Now healthy, Phillies' leaders vow to do just that
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Jimmy Rollins, a former National League MVP, is entering his 13th full season with the Phillies.
Chase Utley has been in a Phillies uniform for more than a decade. Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard each have a World Series ring and MVP trophy (regular or postseason), and Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee have three Cy Young Awards between them.
Despite a clubhouse full of accomplished veterans with resumés that could rival any other team in baseball, they apparently lacked leadership in 2012. This, according to outspoken closer Jonathan Papelbon.
"It was an all-around leadership void, from A to Z," Papelbon said before Friday's intrasquad game at Bright House Field.
Papelbon's first words regarding the team's lack of leadership came earlier this week in the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call: "Since I've been here, I haven't seen any leadership."
Given the aforementioned assembled veteran talent, Papelbon's comments went viral on Friday.
But following Friday's abbreviated game, they weren't received with surprise or shock from his teammates. The Phillies, after all, were ravaged by injuries from the get-go in 2012.
Following a 102-win season in 2011, the Phils finished 81-81 and out of the playoffs for the first time in 6 years while Howard, Halladay and Utley missed significant time with injuries.
"[There were] a lot of moving parts, a lot of new parts coming in," Rollins said after playing three innings of the five-inning intrasquad game. "Regulars not being around together, the bonds that forms when everybody's together. We didn't have that unfortunately . . . You can have a lead singer, but without a man playing the guitar and drums, it's a different band."
Like Rollins, Papelbon was healthy in 2012. After signing a 4-year, $50 million contract to join the Phillies as a free agent in November 2011, the largest deal for a relief pitcher in baseball history, Papelbon posted 38 saves in a career-high 70 innings and went to his first NL All-Star Game.
But Papelbon, now 32, said he could have done his part off the field, too.
"As far as the bullpen goes, I lacked a lot of leadership last year," he said. "I could have stepped up and done some things different to help lead them, and maybe the bumps and bruises wouldn't have been so bad for our bullpen.
"I intend to make that change this year, and I hope that other guys on this team feel the same way I do."
The veteran leadership core in place - including Utley, Rollins, Howard and Halladay - has long led by example. That's unlikely to change, and it doesn't have to, if they're healthy and producing.
"It definitely isn't a cheerleading, rah-rah kind of leadership," Rollins said of the dynamic inside the clubhouse. "If something is going on, if it's a guy I'm close with, if Ryan sees something, if Chase sees something, they come to me, or vice versa. It isn't just placed on one guy's shoulders. It's kind of spread out."
Papelbon emphasized more than once that he wasn't pointing a finger at anyone inside the clubhouse.
"It was just a clubhouse that didn't have an identity and didn't have leadership, I felt," he said. "That's not to put the blame on any one person or any one coach. That's just the way it was. The ways things unfolded.
"I'm not saying it was one particular person," Papelbon said. "Granted, we did have a lot of injuries and that does affect how leadership plays a part on teams. Hopefully, this year that will change. I think it will."
Papelbon and Rollins, the longest tenured player on the Phillies, spoke about the subject matter this week while golfing. According to Rollins, the team had what amounted to an identity crisis when three players the caliber of Utley, Howard and Halladay were sidelined for so long.
"I'd say we didn't have the identity last year we had in previous years," Rollins said. "And [identity and leadership] are basically one in the same."
Utley and Howard were both on the field Friday.
Howard struck out and singled, while Utley, who will appear in his first Grapefruit League game since 2010 on Saturday, struck out and drew a walk. Halladay is on tap to make his spring debut Sunday at Lakeland against the Detroit Tigers.
Almost 2 weeks into camp, the Phils' nucleus is healthy.
"It's tough trying to create chemistry with me and Chase and Doc going down," Howard said. "But now, we have a spring training where we can come back and re-form that chemistry, and continue to try and stay healthy throughout spring training and try to go into the regular season like we've never skipped a beat."
While he stood by his words, Papelbon is positive the problem is in the past, and he's eager to move on from 2012 and move forward in 2013.
"I love this group of guys,"
Papelbon said. "The way this group came together the last month of the season, it was an awesome sight to see. If we can take that into the season this year, it will be great. We have a special, special group here. We truly do. And we have special leaders here.
"If we can get the most out of our team and our bullpen and our starting staff, I think that we have the chance to do some special things this year. I think we have the chance to be the best bullpen, I think we have the chance to be the best starting staff and lineup. I think we have a chance to win the World Series. I really, truly do. And I'm not just saying that. I think we have a really good shot at doing that."
Email: rlawrence@phillynews.com
