Morning report: Non-pitcher related edition
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- While the horde of media followed the every move of the Four Aces during their first official workout, this reporter found peace on a small, side field away from the pack.
Morning report: Non-pitcher related edition
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- While the horde of media followed the every move of the Four Aces during their first official workout, this reporter found peace on a small, side field away from the pack.
Doug Mansolino, the team's minor-league infield coordinator, grabbed his fungo bat and picked up a ball.
"First one of the spring right here!" he yelled.
Chase Utley waited on the infield grass, fielded the grounder and flipped it to first-base coach Sam Perlozzo. Brian Bocock stood beside Utley and began fielding grounders too. No one said anything. Utley pounded his fist into his glove each time Bocock cleanly fielded one.
"I love it!" Mansolino said. "A little baseball!"
Soon more infielders joined. There was Carlos Rivero, Harold Garcia, Josh Barfield, Jeff Larish and John Mayberry Jr. Then Jimmy Rollins appeared, introduced himself to the new faces, and took the field.
He was mostly toying with Mayberry during practice. The Phillies appear to be serious about providing a serious chance for Mayberry to make the team as a bench player. Adding a new position would help his cause and so he has added the first-baseman's mitt.
Rollins was testing the lanky Mayberry at his new role, purposefully throwing wide or high. The shortstop was impressed.
"Like Derrek Lee out there!" Rollins yelled from across the diamond.
Rollins came off the field and I remarked how unusual it was to see him here. Typically, Rollins is among the last players to report to camp.
"Beats digging out of the snow," Rollins said.
Other notes:
-- Both Ben Francisco and Domonic Brown were in the clubhouse this morning and did some light workouts. Brown has been in Clearwater using the facilities for the past few weeks; Francisco just arrived.
-- Larish rolled in with a green Oakland A's bag. His locker is near another former Oakland player, Dan Meyer. Meyer and Joe Blanton, former teammates in Oakland, were tossing partners Sunday.
-- Lefthander Antonio Bastardo said he had to shut himself down after just nine innings of winter ball in the Dominican Republic. After an examination, no significant injury was revealed in his left arm and the 25-year-old pitcher said he expects to throw Tuesday with the rest of his group.
-- We will have some updates from the press conference with the Four Aces in a bit.
cannot wait for the season to begin!! such a great time to be a phillies fan!!!— Howie FelterSnatch- man i wish i was hitting ground balls to chase right now ...cant wait for the season to start 101 wins— phillykid19
Need a trade to shake up the Phillies. Time to let go Rollins and possibly Utley for a player like Pujois. Rollins has been subpar during the season and Utley seems to choke during playoff time. Move Howard to 2nd and allow Pujois to take first. Spend some money Philly and bring Albert to the city.- Question: How foolish can one response possibly be?
Answer: As foolish as this one by run2jazz2.
I am not saying Rollins or even Utley are untouchables (But they are close) but why would you trade one of them, and very possibly negatively impact the clubhouse chemistry and bring in a 1st baseman so now we'd have two very pricey, immobile infielders who can only play first?
Then you close by imploring the team to spend some money... Do you think the Four Aces are here as volunteers?
That's some dumb posting there pal. - Howard at second? Didn't Utley hit like 5 HR's against the Yankees? Do you have a clue? — Grazman
- Howard to second?! Hahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhaha — RhondaBillings
- HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA — RhondaBillings
- run2jazz2...i dont know who was dumb enough to give you a baseball card, but i have just revoked it. that may be one of the worst baseball suggestions ive ever heard, and my sister says some pretty off the wall stuff! (i.e. donovan mcnabb is a bad quarterback because he throws the ball hard---and i know he stinks now but this was during his prime).
rollins has had a couple down years but is still a premiere shortstop and a team leader, and utley was hurt last year, but it still the top 2nd baseman in the game (wait your turn cano). and yes, youre TOTALLY right about utley choking in the playoffs...ya know, the guy who tied reggie jacksons record for most home runs hit during a world series! what a choker chase is.
and moving howard to 2nd??? are you insane? sure the guy has improved his defense at first but he cant move like a 2nd baseman needs to move.
you should check out amazon.com or barnes and noble. im sure they have a lot of books on baseball education. 
