Inside the Phillies: In the end, age caught up with lineup

The sort of history these Phillies accomplished fit all of the preseason stereotypes. No team until the 2014 Phillies ever boasted four 34-or-older players with 600 plate appearances. The geriatric jokes dogged them through the spring, and when the season ends Sunday, one of the lasting images will be how the veterans sputtered to the conclusion.

Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Marlon Byrd are not to blame for the franchise's failures. But it is reasonable to wonder if all four will return in 2015. None of them has produced in September, just another by-product of an unrelenting workload.

"I could see with a strong bench, giving those guys some more times off and trying to maintain their strength and their ability to be productive throughout the whole season," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said Friday. "I could see that starting next year."

Is that too late? The team's offseason strategy - at least its public one - should crystallize in the coming days. Executives met Saturday afternoon. Interim president Pat Gillick has spoken in generalities since assuming his position.

He offered one hint about the core players. "Maybe we pushed them a little too far," Gillick said earlier this month. But, in the same breath, he said the Phillies made the right decisions in retaining those players and that a rebuilding process was not necessarily needed.

"Yeah, we have to get younger; we have to get younger players into the lineup," Gillick said. "But at the same time, a tweak here or a tweak there might make you a little more competitive."

That relies on the assumption that all four veterans can avoid significant injury for the second straight season while maintaining some level of production. Byrd will play next season at 37. Utley and Rollins will be 36. Howard turns 35 in November.

September has been a morbid competition to see which veteran can finish worse. Rollins has not played since Sept. 8 because of a strained left hamstring. Byrd, the team's leader in homers, has not hit one this month en route to a .559 OPS entering the weekend.

Howard had a .552 OPS in 80 plate appearances before the weekend, and two pitchers used one of his bats to lash two doubles last week. Howard has two doubles all month. His slugging percentage was lower than his on-base percentage.

Utley, at least, had managed a slugging percentage above .300 for the month. But his .620 OPS in 81 plate appearances before the weekend continued a downward trend ever since his torrid two-month start.

No doubt, one month is a small sample size. But all four players have posted diminished numbers in the entire second half when compared to the first. Utley's - a 117-point drop in OPS - is the most dramatic. Byrd had an 83-point OPS decline. Howard's and Rollins' were less significant.

In each case, a reduced slugging percentage is what fueled those declines. The four players combined for an aggregate .425 slugging percentage in the season's first half. That figure dipped to .399 in the second half. The average slugging percentage for National League hitters is .383. Sandberg, more than once, has noted the team's lack of extra-base hits in key situations.

The Phillies pay Rollins to reach base, and he accumulated a career-high 64 walks despite his two-week absence. Utley is miscast as the No. 3 hitter, a spot designed to generate extra-base hits. While Byrd and Howard lead the team in RBIs, they had stranded 258 and 255 runners on base, respectively. That ranked third and fourth in the majors.

"Well, on the plus side, they've shown the ability to stay healthy," Sandberg said. "That goes with the adjustment with their work habits. That's the positive thing. So now it's getting the right amount of games played that allows them to be consistently productive. Then having a bench that allows those guys to not only go in and give them a rest but also have production. It's the right guys giving them the breaks."

The manager's insinuation was that he did not have that bench this season. The Phillies shuffled through retread middle infielders after Freddy Galvis' initial struggles. Darin Ruf's injury sapped the team of a legitimate backup first baseman for an extended time.

But the onus is on the veterans, too, in knowing when the strain is detrimental. Howard, Utley, Rollins, and Byrd are regarded for their desire to play every day. That mind-set will not help the 2015 Phillies, unless it is more dubious history they seek.

@MattGelb

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