Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro was on the 94WIP morning show this week and he told Al Morganti and Rhea Hughes that young infielder Cesar Hernandez was the team’s second baseman. He also made it clear that Chase Utley would not be returning to the starting lineup when he returns to action from the Disabled List.
That means the team’s most popular player, Utley will be sitting the bench when he returns from the Disable List. Amaro said they will try to let Utley play first base on occasion, but he will not start.
The former All-Star has a .179 batting average after 249 at bats and that really isn’t worthy of starting. Some Phillies fans are complaining about Utley not being treated with the respect that he deserves. Many of those same fans have been complaining about the Phillies being such a bad baseball team.
Right now, I don’t think Amaro can satisfy the fans regardless of what he does. He has made mistakes and the entire Phillies organization has made mistakes, but I don’t think they’re making a mistake here by deciding to continue let Hernandez play. If they have a young player, who can go out there and do the job, they should let him play.
“Chase’s situation will kind of dictate itself”, Amaro said. “How he feels will dictate his timeframe to play, I think. He could play some first base. He could play some second. But as far as I’m concerned, our plan has been to give opportunities to young men who could be part of our future and Cesar Hernandez has been one of our best players in a variety of ways — running the bases, playing defense, playing with energy, he can switch hit. He’s doing a lot of things we want to see out of our young players.”
Hernandez has been playing great. He’s hitting over .300, showing great speed on the bases and doing an outstanding job in the infield at second base. Right now he’s on a 12 game hitting streak. Seven of those games have been multi-hit games for him. Since June 21st Hernandez leads the Majors with 28 hits and he’s had 9 stolen bases in last 10 games.
Why aren’t Phillies fans excited about Hernandez? If he continues to play like he has been playing, he will be an All-Star.
“Well, I think Cesar has done a really good job – there you go,” Utley said when asked about how Hernandez has been playing.
The right move to make which was a year or two too late…
Maybe Utley can be moved to the AL where he can DH for he is too much of a liability at 2B and has little to no range left and when paired with 1B R Howard makes probably the worst right side of an IF in the entire MLB that Teams have taken full advantage of for a couple of years…
You are right on about this paulman . I applaud Amaro or whoever called this shot.That what I respect about Ryne walking out,HE did not get support from the front office , Yet fans are grumbling about utley not getting respect , A multi- millionaire and perks , I can’t even mention, and fans who are making $25 an hour grumble and worry about Utley , Its a hard world to figure out Paulman .A hard world.Why did this move take so long?We will never ever know the answer to that puzzle.
pat far too many phillies’s fans just can’t be objective in regards to Utley. Gcobb had it right a year or so ago that Utley is the sacred cow of the franchise. Utley was out of line showing up McClure. Regardless of how boneheaded McClure’s actions were. Being a great player does not entitle him to break or breach protocol, He aint the skipper or position coach. He should worry about his own play. Besides Utley’s play all season has been putrid.
As to RAJ decision with Chase. too little too late. Chase’s drop in performance along with his injuries has been evolving for years. So what do you do? You reward him with a horrible contract knowing you’ll get a pass because his name isn’t Rollins or Howard. Thanks but no thanks moron.
good solid points Coldbrewski, Utley made his millions upon millions .He would be wise to ;leave the team/ game/ with some grace/dignity/ and appreciation of the team, the managers, and fans who treated him so well in life.He is as G.Cobb stated.