Utley cleared to swing bat; timetable remains same
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Utley cleared to swing bat; timetable remains same
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
As expected, Chase Utley was given clearance Wednesday to begin swinging a bat for the first time since having surgery on his right thumb July 1.
Utley met with hand specialist Andrew Weiland in New York. Weiland was the doctor who performed the surgery on Utley.
"From this point forward it’s just going to be a matter of how he feels, how he progresses," Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said. "We’re still on the same timetable we were on before and things have gone pretty much according to plan at this point. We’ll just have to wait and see how he feels as he goes through the progression. We’re very pleased."
Proefrock said the team is still operating on the original eight-week timetable that was given when Utley had surgery. That would put his return at Aug. 26, or somewhere around that date."
"If it’s a little faster than that great," Proefrock said. "If it’s a little slower than that great just as long as he’s healthy and ready to play at full capacity."
Proefrock said he expects Utley to slowly begin his hitting program.
"From this point forward it’s just going to be a matter of how he feels, how he progresses," Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said. "We’re still on the same timetable we were on before and things have gone pretty much according to plan at this point. We’ll just have to wait and see how he feels as he goes through the progression. We’re very pleased."
Proefrock said the team is still operating on the original eight-week timetable that was given when Utley had surgery. That would put his return at Aug. 26, or somewhere around that date."
"If it’s a little faster than that great," Proefrock said. "If it’s a little slower than that great just as long as he’s healthy and ready to play at full capacity."
Proefrock said he expects Utley to slowly begin his hitting program.
"It’s going to be a matter of how he feels and when he tells us he’s ready to go on a rehab assignment we’ll head in that direction."
BROWN LIKELY GOING DOWN
Proefrock also further indicated what Charlie Manuel said Tuesday: That rookie Domonic Brown is probably headed back to triple-A Lehigh Valley on Friday when Shane Victorino returns from the disabled list.
"I think any young player is better served by getting regular at bats," Proefrock said. "There’s an opportunity for him to be in a pennant race and so far he’s done very well. I think Charlie spoke with regards to Shane the other, that Shane shouldn’t lose his job because of an injury. Domonic still has some things to work on at the minor league level before he’s ready to play every day here."
Um, one work comes to mind - EDITOR! Did you just repeat three paragraphs for effect, or do you not proofread your work before hitting "Enter"? Embarrassing!— 5NOT4
Since he has been on the roster already, that makes him post season eligible.- Brown need MLB Abs to get better and to get to the level he can achieve. If he isn't going to get regular ABs, then yes, send him down. However, only send him down because there are much better players ahead of him
- PhillyBoyinNYC— Yr assessment is rather short sighted. In case you haven't noticed, even with somewhat regular playing time, is barely hitting above .260. The kid needs the at bats so when they call him back up in September and|or for the post season, he's not cold. I'd rather send him down for a week to 10 days, get him on a roll and then call him back up. If you remember, when he first came up he was hitting far more consistently because he'd been getting regular at bats.— MattKnife
- Actually, I stand corrected, he's hitting UNDER .260. Which isn't bad, granted, but as alwaysphil1 pointed out, if there are better people in front of him, send him down. Victorino's coming back, Ibanez is hitting almost .400 in his last 18 games and Werth is hitting over .300 again. Where do you put him? Relegate him to the fate of Matt Stairs where he'll get 1 AB every 5th day?— MattKnife
- They are keeping Herndon through the rest of the year (I mean, why bother dropping him now at this point) so they can send him to AAA ball next year to develop further. They need to cut ties with Baez completely and just eat his contract. Once they get to the playoffs they can shorten up the bullpen with Lidge, Madson, Durbin and Contreras and possibly Kendrick and maybe even Blanton.— ESFjellin
- Yes, especially since Manuel has no clue how to manage on game day. Why in the world did he take Oswalt out of the game when he is pitching a shutout and the bullpen is a disaster. This whole pitch count thing is a bunch of nonsense. If a pitcher has shutout, they should close out the game, period.— joeyc444
- Speaking of short-sighted comments, joeyc takes the cake! Look at Oswalts career numbers and find out how many times he has completed a game. I think Halladay in the past year and a half as more CGs than Os does in his career. Plus the manager you are second guessing has taken three teams to the WS in his career. I think he knows a thing or two about managing a ball game, but I could be wrong.— ESFjellin
- All I know is right now, we're on the Lidge hill trust fund, resperator ready every time he climbs up on the mound.— J-Joe
- People seem to forget that Utley was doing so poorly before he injured his thumb that many of us believed he was already hurt. When he returns, he should get more days off. His tough-guy routine is shortening his career.— Delaware Jim
- Brown needs to get regular ABs. He has walked only once and struck out 11 times. Having him get confidence in the minors and working on his pitch recognition for a few weeks will benefit everyone when they call him up again.— JDF1945
- I would keep Brown up now that Gload is going DL or I might consider sending Dobbs down. I'm not sure Dobbs is adding anything to the team right now.— fmMD
- Brown has driven in 10 runs in fewer than 10 games, hasn't he? And Gload will be lucky if he can walk in 21-30 days let alone hit, run and play the field.....so Dom stays for now and probably the rest of the season.— Mark1npt
- Dobbs isn't on this team right now because of his hitting, he's merely a spare infield part at this time til Utley gets back, then he's gone. He has completely lost whatever game he once had. My prediction is he'll either be pinchitting for Ed Wade in Houston next year or playing in Japan.......sayonara, dude!— Mark1npt
