The Phillies announced this evening they’ve hired former NL MVP Jimmy Rollins as a special advisor to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. According to the team, Rollins will “periodically assist the major league club in an on-field capacity and advise the front office with baseball operations decisions.” He will also continue to broadcast some of the team’s games as an analyst for NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“The addition of Jimmy Rollins to our baseball operations department is a significant gain for the Phillies,” Dombrowski said in the team’s press release announcing the move. “As one of the franchise’s all-time greats, Jimmy brings tremendous baseball instincts and an institutional knowledge of what it takes to win in Philadelphia. We look forward to his continued contributions to the Phillies.”
The 43-year-old Rollins released a statement of his own, saying he’s “honored to move into baseball operations and assist Dave and his staff. The Phillies mean a great deal to me, and I’ll do whatever I can to help get this team back to where it belongs, and that’s deep in October.”
Rollins, of course, is one of the best players in franchise history. He spent 15 seasons of a 17-year big league career in Philadelphia, donning a Phils uniform from 2000-14. During that run, the switch-hitting shortstop blossomed into one of the sport’s best players. He finished in third place in NL Rookie of the Year balloting in 2001, earning his first of three All-Star selections that season and leading the Senior Circuit with 46 stolen bases.
The Oakland native earned some down-ballot MVP support during his debut season, one of five years in which he’d garner votes. The pinnacle came in 2007, when Rollins was elected MVP after putting up a .296/.344/.531 line with 30 homers and a Gold Glove award for his defense. That season kicked off a string of five straight postseason appearances for the Phillies, highlighted by a 2008 campaign in which they vanquished the Rays in a five-game World Series.
As Rollins implied, it has been a while since the Phils have gotten back to those heights. That streak of consecutive playoff appearances was snapped in 2012, kicking off a ten-year postseason drought the team is hoping to snap in 2022.
As frustrating as he was brilliant…..Am stoked he’s got a voice in the organization….
PHILLY PUTTING ON A PHAKE PHRONT TO PHOOL PHANS
Lets use our inside voices now.
LOL Philly “phans” are louder than anyone and it usually backfires. Some random Phillies fan walked up to my table at Buffalo Wild Wings after they swept the Braves in MARCH of 2019 and he started claiming that they would win 105 games and go to the World Series. The Phillies finished 81-81 while the Braves finished 97-65.
Awesome story. Clearly representative of the entire fan base.
I believe it. Those same fans were probably still drunk from the Eagles winning their ONE AND ONLY Super Bowl from the year before. Go back to booing Santa!
They used to boo their own players when they came to Shea Stadium. I remember Thome laughing and taking it like a good sport but they would get really nasty.
@48 you eat at bdubs? You must be poor and have zero standards
@oscar that’s crazy that even though it happened in 1968 people will never let fans live the whole Santa thing down meanwhile there have been things like bottlegate that never get mentioned to Cleveland fans
I think the reason for that is because Cleveland is a punchline, punching bag for most situations. You don’t really need an actual factual event to poke fun at Cleveland. Sam Wyche comes to mind as someone who played a slick game of slight of hand towards Cleveland.
@Milwaukee-2208
Not so much anymore. They have gone downhill in recent years. I wouldn’t exactly call it cheap either.
I still remember when it was called Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck
Can’t believe I was passed up for another front office job…
Next time you apply, lmk, I got a few guys….guys that know guys….
Life after baseball
Jimmy open that front door & sit in the CEO chair
Feels good don’t it
Nice. Always liked Rollins.
Jimmy, I’d rather see you make a comeback. Heck, Julio Franco, another ex Philly played until he was 48. Good luck to you in your new position.
Hell yeah.
But the real question is, at his age can he make the position change to play centerfield?
I caught a small portion of the Phillies vs Yankees game today on tv. Their lineup is stacked with studs and has the potential to be absolutely explosive this year.
I am a Giants fan, but if the Phillies pitching and defense has it together this year, the Phillies definitely should have a great season.
Also, good for Rollins, seems like a really great dude to have around the ball club this year.
Fire Cashman
Then have a intense session for Yankee fans to teach them how the game is played and administered.
The best defensive player on the current Phillies team happens to be in the Front Office. I love the hire. Jimmy deserves it. Absolute legend.
One of DD’s strengths was that he aways realized he’s a “suit” and needs to surround himself with guys that actually put on a jock. Rollins always struck me as a bright guy; this could be the beginning of a long time FO career,
Always had Rollins pegged for coaching or maybe managing after he retired as a player. Great player, first rate attitude.
overrrrrrateeeddddd!!!
How?
I disagree. A tremendous defensive shortstop who also happened to hit a ton. In today’s game, this is no surprise, but you have to remember when Rollins came up in 2001 this was extremely rare. Shortstops played defense. They didn’t hit dingers. In Rollins’ 30/30 season ( a rare accomplishment in itself), he also hit 20 triples and 38 doubles. That’s incredible. I think people tend to isolate Rollins’ offensive numbers without remembering he was a defensive first player who happened to have a solid bat. Also during the Phillies division winning stretch from 2007-2011, there was no doubt about who the leader in the clubhouse was. And while some people tend to overrate the idea of being “clutch”, Rollins came up big when you needed him to.
I agree Von. I’m not even a Phils Phan, but I always hated when he came to bat with men in scoring position. But like you said, he was a defense-first player. Borderline HoFer.
Von let me tell you, I remember sitting at Shea Stadium and my fiancee hearing his name on the PA and saying “uh oh this guy again?!” And sure enough he lines a homer the opposite way to left. That 2007 season especially was crazy, I remember Peter Gammons saying that the MVP would be decided by who won the NL East (Wright vs Rollins). I was always in awe of his natural talent and how underrated he was until he got some real help around him with thar 07-11 core. SS is a glove first position and not only could he pick it, the guy could rake. And I’m not a “clutch” person like you said, if it did exist he was the personification. Saying to the media pre-2007 that the Phillies were the “team to beat” and backed it up winning the MVP. Seeing number 11 in the batters box August and September 07 and 08 gave me heart palpitations. Much respect for a true rival who played with grace AND class.
Will he finally hustle… to first base
Nah, because I’m quite sure the MLBPA snuck in a “ no hustle” clause in the fine print of the latest CBA. Mo money, less hustle
I have another great idea why don’t we bring back Rubin Amaro as part of the TV broadcast team……wait the Phillies already had that horrible idea as well.
The heart and soul of those division winning teams was Chase Utley, not Jimmy Rollins. Rollins was more flash than substance. Utley grinded it out each day and always ran hard to first base.
Rollins had a couple of nice seasons, that were no doubt helped by the solid line up around him (Victorino, Utley, Werth, Howard and Chooch).
HOFer? Maybe. Qualifications have been watered down by some recent inductees, so Rollins could make a case for himself. JMHO, but he will most likely fall short of being inducted. Gonna get tougher for him as the years move on because of all the good SS around nowadays.
You’re definitely wrong. Utley was never a leader. It was Rollins all the way. Utley will tell you that. Plus Utley was derailed by injuries often. I love Utley, but Rollins was the centerpiece of that team. I’m not sure if that core gets any Hall of Famers, but really the only two that have a chance are Rollins and Utley. Two amazing 2-way players. One of the best double play combos in National League history.
Dombrowski will activate Rollins to play SS if Didi gets off to another horrible start
I was a bit mean when posting about Jimmy when he played..I dubbed him JimmyJogsALot….Now, I’m feeling sorry I did..he did have a solid if not almost great career……apologizing!!!!!!!!