Utley at 3B still up in the air
With a week remaining in the regular season, will Utley play third base in 2012?
Utley at 3B still up in the air
Kevin Frandsen will start at third base when the Phillies play the second to last regular season game at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night.
The Phillies have just one game left in South Philly before wrapping up the season with six straight on the road in Miami and Washington.
With the team all but mathematically eliminated from postseason hopes, one of the few story lines worth watching is the Chase Utley Third Base Experiment.
Utley took ground balls at third on Wednesday afternoon, a couple of hours before the team took regular batting and infield practice. The season ends a week from today.
Will Utley play in a game at third base in 2012?
"It's still up in the air," Utley said Wednesday.
Utley did say he's felt more comfortable with each session at third base, which is important since it sounds an awful like he's in the driver's seat as far as giving the green light to move from pre-batting practice work to playing at third in a game.
"When he’s ready, he’ll come and talk to me," Charlie Manuel said. "When he’s ready to play there, I’ll put him there. I have no problem with that. I think he’s earned a right to have a say about it. That’s how I see it."
Questions for Ryan Lawrence...How did Chase's throws look?...Was he making throw over to second as well?...Was Cholly in attendance during his infield work, or just Sam Perlozzo?...Why is Chase the sole determiner on his ability to play the position?...IMHO, Chase WILL put in the work, but outgoing communication with transparency is not a strong point,correct?...Knowing his future's at 3B, or in the AL, I have no problem with the switch, as the FA market at third is weak, and neither Cody Asche or Maikel Franco is quite ready for 2013...If things don't work out, you can't find a better backup plan than what Kevin Frandsens' given them.— bearsfriend- What a poor dumb hillbilly, with a Manager like that its no wonder they only won the division 5 out of the last 6 years. Oh, and Howard strikes out sometimes...booooo— Paul SoTX
- Paul: After reading your post, for you to call anyone else dumb is laughable. I actually like the idea of Utley at 3rd. It will solve a lot of problems and let the Phils concentrate on signing a center-fielder and 8th inning guy.— Vituperator
- Paul.....Cholly might be a hillbilly but I'll bet he knows that when you write "it's no wonder...." that you put an apostrophe in between the "t" and the "s" because you are really saying "it is." Bad move in a post saying how dumb someone else is. Kind of makes you look uneducated, which, come to think of it, is a strong possibility.— Al Wilson
- Paul was being sarcastic as he's a huge Manuel fan...that's why he's raising the fact that Cholly has managed the team to 5 Division Titles in the last 6 seasons...However, nobody berated Manuel's ability to manage a team in these comments, so maybe he needs to take his meds. — bearsfriend
- I love Chase's hair, even at 3rd base.— mrjetsondc420
- I was just getting a jump on the slew of Negadelphians. Who knew the people commenting on this particular article would have something positive to say?— Paul SoTX
@bears: Excellent questions! Too bad the professional reporter could not think to ask any of them. Almost sounds like he got it from a third hand source.
The way it reads, with the standard Utley minimalist answer technique, it almost reads like he was talking about his knee issues rather then a switchover to third. It has that same feel to it.- Put Utley at third whenever Kendrick pitches. You won't really need a third baseman; you'll just need a lot of baseballs.
— dasher - Amazing that guys like Frandsen, Martinez, galvis, polanco can play anywhere at any time but Utley needs all this practice and it is his call. What about putting him in there and seeing what he can do? We treat highly paid players like primadonas!— jayram
- If Utley moves to 3B next year, we'll have to re-sign Wigginton as a late-inning defensive replacement.
— eman - Wigginton is not a potential defensive replacement at third; he can't play the position,as he showed this season. As for Utley going to third, a lot will depend on whether his knees have one-step quickness.— camdenlawprof
- the guy who posted that guys like frandsen, polanco etc get put in any position at any time and that utley is a primadonna because he's getting in work at a position before he plays it, may be the most intelligent baseball man ever . no, forget that , the most intelligent person ever ! he's quite right . i am sure that utility players never work at all the positions they play . they just jump right in there head first .— RUgodot
