The Chase Utley era in Philadelphia has ended with a whimper. After initial reports on Tuesday said that it looked like the Phillies would be hanging on to Utley, the team did an about-face on Wednesday, shipping their franchise icon to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
while deal hasn't been signed yet, sides have agreed on deal of utley plus 2M to LA for 2 minor leaguers.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 19, 2015
Interesting enough, Utley will be reunited with his long-time double play partner, Jimmy Rollins, with the Dodgers.
It hasn’t been a great year for Philadelphia’s long-time second baseman. Utley’s played in just 73 games for the Phillies, missing the better part of six weeks with an ankle injury. For the year, he’s hit .217/.284/.333 with five homers and three stolen bases. He’s played better in eight games since coming off the DL, slashing his way to a .484/.485/.742 line, but we’re looking at a 31 plate appearance sample – not exactly compelling evidence that he’s “back”, or whatever expression you want to use.
You may not think the Dodgers need help at second base, but Howie Kendrick is on the DL with a hamstring injury and is expected to be out of action until at least the end of the month. Utilityman Kiké Hernandez has gotten the bulk of the playing time with Kendrick out, but he’s not a natural second baseman and could be better utilized elsewhere by Los Angeles. In fact, aside from Kendrick and Hernandez, the only two players to earn playing time at second for the Dodgers are rookie Jose Peraza and starting third baseman Justin Turner. They really need the extra depth Utley will provide.
As for the Phillies, only two cogs from their 2008 World Championship team remain – first baseman Ryan Howard and catcher Carlos Ruiz, and each of those two are free agents after 2016. With Cesar Hernandez playing so well at second base, this was the right move for the organization to move on into the future.
