All seems to be well with Chase Utley, but that isn’t necessarily the case, at least regarding how the Phillies want to use him.
We don’t often break a ton of the injury news here, but when you talk to executives and managers, sometimes it is hard to avoid picking up an exclusive and that was the case here. Our previous scoop was Brandon Morrow possibly heading to the bullpen in Seattle upon his return before most other outlets.
Well, we spoke with a contact inside of the Phillies organization who was a bit more unenthusiastic about Utley’s return than most. He first spoke of some tightness that Utley still has, but is playing through.
“Most important to us is that Chase is able to go in the playoffs.”
Fine, nothing really wrong there…yet.
“Our goal is to put ourselves in position to make a postseason run, so, for the first half of the season, if we have to sit Chase a couple times per week to make sure that he is ready for September, we will do it.”
Ok, now I’m starting to get a bit more concerned. Missing a couple games per week?
“It’s not really anything out of the ordinary in the game. Just, a bit different with position players involved. Catchers take day games after night games off as well, same with Barry Bonds when he was dealing with injuries. If we have a three game series, Utley may play in the first two, then rest for the third so he is ready for the next series. If we can get him to play every 2 out of 3 games through the tightness and at full strength, we will be happy.”
That last part is obviously the most concerning. When I hung up the phone I immediately called someone else within the organization who was less forthcoming on the injury front and would not confirm or deny the previous report.
It now appears as if Chase Utley may take a mandatory rest once every three games.
That would reduce his games played to around the 105 games mark. Right now, it would not make much sense to target Chase in fantasy leagues. 105 games of really good Chase Utley will put up adequate numbers, but the games that he will miss will be too much for anyone to make up. If you draft today, I would advise moving him down to around pick 60-70. That is the range that Chipper Jones goes and we now know Utley will miss more time than Jones.
