 |
| Photo by Richard Wilkins Jr. |
Let me get a couple of obligatory points out of the way on Jimmy Rollins, before I make my main point:
- I do not believe the Phillies are favored to win anything, or for that matter will win anything. I also think that a $189 million team has to try to win. I also think any team should go into Opening Day trying to win. I don't think that's negotiable, even if your roster stinks. Proving a point, at the expense of putting the team with the best chance (however low) to win on the field is stupid.
- I do not believe Jimmy Rollins is anywhere near the player he was from 2006-2009. I'm also not one to be sentimental (I wanted to trade Chase Utley last Summer). I also think there's a shot, less than 50/50, but a shot, that Jimmy can be more like 2012 than 2013. I also think that Jimmy's the only shortstop the Phillies have anywhere near the majors that is potentially a playoff-level starting shortstop, even if I think he'll fall short of that probably. While I want Freddy Galvis to make the team over say, Kevin Frandsen, he's a zero with the bat to me, and I'm not ready to make him the guy here.
- Stop being mad that Jimmy Rollins is exercising his rights. He's a 10 year veteran, five years with the same team, which in baseball labor terms means he has full veto rights over any trade. His wife is from the Philly area, he's played here his whole career, if he wants to stay here, whether it's for personal life or personal milestone reasons, you just have to shut up and accept it. Those are the rules of the sport. Do you gladly give up your rights in the work-place? If you do, well, I'm sorry that you do that to yourself.
- Jimmy Rollins is the best shortstop to ever play for the Phillies. Larry Bowa's far behind. He's earned some respect from the fans, coaches, teammates, and owners. You may not like that he doesn't run every ball out as hard as Chase Utley. I understand that. It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers you, but I'll respect your opinion there. You'll also have to respect then that some fans think he deserves a bit better.
- It's bush-league when teams try to mess with guys who have attainable options at the end of their deals. I totally get that people don't want Jimmy back in 2015. If he's hitting .240 in May, you can start sitting him for Galvis, and it'll be clear why. This looks petty. This won't make the Phillies look like a desired landing spot for future free agents.
Ok, with all of those points about Jimmy and the Phillies out of the way, the point of me writing this was to criticize Ryne Sandberg, something I wanted to avoid for all of 2014. I wanted Sandberg to be the next manager of the Phillies for several seasons, since I was watching him in Allentown, and I'm glad he is. I also want Freddy Galvis on this roster too. What's transpiring is stupid though. It looks bad. It doesn't make the Phillies better. It doesn't make a lot of sense.
While I like Sandberg, he's getting schooled here. His "no comment" was damaging enough in this case, and hopefully taught him to not do this again. Sandberg got here like five minutes ago. Jimmy's been here well past a decade. Sandberg has every right to bench Jimmy Rollins if he wants. He owes it to Rollins to tell him why though, which he did not. It's one thing to be a tough manager. It's another thing to publicly make players look bad without explanation. I hope he learns from this.
I'm not one to care if Jimmy is "a leader." This is one of the oldest teams in the game, and has been for a while, and if Marlon Byrd and Carlos Ruiz need Jimmy to "be a leader," then this team is screwed out the gate. Maybe Jimmy showed up Sandberg and did something wrong. We don't know that. If that happened, I'm fine with benching him. All of this, "he's not a leader" talk doesn't fly on a team of 30-somethings. He gets paid to produce, not give pep talks.
As I said above, it doesn't make them better either. I know, this is more of an anti-Ruben point, but how does doing this now jive with the off-season? You went out and gave decent pay-days to A.J. Burnett, Marlon Byrd, and Carlos Ruiz, but now want to posture that you'll go with Freddy Galvis if Jimmy doesn't play your way? No offense to Freddy, but has he shown any evidence of being the guy at short so far? His defense is outstanding, and maybe (if Jimmy continues to decline on both sides of his game this year), Galvis could surpass him this season, but if you HAD to bet on either of them having a season that is capable of leading the Phillies to the playoffs, you'd bet on Rollins.
Now, I'm not actually miles away from the Rollins-hater crowd by any means. As I said above, I was willing (even pro) trading Utley for a good return last year, so I'm willing to moving anyone for a good return. Moving Jimmy would let the Phillies try some different things in 2014 and 2015. Jimmy is a declining player, and Jimmy is, at times, not a model citizen. It just doesn't make any sense for a team that says it's trying to contend, and should be trying to, to do this. They're not handling it well. Their reasoning makes no sense for me. I can't wrap my head around what kind of thinking they're doing here. If they think they're going to stink, why did they bother to hand out $30 million or so for the 2014 season? If they don't think they're going to stink, why are they doing this now?
Either way, credit Ruben for one more contract that went a bit too long.
