Here's the latest from the NL East…
- Jose Reyes told reporters (including WFUV's Amit Badlani) that he signed with the Marlins because of the team's potential to contend, not just because of the money, as recently stated by Marlins president David Samson.
- Chase Utley's chronic right knee tendinitis "is not going away. More than likely, it might never go away," says Phillies manager Charlie Manuel told reporters, including CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury. Utley has yet to play during Spring Training and the Phillies are known to be looking for infield depth for not only Utley, but also Ryan Howard and Placido Polanco. Prospect Freddy Galvis has seen a lot of time at second this spring, and Manuel thinks he could potentially handle the position should Utley miss significant time during the season.
- Braves right-hander Arodys Vizcaino will visit with Dr. James Andrews on Monday, reports MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Vizcaino has been suffering from ulnar neuritis in his right elbow and could potentially face Tommy John surgery if Andrews feels the ailment is serious enough. Vizcaino is one of Atlanta's several top-tier pitching prospects and was recently ranked as the 40th-best prospect in the sport by Baseball America.
- The Nationals optioned Eury Perez to Double-A today but some front office officials think he could be eventually be their answer in center field, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Adam Jones, B.J. Upton and Gerardo Parra are just a few of the many names that have been connected to Washington's search for a long-term center fielder. The 21-year-old Perez is coming off a .283/.319/.321 season for Class A Potomac in 2011 but he turned a lot of heads with an impressive Spring Training performance.
- For more Nationals news, check out this collection of Nats links from earlier today.
Darn shame for Chase. He had the makings of a Hall of Fame caliber career in 2006-2009 but his hip and his knee will prevent him from playing the game the way he wants, the right way.
He’ll always be my favorite Phillie…Eisenreich and Morandini are close seconds.
Chase is one of my favorites, and it’s a shame to see an awesome career take a turn like this. I hope that this injury doesn’t cut his career short right here and now. He’s still in his early thirties and should’ve had at least a couple more decent seasons in him. Also, with an exciting pitcher like Vizcaino possibly down and out, I get a full dosage of the thing I absolutely abhor about baseball: The injuries. That isn’t to say that injuries are exclusive to baseball, but seeing as how it is without a doubt my favorite sport, the bitter taste is always left in my mouth when great players lose any extended period of time to injury.
Amen, Brother. I hate seeing injuries in baseball. And though you may not root for Chipper; had he been able to play 150 games or so the last five years, he would have BONKERS numbers now. I hope Chase can return to form- and quickly. It’s just good for NL East baseball.
Yeah, I’m with you there too. After hearing a lot about Chipper and retirement lately, I gave some thought to the numbers he could have had if he stayed healthy throughout his career. He could very well have had 500 homers and possibly 3000 hits. Still a great career any way you put it, but even with greats like Chipper, you can still ask yourself what could have been.
That sucks for Chase. It seems like he will never be able to play a full season again. If it weren’t for injuries he definitely had hall of fame potential. With his kind of grit though, I think he can definitely still make a difference and it’s up to Charlie to try and keep him healthy, because Chase wouldn’t take a single day off this season if it were up to him
Marlins officials seem to be very unprofesional in a lot of ways
the whole organization comes off as just one big giant joke. It’s impossible to take them seriously sometimes
The Marlins had a lot of money to spend this past off season, sure. But they did finish last in the NL East last season and their farm system(at least at the time of Reyes signing) is pretty bare. It was bare because they just recently promoted pretty much all of their top prospects, but I’d say money was more of a factor than what he thought they could do in the standings in the near future.
As for Vizcaino, just go ahead and get the surgery done if he needs it. The Braves pen and rotation is deep enough as it is, no sense in letting such a young, talented player pitch through this at any level when you have depth. It has a very high success rate….
I don’t know where people got the idea his tendinitis was going to go away… It’s a chronic condition that was considered career threatening at the time.
In fact, the only reason he was able to play last year was because of a stretching program he picked up. It’s something he’s going to have to deal with.
I’m hoping that sometime the NL will adapt the DH so this guy’s Phillies career doesn’t have to end with his contract… that’s the only way I see him playing after his contract’s up.
Yup. I’m beginning to doubt he makes it through 2013. The current rumors that the Phils are looking for a 2B (not a generic utility infielder), along with Charlie Manuel’s openly worrying about Utley’s health, are bad signs.
Not to mention that interview Jimmy Rollins had with Jayson Stark recently… I don’t know if you saw that but that was really eye opening about the struggles Chase had playing last year.
I try to be an optimist as much as I can, but I’ve never been optimistic with Chase throughout this whole saga. I thought he was going to miss the entire year last year.
According to Ruben they’re going to get him on the field next week but, I mean, his stance on Chase being ready for opening day is getting softer and softer. “Once we get him on the field next week we’ll find out if he’s ready to go.”
If he’s not on the field… this team isn’t going to win the division.
I HATE the DH. I think it makes the managers job too easy and it takes away from the fundamentals of baseball that all of us grow up with playing the game. Playing D is a major part of the game and guys shouldn’t be able to skip half of it. Think of all the times an AL team has to sacrifice D to get a guy in the lineup when playing the NL.
I am sorry, but if you can’t play D you shouldn’t be able to play the sport unless a team is willing to give something up. A DH making over $10M is a disgrace.
It’s more of a preference thing.
Personally, I don’t buy that it makes the managers job easier… there’s different challenges that come with managing in the NL and the AL. It doesn’t really make sense NOT to have it considering the frequency of interleague play starting next year.
Will there be a whole lot more interleague games next year though? I figured there wouldn’t be too many added, just that they’d be spread out over the entire season.
