By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
While former Philadelphia Phillies teammates Ryan Howard and Chase Utley continue to train for the 2017 season, despite the fact that neither has signed with a team yet, Shane Victorino still hasn't decided on whether he wants to make another comeback attempt in 2017.
After failing to make the Chicago Cubs out of Spring Training out a minor league deal, Victorino, largely due to his health, wasn't able to make a significant impact while playing for the Cubs' Triple-A affiliate and was released in May. The Cubs went on to win their first World Series title since 1908, while Victorino took the rest of the season off.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports noted in August that Victorino wanted to "regroup" and try to catch on with a team for 2017, but Victorino sounded less sure of that when he spoke to Ryan Lawrence of Philly Voice in October. Heyman now says that even though Spring Training is less than two months away from opening, Victorino hasn't made a decision on whether he plans to plan in 2017 or not:
"It could be the end of the line for him and Shane Victorino, who’s said to be still deciding about a comeback."
This would suggest a few things. First of all, if Victorino hasn't entirely ruled out playing, he's probably been training in some capacity, though it's hard for athletes to be all the way invested in their training if they aren't sure that they actually plan to pursue a job. Even if Victorino pursues a job, there's no guarantee anyone would sign him, and if they did it would be to a minor league deal with a slim chance of actually playing at the big league level.
As sad as it may be, injuries limited him to just 71 games between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels in 2015, and that followed a 2014 season where he only played 30 games due to injuries. Given both the injuries he's battled through and the time that he got to spend with his family last summer, it seems more likely that Victorino will elect to retire. Given the historic moments that he was a part of with both the Phillies and the Red Sox, he could remain involved in baseball, whether it was through some sort of role in either organization or as a television analyst.
Nicknamed "The Flyin' Hawaiian," Victorino played for the Phillies for parts of seven seasons, including the team's 2007-2011 run of National League dominance. During his time with the club, Victorino made two All-Star appearances (2009 and 2011), led the league in triples twice (2009 and 2011) and won three Gold Glove Awards (2008-2010).
