Manuel: "We've got to go like hell to find two real good players."
If the Phillies do lose Chase Utley for any amount of time, which judging by today's news seems like a growing possibility, they will enter 2011 without their top two offensive players from last year. And two of their top three players from the last three seasons:
Manuel: "We've got to go like hell to find two real good players."
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
If the Phillies do lose Chase Utley for any amount of time, which judging by today's news seems like a growing possibility, they will enter 2011 without their top two offensive players from last year. And two of their top three players from the last three seasons:
Phillies leaders 2008-10
Ryan Howard: .269/.350/.541, .892 OPS, 124 HR, 395 RBI, 297 RS, 542 SO
Chase Utley: .284/.388/.502, .890 OPS, 80 HR, 262 RBI, 300 RS, 277 SO
Jayson Werth: .279/.376/.513, .889 OPS, 87 HR, 251 RBI, 277 RS, 422 SO
I asked Charlie Manuel if the Phillies had enough talent currently in camp to make up for the loss of a player like Utley.
Here is what he said:
If we lost Utley and Werth, just from an offensive standpoint, and from a defensive standpoint, we've got to go like hell to find two real good players. I'm not saying we can't do it, because things work sometimes for you and you still have to go out there and play and you can't make no excuses and all that. You guys have heard the way I talk before. But now we're talking about two All-Star players.
So, I said to him, you are saying that you would need to exhaust all possible options outside the organization if you lost Utley?
Here is what he said:
I leave that up to the front office as far as all those things. Usually, they've been very (amenable) and very good at seeing what we need and trying to help us for the last three or four years in that respect, really. That's kind of where I'll leave that.
^
What would a line-up without Utley look like?
Here's my best guess:
- Jimmy Rollins
- Placido Polanco
- Raul Ibanez
- Ryan Howard
- Ben Francisco
- Shane Victorino
- Carlos Ruiz
- Wilson Valdez
- Pitcher
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1. Rollins
2. Victorino
3. Polanco
4. Howard
5. Francisco
6. Ibanez
7. Ruiz
8. Valdez
9. Hope for a CG shutout— UncleEddie- Not horrible, but certainly not a lineup that would strike fear in the league. But there are no really better options out there, as there is no way they trade for Michael Young with his contract. Let's hope Big Ben and Raul have good years!!!— Chicago_Phils_Fan
- Rollins has never been and will never be a lead-off hitter. He is, at best, a #8 guy, maybe a #7 guy with Valdez playing 2nd base. This is setting the Phils up to fail.— chucksf
- Did ANYBODY really expect the Baseball gods to not try to level the surface when we got The General back? If you take a deeeep breath(!) and step waaay back from the picture....you see that without injuries to the pitching staff, we will win the division rather handily. THEN comes the hard part! So Rube and Management have a good deal of time to figure out WHAT needs to be done to the lineup for the most important part of the season. Buckle up folks, it might be a bumpy ride. go fightins!!!— TBear
- That lineup scares me. You have a career pat-timer in RF, a 41-yo in LF, an injury-prone player at SS and a utility guy at 2B. Even when Utley wasn't hitting he was good for a couple walks. The OBP of that lineup is going to be tragic.— jpk
- jpk, Ibanez is 39.
The Phillies are looking for someone to provide protection for Howard. They also need a true leadoff hitter. So let's kill two birds with one stone. Why not swap Victorino and J-Roll? That would put a much better leadoff guy at the top of the lineup. It would also put some more protection behind Howard. J-Roll feels he's too much of a power hitter for him to be effective as the leadoff guy. He'd rather hit a home run than get on base for the people behind him. I love seeing the Phils bunting more this preseason. That is a great weapon they can use that they don't use enough.— buttermilk67 - chucksf, they won the WS with rollins leading off.— palmyra21
- I agree with TBear. Hold off on the panic for now. The season is long, the pitching staff is unbelievable and (so far) still healthy, and we have players to trade later if needed. We are seeing the lack of depth at most infield positions though. They need to get some of these position players in the farm pipeline at some point.— s
- Hey Phils...Stop acting like money is a problem and make a trade for Michael Young. Then move Poly to second base until (if) Utley get s healthy. And please don't let Rollins lead off. I can't take another season of him popping up to start the game.— ragecage22
- Phillie fans are getting spoiled...It's still preseason with the best rotation this team has even assembled still starting every game. Baseball is a marathon people, and here you are fretting over the car ride to the race, when you haven't run 1 foot of the 26 miles you have to cover. Relax.— Bleue
- @ ragecage22: your an ingrate! How can you say anything about money? Of all the years. You are the reason Philly fans get a bad rap. Go back to your mom's basement and pound a sixer of Budweiser.— DennyP
- Pitching, defense, timely hitting. Does this lineup strike the fear of God into you?
Torres
Sanchez
Huff
Posey
Tejada
Burrell
Sandoval
Ross— Byter 
Comment removed.- 1. Victorino 2. Polanco 3. Ibanez 4. Howard 5. Rollins 6. Francisco 7. Ruiz 8. Valdez 9. Ace— BirdsSuck
- I know Ibañez hit over .300 or so last year as a 3 hole hitter when Charlie put him there, but the best option is Jimmy Rollins, imo, regardless of past numbers hitting there. You want your best all hitter athlete at that spot and that person is JRoll. I think in an extended period of time he can do the job, especially if he's told before hand that that will be his spot for a while, instead of throwing him in there from time to time. And please, Polanco is not a #3 hitter.— EL Zorro
