Phillies Notebook: No parting with Utley

WITH AN HOUR left before the trade deadline, the man who has the final decision on all of the Phillies' roster moves sat in a sun-splashed but mostly vacant board room in Citizens Bank Park and talked about the franchise's most popular player.

"Chase [Utley] is so good for us - both as a player on the field and the tone he has set for us from Day One," Phillies president David Montgomery said. "He's the type of player that gets endeared here in Philadelphia . . . the max-effort people. Chuck Bednarik, Bobby Clarke, Brian Dawkins. To me that's what our fans just absolutely respond to, and Ut's been that since Day One. He's been a max-out player, a tremendous teammate."

Needless to say, Utley, who is eligible to be a free agent for the first time in his career this winter, was not traded away. Instead, the Phillies are quietly working behind the scenes to finalize a new contract for Utley.

On the day when non-contending teams often ship soon-to-be free agents out of town, the Phillies' front office reiterated the goal of securing a deal that will keep Utley with the only major league team he has ever known. But apparently there is no deadline to secure that deal.

Just as with Jimmy Rollins 2 years ago, the Phils don't even feel they have to keep Utley off the free-agent market to retain him.

"I don't view it that way," Montgomery said. "We'll see how things go down. But I think there will be a continuing dialogue. This isn't a player we don't have a relationship with. We may not find a common point. Both sides have issues; the dialogue is ongoing."

Utley, who turns 35 in December, will certainly seek a multiyear deal on the open market. Since his chronic knee pain cost him large chunks of both the 2011 and 2012 seasons, it's unlikely a team would guarantee more than 2 or 3 years.

Two winters ago, a 34-year-old Carlos Beltran, who also battled knee injuries, agreed to a 2-year, $26 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Beltran deal could set parameters for an Utley deal, perhaps with the Phillies tacking a vesting option for a third year on a deal.

"I don't like to discuss contract negotiations," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said yesterday. "I still view him as a guy who will be a Phillie for life. That's one of the reasons why he wasn't traded. That is fairly obvious. We want to keep him in our pinstripes."

Both Amaro and Montgomery brought up Utley's health in two separate conversations. But they also acknowledged his value on the field, with Amaro almost going as far as calling Utley irreplaceable.

"We're a production business [and] if you look at the body of work of what Chase does as a productive player, you have to understand he is still one of the best and most productive players in the game," Amaro said. "Obviously, as we talked about, we have to be aware of his health and what has happened over the last several years. But I also have to be cognizant that the man is out there playing like a 28-year-old right now. So for me, it's about producing. I'm not sure he's a guy you can replace at second base with the kind of production that he can get us."

Utley hit his 14th home run of the season in his first at-bat last night. He is three away from his highest home run total since hitting 31 in 2009.

Later this month, on Aug. 22, Utley will become a 10/5 player; after 10 years in the big leagues and at least five with his current team, Utley will get a full no-trade clause.

Theoretically, the Phillies could still trade Utley through the waiver system before then if they feel they won't be able to re-sign him for 2014 and beyond. But both Montgomery and Amaro made it clear they'll be doing everything in their power to bring Utley back.

It would appear to just be a matter of when they'll wrap up a new deal.

*       *       *

Kyle Kendrick surrendered four runs on five hits in the first inning of the Phillies 9-2 defeat to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.

After being one of the team's most consistent players in the season's first three months, Kendrick is probably glad to see July come to an end. He allowed at least 5 runs in three of his five starts in July and had a 7.71 ERA in the month.

Kendrick entered the month with a 3.59 ERA and exited it with a 4.29 ERA. Kendrick made the start 27 hours after his wife gave birth to the couple's second child - a son, Kyle, Jr.

In his first major league start, third baseman Cody Asche made a couple sparkling defensive plays behind Kendrick but went hitless in four at-bats.

"I felt good," Asche said. "I missed a couple of pitches I should have done more with. Overall I saw some pitches, swing at some good pitches (and) had a couple of tough outs."

*       *       *

One fear some fans had entering July was that the aggressive Amaro would go into full-buyer mode before the deadline and part with top prospects, like Double-A Reading third baseman Maikel Franco. That, of course, did not happen.

Instead, Amaro spoke on Wednesday about the possibility of Franco competing for the third base job as soon as next spring.

"He's a pretty advanced hitter at age 20," Amaro said. "It's not out of the realm of possibility that he could be here sooner rather than later. A lot of it will depend on his continued progress. I don't think he's going to be moved to Triple-A at this time… I think he's in the right spot right now, particularly at his age, and I still think he's learning. But he's an advanced hitter; it's going to be interesting to see how he progresses. Who knows, we might end up having a battle out there at third base in spring training. I don't know that yet."

Franco entered Wednesday hitting .325 with a .945 OPS and 23 home runs in 100 games between Class A Clearwater and Double A Reading this season.

Domonic Brown passed an ImPACT concussion test yesterday, 8 days after he first experienced concussion symptoms after diving for a ball in St. Louis. Brown will undergo another test today. If he's cleared, Brown could begin a short rehab assignment by the weekend. Amaro said he expected Brown to return in "a week or so" . . . Cliff Lee will likely return to the rotation this weekend. Amaro said that Lee, who was scratched from his scheduled start last Saturday with a stiff neck, was doing much better and it was just a matter of pitching coach Rich Dubee aligning his rotation for this weekend's series with the Atlanta Braves . . . With an infield single in the fourth inning, Darin Ruf reached base safely for the 28th straight game, a streak that began last September. Entering yesterday, it was the second-longest active streak in the majors behind Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez (37 games).

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese