The Phils should not try to rush Rollins into action.


At this point, Jimmy Rollins has missed eight straight games after tweaking his hamstring about a week and a half ago. Overall, Rollins has only played in 82 games this season, is on injury number four, and is only hitting .245.

All of that, combined with the way Shane Victorino has responded as the lead-off hitter and the way Wilson Valdez has been playing the field, makes me think the Phils should just sit Rollins down until the playoffs.

That allows them to keep the lineup the way it is so they don't risk messing up the rhythm these guys have established, and it helps Rollins get ready for when the team will really need him. As of now, they're doing just fine holding off the Braves and have themselves in position to win the NL East.

With the expanded roster, they can probably even afford to sit him down without having to put him on the DL, making him available to pinch-hit or pinch-run if he's truly needed. There's always the risk he could re-tweak his hammy doing that, but the option is available to the team should they feel obligated to use it.

But even that might not be necessary with Ross Gload, Ben Francisco, Brian Schneider, and (soon) Dominic Brown available to hit off the bench.

So put Rollins on the bench and let him get to 100 percent. He hasn't been great during the regular season, but as we've seen over the past couple of seasons there might not be a more clutch guy in the postseason than Rollins.

And if the Phils are able to head into the second season with him at full strength and a guy like Wilson Valdez in the dugout just in case, Charlie Manuel's team could be the deepest and most talented squad in the tournament regardless of league.
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The Phils will need Ruiz in September and October.


Having a lot of superstars is great for obvious reasons. But the thing that makes a team great is having guys on the roster who can step in for those superstars when needed and make the plays that need to be made, or just play in a supporting role and do all the little things.

Fortunately for the Phillies, they have a lot of both types of guys. The superstars -- Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Jimmy Rollins -- aren't hard to pick out. But what makes this 2010 team so dangerous is just how stacked the roster is with great supporting players.

The superstars get a team in position to win, but it's the role players who ultimately do the things necessary for the game to be won.

So heading into one hell of a playoff push, let's take a look at the five guys who everyone should keep an eye on as potential difference-makers.



Wilson Valdez

Early in the season, Valdez was forced to split time with Juan Castro at shortstop while Rollins recovered from an injury. It became abundantly clear very quickly, however, that Valdez was the superior player in nearly every aspect.

He's never going to be a .300 hitter, but he's come through with some clutch hits and has been fantastic in the field. In fact, Valdez has only been charged with one error this season and has turned 19 double plays from third base, shortstop, and second base.

He likely won't see a whole lot of time in the playoffs, but he will be a huge part of the push to stay in first place and will be a great guy to have coming off the bench.



Ross Gload

If you would have told me Gload would be batting .281 with six home runs, 29 RBIs, 14 runs and only 10 strikeouts as the Phillies' primary left-handed pinch hitter, I would have laughed in your face. But, here we are.

Gload has made Greg Dobbs all but worthless and is a guy the Phillies really like. He's going to continue to be the go-to guy off the bench and will be highly counted upon all throughout the push and into the playoffs.

A big situation doesn't seem to rattle him, so he should be fine when the lights are on. I wouldn't have thought it to be the case when they signed him, but there's a bit of confidence in everyone watching that when Gload hits the plate he's going to come through.



Kyle Kendrick

Kendrick likely won't find himself in the rotation come playoff time. He'll be relegated to the bullpen in favor of Joe Blanton, who will keep the fourth spot. And while I believe Kendrick is the more talented pitcher, it's definitely the right move.

Blanton, even with his maddening tendency to give up first-inning runs and put the offense in a hole immediately, is the more consistent of the two. He's not going to come out and blank anyone for seven innings, but he's also not going to allow 11 runs in the first four innings.

Kendrick has the ability to do the first, but is just erratic enough to do the latter. And in the playoffs, that's just something the team cannot afford.

But out of the bullpen as a long reliever, I believe Kendrick can be a real difference-maker. His problems seem to come about when he really starts pressing. He feels like if he doesn't strike out the side to start the game he's not doing his job. He'll begin to calm down later in the game, but by then it's sometimes too late.

As a reliever, he might be able to relax knowing exactly what sort of situation he's going into and being given a specifically tailored assignment. And when Kendrick is relaxed and just going out and slinging it, he turns into a dangerous pitcher.



Carlos Ruiz

Alright, so maybe he's not exactly in the same mold as the other guys, but he's not exactly a superstar either and will definitely play a huge role for the Phills over the next two months or so.

Ruiz isn't getting a lot of the attention because of the way Howard has gone off as of late, but Ruiz has been nearly spotless for a long time now. He's coming up with the clutch knocks when they need them and has been a life-saver behind the plate.

Chooch is quietly hitting .296 at this point in the season, and if he can carry that over into the playoffs it's going to make the Phillies' lineup a real forced to be reckoned with from top to bottom.



Brad Lidge

Closers are like kickers in the NFL: no one really knows their name unless they do something great or really mess something up. In Philadelphia, Lidge's name is known for a little bit of both.

But for all the talk, Lidge has actually been pretty good this season. He has blown five saves, but three of those came in one bad stretch from late June to early July. And, if I'm not mistaken, it later came out that Lidge was already having elbow problems then.

Since then, Lidge has blown only two saves and has a respectable 3.38 ERA and a 1-1 record. He is not ever going to be the same guy we saw in 2008, but he is a guy the Philles can count on to come through when they really need him.
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Can the Phillies count on Jimmy Rollins in October?


Jimmy Rollins is either the most unlucky guy on the planet, or he doesn't do nearly enough work during the offseason and throughout the regular season. Muscle pulls can, of course, be freak things, but three times in one year leads me to believe he simply doesn't train hard enough.

When the muscle is worked properly, it gets stronger—obviously. You don't need a medical degree to understand how that might work. It also doesn't take a genius to understand that not only does training make it stronger, but it makes the muscle more resilient.

More resilient means fewer tweaks, strains, pulls and a much lower chance of a tear. So the fact that Rollins has now tweaked/strained/pulled a muscle in his leg three times in one season can most likely be traced back to laziness in the weight room.

No one is that unlucky. There has to be an explanation for it.

Jimmy has a reputation as a hard worker and a tough player which has led to a lot of games played and few missed. So the fact that he's now been injured three times in 2010 would lead me to believe his training has dipped.

The fact that "dehydration" was listed as a cause of the injury doesn't help. Is there anything easier to avoid? Just drink some water. He's sitting on the bench for how long while the Phillies are batting and there's no possible way he's just too busy to have a cup of water.

If he's truly being that lazy this season, he could probably have someone get it and bring it to him on the bench, so there's no excuse for that to ever be an issue.

Basketball players, soccer players and maybe even hockey players might be able to use that as an excuse because they're constantly going and truly might not have time to get enough water, but baseball players should never have that kind of trouble.

The bottom line is that Rollins has to step up and start doing the things expected of him. That means getting in the weight room, drinking some water and doing whatever else he must do in order to stay on the field and actually help his team, because right now Wilson Valdez is just a more reliable option at shortstop.

Yeah, Wilson Valdez. How about that?

Or, maybe my assumption is all wrong, and all Jimmy needs is a rabbit's foot, a horseshoe and a four-leaf clover.
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Valdez has proven to be a great pickup for the Phils.


Over the past few weeks, the Phillies have been winning in a variety of ways. Whether it's a big win, a late comeback, a close pitchers' duel, or just a game won on smart baseball like the one they played Saturday night against the Brewers, they're getting the job done.

That's what we're used to seeing from the Phillies, but it had been a rarity for a lot of the 2010 season. This didn't look like a championship-quality team only a month or so ago, but now they look like a group that could definitely make a push.

As the Phillies usually do under Charlie Manuel, they've begun hitting their stride in the final month or so of the season and are now poised to undo all the mistakes they made early on in the season and overtake the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East.

All they need is for the Braves to trip up just once. But to the Braves' credit, they're holding strong when they need to and keep fending off what must seem like an incredibly pesky Phillies team.

