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Fixing Rollins: what are the odds?

In apparently making the reinvention of Jimmy Rollins into his Job 1, new Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg has taken on a handful.

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins. (H. Rumph Jr/AP)
Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins. (H. Rumph Jr/AP)Read more

In apparently making the reinvention of Jimmy Rollins into his Job 1, new Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg has taken on a handful. Not only is there the early- and mid-career debate -- let Jimmy be Jimmy? -- that is being repositioned on center stage. There is the late-career number that is not debatable: Rollins' age.

He will be 35 next year. Rollins is the only current everyday shortstop in baseball who is age 34 (or older). They are counting on him to be the everyday shortstop next season, at least. In the last 25 seasons of major league baseball, only 10 players have been an everyday shortstop -- with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title -- at the age of 35.

Here's the list:

Barry Larkin, Cal Ripken Jr., Derek Jeter, Greg Gagne, Mark Loretta, Miguel Tejada, Omar Vizquel, Orlando Cabrera, Ozzie Smith and Royce Clayton. When you look at it, there were 750 job openings at shortstop during that time period and only 10 players were good enough to give it a go at the age of 35, that gives you a sense of the odds we are talking about.

The list of seasons played by an everyday shortstop aged 34 or older is longer -- 39 seasons played by 18 different players. Of those, Rollins' current .639 OPS is the lowest of the 34-year-olds and the third-lowest of the 39 seasons. So there has been an obvious decline. The question is, can a different approach stop the downslide?

To read the rest of Rich Hofmann's piece, head over to PhillyDailyNews.com.

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