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Phillies team report
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Five things to know about the Philadelphia Phillies:
1. Welcome to Most Valuable Player central: Shortstop Jimmy Rollins won the award last season after posting a .344 on-base percentage with 30 homers, 94 RBI and 41 thefts. First baseman Ryan Howard won it in 2006 while blasting 58 homers and collecting 149 RBI (he "dropped off" to 136 RBI last season). So is it second baseman Chase Utley's year to win in 2008? Don't laugh: Utley is a perennial MVP candidate. He batted .332 last season with 103 RBI, and he slugged 32 homers with 102 RBI in '06. "I don't know," Utley says. "My plan is to just try to help this team win."
2. What might a Pat Burrell contract drive look like? Like the player who posted a .420 on-base percentage after the All-Star break last season, and the man who led all major leaguers in batting average (.366), OBP (.474) and slugging percentage (.693) over a 58-day span from July 1 through Aug. 27? Or like the guy who was frozen by his own shadow in 2003 with a .209 batting average? Burrell is eligible for free agency following the '08 season. "I think he's underrated right now as a player," new Phillies closer Brad Lidge says. "He's definitely having fun, and he's another strong presence on the team."
3. Don't be surprised if there's tension between Burrell and Lidge sometime this season. OK, good-natured tension: Burrell's University of Miami Hurricanes played Lidge's Notre Dame Fighting Irish when the two were in college, a three-game series in Florida. And how did that go? "They buried us," Lidge says. "They scored over 20 runs in every game." That was the Miami club that included Burrell, Aubrey Huff and infielder Bobby Hill, among others.
4. Aaron Rowand defected to San Francisco via free agency over the winter, leaving not only a gap in center field but a void in the clubhouse. Many in the organization viewed Rowand as the glue that bonded last year's NL East champions. "I can't say enough about him," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel says. "But I look at our team and I see Ryan Howard as a leader in his own right, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Jamie Moyer ... they definitely know what the game is all about." On the field, Shane Victorino moves over to center field and former Brewer Geoff Jenkins and veteran Jayson Werth will man right field.
5. Two underrated acquisitions for the Phillies in '08: Pedro Feliz, who will open the season at third base, and Kris Benson, who quietly continues rehabbing from shoulder surgery that wrecked '07 for him. Feliz hit 20 homers with 72 RBI for the Giants last year, posting solid numbers in a park notoriously not easy to hit in. Playing in Citizens' Bank Park and batting sixth or seventh (instead of in the middle of the lineup, where Giants skipper Bruce Bochy batted him by necessity) will only help. Plus, "I never realized he was that good a defensive player," Manuel says. Benson, meanwhile, could return around May 1, which could give the rotation a tremendous boost. "I think he could play a key role for us," says Charley Kerfeld, special assistant to general manager Pat Gillick. "He's been a pretty good pitcher on a lot of bad teams. You put him on a team like ours that will put some runs on the board, you never know what can happen."