But, the Phils know all they can do is keep winning and hope for the best, and that's exactly what they did Saturday night.

Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard each had a solo home run, and Jimmy Rollins scored a run, but the best play came on a Placido Polanco sac fly in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With the bases loaded, Polanco hit a fly ball about midway into left field. Carlos Ruiz was on third and, needless to say, he's not the fastest guy on the team. But he decided from the get-go he was going to test Ryan Braun's arm and took off.

The throw came in from Braun, it looked to be on line, but bounced behind Ruiz and right past Jonathan Lucroy to the backstop. Ruiz slid over home plate and scored. The Brewers' pitcher, Zach Braddock, was lined up on the first base side of the plate and had to hustle to the ball, which had hit the backstop on the third base side.

Wilson Valdez, who had tagged up from second and moved to third, immediately took for home plate as soon as he saw the ball hit the backstop. It was a close play, but Valdez was safe at home and put the Phils up for good.

They went on to win 5-4, keep a three-game advantage in the wild card standings, and stay only one game behind the Braves in the division.

Smart plays like the one made by Valdez can be the difference between a playoff team and a World Series champion. The Phils now seem to be making those plays more often than not, and could parlay some good late-season baseball into another late-October appearance.
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From Manuel on down, the Phillies are a total mess.


In the top of the seventh inning of the Phillies' 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night, the Phillies had runners on first and second with two outs and Carlos Ruiz at the plate.

Recognizing this, the Cardinals elected to have pitcher Jaime Garcia work around Ruiz, walk the bases loaded, and go after pitcher Joe Blanton hitting in the ninth hole.

Keep in mind that at this point the score was only 1-1.

Ruiz walked after five pitchers, and, to the dismay of every Phillies fan watching, Blanton came up to the plate to work against the left-handed Garcia. Needless to say, Blanton struck out, the Phils left three guys on base, and eventually went on to lose the game after Blanton fell apart in the seventh and eighth innings.

So why didn't Charlie Manuel pinch hit for Blanton in that spot? The offense has been lethargic, to put it nicely, and even a single would have gotten them at least two runs and a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

One reason is the lack of options on the bench. With Ben Francisco playing left field for Raul Ibanez, the only righty available was Wilson Valdez. Valdez hasn't exactly been great this year, but he's certainly been hitting better than Blanton and quite obviously gives them a better chance at scoring some runs.

Another reason is the limited amount of time a new pitcher would have had to get warmed up considering there were already two outs in the inning.

But, again, that's Manuel's fault. He should have realized what the Cardinals were doing while Ruiz was at the plate and got someone up in the bullpen. And if Valdez is able to come through, that gives the guy in the bullpen plenty of time to be loosened up.

And even if the guy Manuel called upon wasn't loose, he still probably couldn't have done any worse than Blanton did after that as he gave up three more runs and turned the ball over with a 4-1 deficit in the eighth inning.

To me, it looked like Manuel has fallen into the same slump as his team and is making conservative decisions in an effort to avoid a loss rather than being aggressive and going for the win.

Anyone watching Blanton this year knows he's worthless after six innings, so it was the perfect time to put him on the bench, give him an "atta-boy" for six solid innings, and hand the ball off to, ideally, Ryan Madson.

So now that Manuel has joined in on the bonehead mistakes, the Phils have essentially assured their fans one miserable October.
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The Phillies choice should be very easy: keep Valdez.


With Jimmy Rollins set to come off the DL and return to the lineup on Tuesday, the Phillies will face a decision on which of their backup shortstops they want to keep on the bench, and which one they want to send down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

For me, the decision would appear to be an easy one.

Over the past few games Wilson Valdez has been clutch. Whether it's coming up with a key hit to get a rally started -- or keep a rally going -- or being a wall in the infield, Valdez has shown more than enough to warrant a spot on the bench.

Valdez is only a .229 career hitter, but he's hitting .250 this year with two homeruns, 12 RBIs, seven doubles, one triple, and two stolen bases.

His competition, Juan Castro, just doesn't stack up.

