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Sandberg on Ryan Howard: 'Unless he gets unseated, he's the first baseman'

On the morning before the Phillies’ hold their first spring training workout of 2015, manager Ryne Sandberg answered questions from reporters for almost 30 minutes at Bright House Field.

CLEARWATER, Fla. --- On the morning before the Phillies hold their first spring training workout of 2015, manager Ryne Sandberg answered questions from reporters for almost 30 minutes at Bright House Field.

Many of them regarded Ryan Howard.

"Right now, unless he gets unseated, he's the first baseman," Sandberg said.

Sandberg said he and Howard spoke on the phone about a month ago. Howard was "very positive with the conversation," his manager said.

"I haven't seen him personally yet. But I know that he's got a lot of things off his mind, coming from him," Sandberg said. "I think that he's in a place where he wants to with a free mind be better on the baseball field and raise his game. I'm anxious to see what that looks like and to see him go about it."

Other notes from Sandberg's Wednesday news conference:

-Cliff Lee remains on track to be ready for the start of spring training. The 36-year-old left-hander began his throwing program around Dec. 1, per usual. Lee recently battled an upper respiratory illness, "but other than that everything's been on schedule with Cliff," the manager said.

"The way that Cliff's program's gone since he started throwing the first part of December, he's got no complaints and he's pretty much where he usually is," Sandberg said. "So far, so good as far as that goes. We'll keep an eye on him early on with his sides and his outings."

-Sandberg watched the recently signed Chad Billingsley throw a side session within the last three or four days and said the veteran right-hander "looked very good." Billingsley has made just two starts since 2012 because of 2013 Tommy John surgery and an operation in June to repair his right flexor tendon.

"He looked real good in his side (session) and he feels good," Sandberg said. "I think there will be a little bit of a build up there as he has his sides and gets into spring training games. In some regards it's hard to gauge right now; it's just evaluating him as he goes. But like I said, I saw him throw a side four days ago and he looked very good."