Rollins re-signs for three years
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Rollins re-signs for three years
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
From the beginning, there was little doubt this winter the Phillies and Jimmy Rollins wanted to continue their 15-year marriage well into the future. In this city's transformation from National League also-ran to baseball power, there was one constant: Rollins.
And he will continue to man shortstop for the only team he has ever known.
The Phillies agreed Saturday to a three-year, $33 million deal with Rollins, according to multiple reports. The deal includes am $11 million vesting option for a fourth year. ESPN.com was the first to report an agreement.
"Gotta deal with me for 3 (4) more years," Rollins tweeted Saturday afternoon.
This day was long assumed even before the market for shortstops dwindled to only Rollins. He is the longest-tenured athlete in Philadelphia, active in the community, and still one of the more productive shortstops in the league.
But Rollins' pride was tested this winter.
Ultimately, it's a concession for Rollins, who declared days after the season abruptly ended that he wanted a five-year contract. But even then, the 33-year-old shortstop admitted Philadelphia was where he wanted to remain.
"I've been here since 1996. That's a long time in this organization," Rollins said shortly after the season ended. "It's the only one I've known. I've never thought about having to go anywhere else."
And really, there was nowhere else for Rollins to go. The Phillies were content to idle for much of the winter because Rollins was their priority, and with an advantage in negotiations, waiting was just fine.
During the winter meetings, signs emerged that a deal was close. The Milwaukee Brewers, the Phillies' top competition for his services, were told not to bother continuing talks with Rollins. They eventually signed Aramis Ramirez, a player the Phillies inquired about as a backup plan, and Alex Gonzalez for the left side of their infield.
An erroneous report surfaced near the end of the winter meetings that the Phillies had agreed to terms with Rollins. That was merely premature.
Rollins offers stability at the top of Charlie Manuel's lineup. His .743 OPS in 2011 ranked 11th among all major-league shortstops and his defense remains above average. Of course, Rollins' production has waned since the MVP season of 2007, but faced with using 22-year-old Freddy Galvis or a stopgap veteran signing to replace him, the Phillies viewed Rollins as the best choice.
Amaro said last week that should Rollins be re-signed, it would likely mark the final offensive addition of the offseason. The Phillies have guaranteed contracts with 16 players for 2012 and four others are eligible for arbitration.
In the end, the market was slim for Rollins and a divorce was never a probability. The Brewers never seriously considered Rollins. Other teams like San Francisco and Atlanta plan to start rookies at shortstop. St. Louis was consumed with their failed quest at re-signing slugger Albert Pujols and eventually settled for Rafael Furcal at shortstop.
Thus, an agreement required Rollins' side to cave on their demands to make a deal. Rollins just completed a six-year, $46.5 million deal. He won an MVP award and three Gold Gloves during the contract, one he thought was a team-friendly deal. A baseball source recently said Rollins resented the idea of taking another discount to return, especially after Jose Reyes signed a six-year, $106 million deal with the Miami Marlins.
"If I was older, I'd take a shorter term," Rollins said in October. "But I’ll be 33 when I get the contract. That means I have good six years left to perform at a high level and maybe even more."
But Rollins is five years Reyes' elder and without leverage, he had no other options. Even then Amaro was careful to be respectful of a player with a substantial legacy in Philadelphia while the team maintained its desire for a shorter term.
"Jimmy has every right to feel prideful about what he's done in his career," Amaro said during the winter meetings. "I absolutely understand. He feels he has great worth and he should feel that way. It's a matter of us getting to the right place where we think the worth is the same."
That happened Saturday. Finally.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
- This signing is as much an indictment on the farm system as anything. The Phillies have no real infielders coming up. Galvis looks good but let's be real: He only really showed an ability to hit last year and he's never faced major league pitching. My guess is in the majors he'd be lucky to give us Wilson Valdez numbers offensively. Maybe in 2 years that will change. But he's all they have. Also no one ready to move up to 3B. That's why we end up with the same aging infield. It's a real gamble in my opinion.
In an ideal world I would have seem some younger guys moving up from the farm and playing bench roles this year so we can start making the transition. But those guys either don't exist or are never given a shot (like Schneider over Kratz).