wish i was in Clearwater right now having a beer with Dutch Daulton- @run2jazz u wanna move rollins and utley, and then put howard at first? r u serious? its reasons like this y im glad a lot of people dont get considered when they apply to sports teams for jobs. thats just asinine— skit1349
- I see the trolls are out early. We're about to embark on arguably the most exciting season in Phillies history and that's all you can come with? As trade huh? How about we trade you for a real baseball fan?— JLH
- @run2jazz u wanna move rollins and utley, and then put howard at second? r u serious? its reasons like this y im glad a lot of people dont get considered when they apply to sports teams for jobs. thats just asinine— skit1349
- Very positive to see so many guys there early, especially Rollins.— eman
- Howard has enough trouble playing first base without moving the lefty to second base. Besides we don't need the greedy Pujols in Philly.— rolenfan
- the pujols comment is too dumb to respond to— kurzie23
- How about we trade rollins and Utley and Victorino in a three team deal and recieve back Pujols, Prince Fielder and Adrian Gonzoloz, then all we have to do is move Fielder to CF, Gonzo to second and why not just have Howard play SS, I think he's got the range... hahahahaha moron, Lets get it on!!!!!
- let's trade everyone and then pay $100 for the nose bleed seats, $1000 for the field level seats and play ball. Seriously. The team is good enough as it is. Sure, I wouldn't mind trading Kendrick, Blanton, or Worley for some bullpen help or maybe a RH OF, but there is no need to.— palmyra21
- I'm keeping a close eye on Bastardo. He has the "goods" to be a solid pitcher for a long time, and we'll need him if/when Romero starts walking the entire stadium. Pen is paper thin right now. Having two quality lefties for middle relief would be huge this year.— beegal99
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- Eagles beating Packers, not really sputnick40. Eagles are toast from now on. Jim Johnson was the reason they were good, not fat man. Got it! BirdsSuck — BirdsSuck
- Comment removed.
- Ya know , i'd give a couple bucks , to see Howard at SS , Did ya see That , Harry ?— ingy9
- Yeah Utley chokes in the playoffs...WHAAAAAATTTT?????? Did you happen to catch the 2008 world series??? The Phillies are just awesome the way they are! I wouldn't be shocked if the get 105 plus wins this year— ericyshel
- I think if we move Howard to second we should just shift everyone else accordingly: Ruiz to first, Utley to third, Polanco to shortstop, Rollins to LF, Ibanez to CF, Victorino to RF, Brown and Francico to the rotation and Halladay to catcher.— s
- played called the "defensive wheel" lol! — phigglesfan75
We'll be following every Spring Training day like we used to follow training camp in 2004. Going to be fun.
Don't worry about bullpen holes. Rubes will take care of it. The outfield will be fine.— Rotcod- Five years ago, who thought you'd ever read a column that started like this in the national media (Tom Verducci, SI.com)?
"Forget pitching and defense. The road to the World Series is I-95.
As spring training camps open this week, the axis of power in baseball for a fifth straight year is the Philadelphia-New York-Boston corridor. The latest round of winter spending reminded us that there are two tiers of teams in baseball: the Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox -- teams for which success is nothing less than a World Series title -- and everybody else."
We've come a long way, baby!
— DDiceRC - this jazz 2 moron is probably a so-called white man the idiotic statements made by him and the picture of a so-called black man(part of his bigoted way to infer that blacks are dumb)are easily to see thru..try something else.— only 9
- Baseball is finally here. Man it has been a long winter! I can't wait to see what this team's got. Go Phils!— justacarpenter
Rollins ....... If you are the leadoff hitter please be patient, don't swing for the fences and stay healthy— shawnmac- Rollins in this early for the first time? Shocker......Contract year!— Bigkahuna3131
- Can we *please* stop referring to the rotation as the Four Aces? "We will have updates on the press conference with the Four Aces in a bit" -- ?! Come on! Joe Blanton is there too. I felt like his discomfort was palpable. Please, especially you journalists, please be professional. It's so obnoxious.— RhondaBillings
- It seems like Bastardo is always having some sort of injury issue— NJtoWS
- Comment removed.
- Translation: "Beats digging out of the snow" = "contract year"— jtj06
- All those core guys should be solid for us for at least 2 or 3 years. No reason to talk trade we have the best team in baseball.....c'mon seriously now!— JimSeitz
- Finally, an article about the guys - not just the four you-know-who...— M60tanker
