Gray area: Can aging veterans still lift Phillies or will young guys take reins?
In the spring of 2008, Ben Revere was less than a year removed from high school, Twitter was less than 2 years removed from conception, and the Phillies were about 6 months removed from their first playoff berth in more than a decade. The modern world might act as if it is flat, but it also acts as if it is spinning at three times its normal rate. So perhaps it makes sense that players who only 5 years ago were still pursuing the Phillies' first championship since 1980 now appear to be aging before our very eyes.
Back before I was fortunate enough to be named the Daily News' Phillies beat writer, a colleague explained to me why it would be a great job for a 25-year-old kid who had spent the previous 2-plus years covering high-school sports in an anonymous town north of Tampa, Fla. After stating all of the obvious reasons, my friend concluded with a nod to the talent that Pat Gillick had assembled.
"They have a chance to be good for a long time," he said.
Well, 5 years qualifies as a long time in this ever-changing world, and Chase Utley reinforced that Friday when he sat behind a table in a multipurpose room at Bright House Field and talked about retirement, free agency and the aforementioned Revere, who is expected to be manning centerfield this season. My first spring training, an editor assigned me the task of writing a story about Utley, and how he was likely to follow Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins as the next homegrown player to win the National League's Most Valuable Player award. The implication was clear: These guys are just getting started.
Fast-forward to this offseason, when the Phillies spent their time attempting to postpone a demise that many folks had already written off as inevitable. For the previous few years, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. had purchased as much certainty his rapidly expanding budget could afford, and the result each spring was a dramatic heightening of expectations. In 2009, it was Mariners stalwart Raul Ibanez joining the outfield. In 2010, it was Roy Halladay and Placido Polanco. In 2011, it was Cliff Lee joining a rotation that already featured Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. And last year, it was the return to health of Chase Utley, along with the memory of a team-record 102-win season that had featured the emergence of Vance Worley and the addition of Hunter Pence.
The run-up to 2013, on the other hand, was as quiet as one could expect from a team that had entered the two previous seasons with a payroll in the neighborhood of $170 million. The marquee additions were setup man Mike Adams and Michael Young, a 36-year-old infielder whose former team agreed to pay $10 million to facilitate his departure. Their ideal - emphasis on the word "their" - rightfielder (Delmon Young) is likely to start the season on the disabled list recovering from ankle surgery, and on Friday said that he does not often step on a scale despite the fact that he has $600,000 in weight-related bonuses written into his contract.
And yet there was Utley, echoing a view that only 1 day earlier teammate Ryan Howard had espoused in dramatically enthusiastic tone - that the abundance of variables present in this Phillies' camp have provided a jolt of energy that cannot be purchased with free-agent dollars and blockbuster trades.
"I think that competition brings the best out of any player," the second baseman said. "We have some new faces, we have some younger guys with a lot of energy. Ben Revere, for example, is pretty exciting to watch. I just watched him track down balls in centerfield during batting practice and he's pretty impressive."
It seems inevitable that certainty breeds complacency, and that complacency is contagious. As much as Shane Victorino had meant to the Phillies over 7-plus years, a veteran signed to a multiyear contract simply won't be as hungry as Revere - a 24-year-old looking to prove that he belongs in an outfield with World Series aspirations. Same goes for Hunter Pence and the duo of Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf.
It helps that even the old dogs enter the spring with as much to prove as they did when they were young pups themselves: Utley, that his knees are not destined to be an annual problem, and that he should be a sought-after commodity when his contract expires after this season; Howard, that his worst season as a professional was merely the result of his offseason Achilles' surgery; Michael Young, that he was unnecessarily cast off by the Rangers, that he can field third base well enough to warrant an everyday job, that his mediocre offensive production in 2012 was not a new baseline.
When Howard was asked yesterday about the perception that this glorious era of Phillies baseball is on the verge of becoming a memory, his voice increased several decibels.
"I don't buy into the whole old thing," he said. "It's about how young you feel inside. It's all about how well you take care of yourself.
"If people want to call us old, that's fine, but I think going out there this year we're going to show people that we're not old," the first baseman said. "As far as the Nationals and the other teams in the division, it's going to be a great division, it's going to be a fun division to watch. They had a great year last year, but once again, we had a lot of injuries.
"So call us old if you want to, that's fine if you want to sweep us under the rug. Just don't be surprised. Don't be surprised."
In my 5-plus years of covering the Phillies, it is as close as any player has come to replicating Jimmy Rollins' famous "team to beat" comments before the 2007 season. And that's when I realized that the anticipation I felt upon arriving at spring training might be shared by the players. The past 4 seasons, the Grapefruit League has been little more than an annoyance, a place where pitchers got their work in and hitters tracked their pitches. The bulk of my attention was focused on some battle for a spot at the front of the bullpen or the back of the rotation. Now, for the first time since 2008, when Geoff Jenkins and Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz and Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge were unknowns, we have the chance to watch a team develop a distinct identity, to watch the pieces fall into or out of place, to watch Kyle Kendrick prove whether he is the solid No. 4 starter that he looked like last season, to watch Brown and Ruf battle one another for a spot in a crowded yet undistinguished outfield, to watch Revere in the field and at the plate, to watch catcher Erik Kratz attempt to reprise the role of Chris Coste, to watch Roy Halladay's attempt to prove himself all over again.
It might not work out. The Nationals have improved. You can argue that the Braves have as well. The energy that is pulsing through Clearwater is not unique to the Phillies. You might read similar stories in Cleveland, and in Pittsburgh, and in Kansas City.
For now, though, we might as well enjoy the scary fun feeling of possibility.
