Phillies' Rollins talks volunteering and says his team's hitting should not be underestimated

The man who once famously volunteered that the Phillies were the team to beat in the National League East spent an hour Thursday afternoon talking on a conference call with a group of kids who are part of a volunteer program at West Deptford High School.

Afterward, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins offered his opinion about the baseball team that will return to spring training next month in Clearwater, Fla.

For the first time since 2007, the year Rollins and his teammates backed up his bold division-title prediction, the Phillies are considered more daunting because of their starting rotation than their starting lineup.

Rollins, coming off an injury-ravaged season that limited him to 88 games, believes it would be a mistake to underestimate what the Phillies hitters are capable of doing even after the free-agent departure of rightfielder Jayson Werth to the division rival Washington Nationals.

"That's fine," Rollins said when told the perception is that the Phillies' offense is now the weaker link. "I guess people can look at it that way when you go from scoring 900 runs one season to 850 the next. That's a big drop."

Rollins' math is a little off. The Phillies scored 820 runs in 2009 and 772 runs last season. That's still a sizable drop, although the Phillies were second in the league to Cincinnati in runs scored after leading the league the year before.

With Werth no longer in the lineup, the Phillies could find it difficult to remain an elite offensive team, but Rollins is convinced that manager Charlie Manuel still has a lot of lethal weapons.

"It's definitely hard to replace a guy like Jayson, but I have confidence in Domonic [Brown] and Ben [Francisco]," Rollins said. "It's more than likely that they will be in a platoon situation. They are in the same sort of situation Jayson was in when he first came over here. I still think we have a great lineup. We won more games last year than we ever have before and you don't just do that with pitching."

Rollins said one of the things he likes most about Brown is the way he goes about his business.

"We spoke a lot last year," the shortstop said. "He reminds me a lot of myself in that he likes to sit back and observe. He knows a lot more than he's willing to let on, and he works really hard. Because he works so hard, he is able to get on the field and make things look easy."

At 32 and coming off a season in which he was constantly dogged by a calf injury, Rollins has worked extra hard this off-season while also incorporating a yoga program that is supervised by his wife, Johari.

"I feel very good," Rollins said. "I'm tight right now because I haven't had a chance to stretch yet today, but in general I feel very good. The injuries are, hopefully, behind me."

Though Rollins is confident that the Phillies' offense will still produce a lot of runs, he is thankful that lefthander Cliff Lee is back in Philadelphia.

"I was very surprised," he said. "I was fortunate that I didn't have to learn about it by watching TV. Someone texted me and I was, like: 'That's pretty nice.' We obviously have a good set of brains at the top and they're very sneaky. The past five years, it all seems to work out."

Rollins' message to the kids during Thursday's conference call was simple: It's cool to volunteer.

As part of the Major League Baseball Players Association Action Team program, Rollins has been relaying that message since 2005. Greg Bouris, the director of communications for the MLBPA, said former Phillies outfielder Doug Glanville convinced him a while ago that Rollins would be a good pitchman. Rollins has not disappointed.

"I would like to believe that we show these kids we're not just athletes," Rollins said. "We are people of the community and we should be able to affect the community where we live. This program gives us a chance for the kids to see us in a different light. Sometimes kids think it's not cool to volunteer and help other people. I used to think that way when I was a kid. But it actually makes you cooler."

West Deptford is one of 150 high schools across the country involved in the MLBPA Action Team program. For more information, visit volunteersofamerica.org or send an e-mail to actionteam@mlbpa.org.

Phillies minor-leaguer suspended. San Lazaro Solano, a minor-league pitcher for the Phillies' Dominican Summer League team, has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. The suspension was announced in a release from Major League Baseball.

Solano tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone.

The 20-year-old righthander was 4-3 with a 2.57 ERA in 12 games, including eight starts, for the Phillies' Dominican Summer League team last season. His suspension will begin at the start of this season.

The MLB release said Oakland A's minor-league pitcher Joselito Adames also received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for metabolites of stanozolol.