Predictions? Nope, Rollins has got to run

CLEARWATER, Fla. - During the off-season, Jimmy Rollins married his longtime girlfriend, Johari Smith. (The wedding was one month ago yesterday.) They spent eight days in the Cayman Islands and along with all the planning, it made a condensed off-season feel even shorter for Rollins.

Apparently the new husband is a changed man. Rollins said he is out of the prediction business, which had become an annual rite of spring for the Phillies shortstop.

"At this point, it's just for fun and laughs," Rollins said yesterday. "Everybody knows what needs to be done and what's expected and more importantly everybody believes. Every year you come in to spring training and, of course, we're supposed to win.

"But believing in it and watching it happen is completely different. Now that we have that [belief], it's no longer necessary to be said. Players that come in here know what's expected here."

If he doesn't have predictions, Rollins has no shortage of goals for the upcoming season following a disappointing 2009 in which he posted some of his worst offensive numbers since 2002.

First on the list is to steal 50 bases, something he has never done. He came close in 2008 (47 steals) and 2001 (46 steals).

"Will it happen? Let's see," Rollins said. "But that's my goal. It's a place I've never been before. So it gives me something to shoot at."

For that to happen, Rollins will need to improve on his career-low .296 on-base percentage last season. Rollins' numbers were better in the second half of 2009, but he said he never caught himself thinking about what went wrong in the beginning.

"Not at all," Rollins said. "I didn't think about it during the season. Each day was the same. I never really got to the point of, 'How did it get here?' I keep moving forward. I take each day at a time. If you look back behind you, you'll find yourself going that way. It's old milk."

Among his other goals are scoring 150 runs and hitting .300, two other feats he has yet to accomplish. He also wants 200 hits, which he achieved in the MVP season of 2007.

In December, the Phillies picked up Rollins' $8.5 million option for 2011. Rollins said the timing surprised him and that he's hardly thought about his future with the only organization he's ever known.

"When I get older they might boot me out or some young dude might boot me off the block," Rollins, 31, said. "When I no longer can play every day, I'm not going to be a guy coming off the bench. Whenever I get run off, I'll play somewhere else. If not, go fishing and golfing."

As far as predictions go, Rollins was willing to say he believes new Phillies ace Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in the National League East after Mets pitcher Johan Santana proclaimed himself the best earlier in spring training.

Other than that, he wasn't biting. No "team to beat" statements or forecasting 100 wins.

He said he dreams of a scenario where everyone in the lineup would have big seasons and the team could pull off a season like the 2001 Mariners, a team that won 116 games.

The addition of Halladay could mean an extra five wins, Rollins said. He found out about the Halladay and Cliff Lee trades via text message from Jayson Werth.

"He was like, 'What's going on?' " Rollins recalled. "I could tell. I could hear the panic in his voice. I'm like, 'What happened? Roy? We didn't get him? He went somewhere else?' He was like, 'No, we got him. We traded away Cliff.' I was like, 'Aww. We only get to keep one?' But it's really not a bad trade-off."

So Rollins will settle for making fairly obvious statements instead of predictions.

"We're a pretty good team," Rollins said. "We didn't play well for six games. When you pick up a guy like Roy Halladay it's tough to say you're not better."