Castro is hitting .222 with zero homeruns, 12 RBIs, five doubles, zero triples, and zero stolen bases. Castro also has three errors in 32 games, whereas Valdez doesn't have an error to his name in five more games.

The numbers seem to speak for themselves. Valdez is outperforming Castro in every category, and also has the speed and awareness to fit that Eric Bruntlett-type utility role the Phillies seem to have been missing while guys are dropping like flies.

Not only that, but from an overall roster management standpoint, it makes a lot more sense to keep Valdez and option Castro -- mainly because Valdez is out of options, and Castro isn't.

Valdez would have to once again clear waivers, but after the way he's played over the past week or so, there is no way he makes it through. There is at least one of the other 29 teams that could use a guy like Valdez.

Castro, however, could be sent down outright to Lehigh Valley. He could start down there, get some at-bats, and be ready if something were to happen to Rollins again.

But for now, Valdez has done more than enough to warrant a spot as the backup infielder for the remainder of the season.
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Rollins' second calf injury isn't as bad as first one.


For the first time since mid-April, the Phillies lineup was the way it should be. Every starter was playing and they were handling John Lackey and the Red Sox fairly well along with the help of a stellar performance by Cole Hamels.

But once Jimmy Rollins hit a single in the sixth inning and had to limp to first base, the mood was immediately sucked out of the air.

The Phils got by without Rollins for an entire month, but no one wants to see if they could pull it off again. Even Juan Castro and the newest-but-not-so-new member of the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, Wilson Valdez, weren't happy to see Rollins pull up like that.

It was clearly his right calf again as Rollins aggravated the injury that kept him out of the lineup, until recently, since mid-April.

However, Rollins doesn't seem all that concerned.

"An hour later, it feels a lot better than it did when I came out," Rollins told the media after the Phillies' 5-1 win against the Boston Red Sox, "so we'll see."

Charlie Manuel, on the other hand, seems a bit more worried than Rollins.

"Yes, I'm concerned about Jimmy," Manuel said. "He said he doesn't think it's bad, but we'll see. We'll probably be able to tell more about it tomorrow."

It's possible Rollins is simply downplaying the significance of the injury this time because he would rather try to play through instead of having to head back to the disabled list and definitely miss at least 15 days of action, but that doesn't seem like a move that would work with Manuel.

If Charlie thinks Rollins needs two weeks to sit on the bench, watch, and recover, then that is exactly what will happen regardless of what Rollins says. It will all come down to what the team doctors recommend, but it doesn't seem likely Rollins hits the DL again.

He will most likely miss a game or two, but Castro is ready to go and has shown he can fill in well enough for Rollins in the field and at the plate.

Also, now that Valdez has cleared waivers (surprisingly enough) and accepted an assignment to Triple-A ball, the Phils have an insurance policy should Rollins regress and have to be placed on the Mark Prior List.
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Valdez has likely played his last game as a Phillie.


With Jimmy Rollins slated to make his return to the lineup, someone will have to face the axe in order to make room on the roster.

And unless something drastic happens very, very soon, it appears as though the unlucky player to get the axe will be Wilson Valdez. But really, it's the only move that makes sense. Charlie Manuel has made it clear he's keeping all of his pitchers, and Valdez is the guy currently filling in for J-Roll.

In fact, that's not even entirely accurate. Juan Castro was Rollins' replacement, and Valdez is actually Castro's replacement, making him the third shortstop.

He might have survived and simply been used as an emergency guy throughout the season, but with pitchers dropping like flies the Phils seem to have decided they simply can't part with any of them and risk losing someone else.

Valdez has been good in the field, but his hitting has been slightly below-average, to put it nicely, with a .229 average, four RBIs, and four runs.

It's not a bad line for a replacement player, but when we look back and see he had a five-game streak of hitting into a double-play, it paints a picture of a guy who has had a hit here and there, but hasn't been able to contribute when it counts.

Valdez is out of options, so he will have to clear waivers first if the Phillies want to try to send him back to triple-A Lehigh Valley. However, it's likely he wouldn't make it through waivers and has likely played his final game as a Phillie.
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