmy Rollins?
What does the name Jimmy Rollins mean to you? When you think of him, do you think Gold glove/Silver slugger/ All-star Rollins? Or do you think of the very idle 2010 Rollins? Many have turned on him this year, and do not have good things to say about him. I for one still believe that without Jimmy, they aren’t the Philadelphia (soon to be NL East champs) Phillies. His presence has turned this club around, and the numbers are astonishing when he’s mixed in there. This year however, he’s been placed on the disabled list, much to our dismay, 3 times. At one point you may have found yourself thinking “Oh yeah, I forgot we had Rollins”. Come on, you did. The real story behind this however, is the fact that his replacement, Wilson Valdez, has basically been up to par, and a little extra somethin’.
Jimmy Rollins / Wilson Valdez
GS: 82 103
PA: 374 342
H: 81 81
RBI: 37 33
HR: 7 4
BA: .245 .256
R: 47 30
GDP: 4 19
Alright, so, I only added GDP because the fact that Wilson’s hit into 19 is just hilarious to me. But anywho, He’s been our absolute best utility player of the entire season. His numbers almost match Jimmy’s, for a guy who you’d think would just show up at the plate, pop out, play shortstop, repeat. Nope, Wilson Valdez has gotten his fair share of MVP chants from my living room, and probably from a few sections of CBP (keep it phresh, yo).
Wilson has played in 103 games and has filled in: 39 for Chase Utley, 54 for Jimmy Rollins, and 3 for Placido Polanco. Combined, Jimmy and Wilson have scored 77 runs out of the 723 that the Phillies have scored this season.There really isn’t much more you can ask of him, and I have a good feeling that we haven’t seen the last of him.
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