There should be more considering there’s going to be at least one a day.
I’m really curious to see how that all plays out.
I don’t know if links are allowed here, so I’ll just copy and paste from this article on MLB.com back in November. I don’t know if anything’s changed since, this was just the last I’ve heard of it.
“MLB senior vice president Katy Feeney said teams are likely to play
“about the same number” of Interleague games under the new alignment. In
2011, AL teams played 18 apiece and NL teams played 15-18.”
“All of that is still to be finalized, but there’s not right now, in
general, a feel from the players’ side or the management side to
increase the number of Interleague games,” Feeney said. “It will
probably be close to the number we currently play.”
I replied, but it’s not looking like my comment will be approved for some random reason…..
Basically, this is what I last heard about it in November. Not sure if anything’s changed since.
MLB senior vice president Katy Feeney said teams are likely to play
“about the same number” of Interleague games under the new alignment. In
2011, AL teams played 18 apiece and NL teams played 15-18.
“All of that is still to be finalized, but there’s not right now, in
general, a feel from the players’ side or the management side to
increase the number of Interleague games,” Feeney said. “It will
probably be close to the number we currently play.”
No worse than inter league play, all these wild card teams (or any for that matter) revenue sharing and nearly every other change to the game over the last 50 years.
The DH is just about the only one I personally have cared for and does succeed in extending the career of HOF players, by giving them more exposure to fans, afterall.. who would the majority of fans prefer to see hit? Manny Ramirez, or Cole Hamels as an example?
I don’t care for inter league play either.
Baseball was just fine for 102 years before the DH was used. One thing I really like about pitchers batting is late in games, a manager has to choose between sticking with a starter who may be cruising, or pinch hitting to score an extra run. That choice can be the difference between winning or losing.
I am sorry, but guys like Raul Ibanez shouldn’t be playing this late in the game. He is taking a roster spot from a younger player. I just don’t care for it. I can understand why people like it, I just don’t.
Oh, I would personally rather see Hamels hit. He has a nicer swing! Ramirez is a cheater who I have no respect for. I wish he would just go away.
A breath of fresh air. I get so tired of hearing about how superior the AL is because of the DH. I’m not saying either one is better, but I just think its two completely different styles of baseball and I prefer the grind of the NL game. It would really bum me out if they adapted the DH.
Utley has alot of “veteran skills”, ability to still put up a high OBP and probably could be an above average first baseman for a few more years. Pretty awful that they are stuck with Howard for so long.
He’s solid defensively there too.
It’s a shame he can’t throw a baseball with accuracy or he might’ve been a great third baseman. I’ve got to think 3rd base is easier on the knees than an up the middle position where he’s getting taken out on double plays.
The Phils need to do what they failed to do this offseason, and get real about the probability that at least one of Polanco/Utley is likely to be hurt on any given day. There are some teams that have surplus utility infielders that would come cheaply, including the Cubs (Blake DeWitt, Jeff Baker) and Indians (Jose Lopez, Jack Hannahan, Andy LaRoche). They’re not great, but they’re upgrades on the Phils’ current in-house options. Mid-range possibilities include Robert Andino or Matt Antonelli (Orioles), Matt Downs (Astros), and Juan Francisco (Reds). On the higher end, the Angels could deal Maicer Izturis or Alberto Callaspo (or perhaps even Howie Kendrick, given their other options and his backloaded 4-year contract).
My money’s on the Phils’ reacquiring Wilson Valdez when the Reds have to make their final roster cuts. I hope I’m wrong.
If it comes down to the Phillies re-acquiring Wilson Valdez, I think they should just go with Galvis if Chase/Polanco can’t go.
Wiggington was brought in to play 2nd/3rd base. Which promted the Valdez trade in the first place. I don’t see Martinez getting much playing time at all.
I agree though, they should go out and acquire someone because personally, I’d prefer Galvis to spend the full year in AAA and Martinez isn’t very good. … just depends on who they get.
I agree on Valdez vs. Galvis, and that Galvis ideally should spend the year in AAA (or he should be packaged to get a starting-caliber 2B/3B like Callaspo).
Presumably Polanco would slide to 2B if they plan to use Wigginton to replace Utley. Wigginton’s horrible at 3B but ten times worse at 2B.
I think Callaspo would be a great pick up.
I could go a lifetime without seeing Valdez hitting into another inning ending double play. I liked his D, but his bat left a lot to be desired. I am sure they will make a move if Utley is going to miss a significant amount of time. Sucks that over $40M is going to be out of the lineup between 6 and 26.
There are a lot of questions with this lineup, and all we can hope for is a 1993 type year where guys put up career numbers platooning. If we get lucky the lineup will be good enough without the 3-4 hitters.
Looks like the Marlins just became the Favorites in the East
If Johnson and Reyes stay healthy and Chase does in fact miss signifigant time.
I don’t think there is a clear frontrunner. There’s really a case to be made for everybody in the division (minus the Mets obviously).
Or the Nationals. Or the Braves. Or nobody. There are 4 teams capable of winning that division. I’m still going with the Phillies and that probably won’t change unless they announce that Utley’s out for most of the season.
Pretty depressing post 🙁 Utley, Howard, Polanco, Vizcaino, more garbage out of the Marlins front office…
Polanco’s fine at the moment.
You’re right though, post was a downer.
I have pretty bad tendinitis in my knee and let me say it kills. I really feel for Chase. When I first found out I had it, my orthopedic prescribed me large amounts of ibuprofen with vitamins in it, but it’s gotten worse and worse to the point where nothing but rest, ice, and a heating pad work. Manuel is right… Won’t go away.