— s - Gee, he didn't sign a 1 yr contract and test the waters next year when the demand would be greater, as some suggested? HAHAHAHA, you sure can read some funny posts around here.— escapedcamden4monterey
- @gilberg has it: This is a fine regular season team. No question there. And Rollins was really the best option for shortstop. But the overall lineup has shown for two years that it has issues facing top notch post-season pitching. Here's how I see the stars having to align to win a WS (assuming no other big trade): Polly stays healthy and is hitting at the level he usually hits at in April come October. Chase plays a full year without wearing completely down and is hitting strong in September/October. Howard returns and gets to 2008/2009 form in the second half. That's a lot to hope for in my opinion. If that magic doesn't happen we need to hope for Halladay, Lee and Hamels all to be pitching their absolute best games in October. You see what can happen there in a 5 game series: Lee has a decent but not stellar game and we're out without the bats. The JRoll factor, in my opinion, is his effect as lead-off hitter. At this point the only thing that prevents the idea of a change in hitting approach looking like a complete joke is to move Jimmy out of the lead-off spot.— s
- You hit the nail on the head. They haven't had a collective healthy season since the won the WS. Part of it is age and a bit of an indictment on Charlie Manuel's managing. Truth be told he may not play his bench as much as others because his bench sucked over the past few years. It appears he has more pop on the bench, so there are no excuses for him to not rest players. — beegal99
- And don't expect him to be a stolen base threat anymore. In 2008 he stole 47 bases and was caught only 3 times. In 2009, he stole 31 bases and was CS 8 times. In 2009 he only played 88 games due to leg injuries. Last year he stole 30 bases and was caught 8 times. See the trend?— EL Zorro
- Come on guys... Galvis is a borderline major league starter and that is with at least two more years of AAA. There are a million small, no bat SS who can field like demons. They are not starting propsects. Galvis literally had a good two month run at the plate which means nothing. before that he was much closer to being dropped in the not-quite-goood-enough-bin becasue he has been miserable at the plate in every other year. I predict he ends up as a utility guy as his ceiliing and potentially never makes it to the show for any extended period of time. It is nuts for anyone to think that he is major league ready bc he is still as much suspect as prospect. If you really believe the Phillies were truly considering him to start, I have some land in Florida you might want to buy.— UncleStosh
- I agree. See my point above on the farm system. It's a problem. I know we all think we can be armchair GMs but the other part of the offseason I don't get is the bench moves. I agree that the bench is better but if I were RAJ and I looked at the aging infield and the indisputable decline there and I knew I was pretty much locked into what I have, I would have tried to compensate by getting a few up-and-comers on the bench. Instead we got a 41 year old Jim Thome, a 34 year old Wigginton, the return of Schneider, and a journeyman in Nix. Why not take two of those spots and go with some youth? — s
- you know what, though? im okay with a weak-hitting galvis or valdez starting at short rather than rollins. know why? because galvis and valdez can field and defense is the number one quality needed in a shortstop. any offense from that position is a bonus. yes, i know rollins can field, too, but he costs 11 million per year AND he catches an attitude when he cant hit leadoff AND he wants to hit leadoff and swing for the fences and have a horrible OBP AND he does terrible in the postseason (not counting this past year when he was about to become a free agent). if you dont sign rollins, you can use that 11 million per year to help re-sign hamels, could have signed cuddyer or ramirez or madson with it... jimmy brings a boatload of negative with rapidly dwindling positives... rollins is the new bobby abreu.. if we wanted to reverse our trend of taking one step backwards in the postseason every year since the world series win, the way to have started was by not re-signing rollins. and amaro once again comes up short with his gm skills. — zwarte piet
- I'm okay with it during the regular season. I think the real problem is the post-season. And really, the post-season is where all this team's problems are. The age factor of the infield doesn't help the post-season cause in my opinion. We'll see if any of these guys can maybe bounce back a bit. That's what the current gamble is without a trade of some sort. As @beegal notes, Charlie also needs to use his bench more. I think to a lot of people in the organization 2008 seems a lot more recent than it really is.
— s - Same old story with RJA - pay for three, get one (see Ibanez). This means less money for Cole and is totally contrary to Amaro's stated plan to obtain players with more "plate discipline". Rollins starts swinging while he's still in the parking lot. Rather than do something gutsy - like turn over shortstop to a very promising rookie (who now has nowhere to go and will be traded for uneven value) - Amaro will be remembered as the person who presided over the slow, painful demise of this team because of his refusal to turn over the roster.— Larry Bowa
- agree completely. Ruben is Ed Wade 2.0 — coloradoeagle
- Nobody can say that they want to see Jimmy on the Phillies for another 5 years. Unfortunately, we had to play the cards we were dealt. There werent many available moves to get a player at ss with the caliber of play Jimmy has. Fortunately, we made the safe choice and will hold onto an average batter, with an above average glove. The team wouldnt have been the same without Rollins, he truly is the spark plug to our offense and you cant deny that.
*BAT SHANE LEADOFF! END THE REIGN OF JIMMY ROLLINS LEADING OFF!!!*— kyle.vincent64 - This sentence is incoherent: --Rollins offers stability at the top of Charlie Manuel's lineup. His .743 OPS in 2011 ranked 11th among all major-league shortstops and his defense remains above average.--
What does his rank among shortstops have to do with him offering stability at the top of the line up. Most shortstops hit at the bottom of the line up, where Rollins belongs.— jtj06 - great more walking out pop ups and gruond balls, more of the worst lead off hitter ever for 3 more years...more of the mumbling idiot who gets out coached every inning of every game..more playoff failure— tooltime
- pop up, pop up, pop up— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
