Chase Utley Close To Return!!!

Chase Utley is on the verge of rejoining the Phillies and a special place in my heart. I'm not sure when or how I became president of the Chase Utley fan club but apparently I have a mild obsession with him and his underratedness. I'm also not allowed within 100 feet of him according to a document I had to sign and have notarized. But enough about my legal issues, let's talk about Chase. He could be activated in time for Monday's game according to this AP article that I will now blockquote...

The five-time All-Star second baseman returned to the team Sunday and appears close to being activated off the disabled list. Utley hasn't played this season because of tendinitis in his right knee.

He played in his fourth straight rehab game Saturday night at Single-A Clearwater. He hit .281 with one homer in nine games.

Utley declined comment before Sunday's game against Texas. The Phillies say Utley will meet with head trainer Scott Sheridan and team doctor Michael Ciccotti before deciding the next course of action.

I've written ad nauseam about the lack of MVP support Utley has received over the years despite being the second best player in the National League behind Albert Pujols for much of his career. So I won't waste anymore space on that here.

Utley only played in 115 games in 2010 and posted the lowest wOBA (a very respectable .373) of his career for a season in which he played over 100 games. He was still the fourth best second baseman according to fWAR (5.2) in 2010 even though he played in 39 fewer games than the third best and 45 fewer than the first and second.

The Phillies must be almost as excited as me to get Utley back from the disabled list. Even though the Phils have the second best record in all of baseball, they're getting the second worst production from their second basemen (-0.6 WAR) besting only the Twins.

Just to be clear, my letters to Chase Utley were nowhere as creepy as Mac's love letter.



I used better stickers.

The Sky Is Falling: Chase Utley

I think it has become fairly well documented across the Interwebs that I am a bit of a Chase Utley supporter, even though I think some of the language in the restraining order paints an unfair picture of me. So imagine the immediate dismay that washed over me when I heard the Phillies' second baseman was already experiencing tendinitis in his knee. Utley, the consummate professional, believes this is just a minor blip...

Utley said yesterday that surgery has not even been discussed as an option. In fact, Utley said, he has played through worse pain during his career. If the Phillies were in the middle of the regular season instead of at the beginning of the Grapefruit League slate, he said he would be in the lineup.

"I hope it's just a minor blip," Utley said. "I think we have the right people checking it out. I think the work ethic is going to be there in terms of trying to improve it. So in that aspect I think it's all good."

Utley was derailed from another potential 7 WAR season in 2010 when thumb surgery wiped out his July and half of August. With any luck, rest and rehab will take care of this bout with tendinitis and Utley will have a healthy 2011. I'm not sure I'm emotionally stable enough to survive an injury plagued season or, god forbid, the beginning of the steep second baseman decline. Luckily, Dave Cameron doesn't seem to think Utley will fall to the same fate as Roberto Alomar or Ryne Sandberg.

PECOTA projects a healthy Utley to be the best second baseman in baseball for 2011 and worth over a full win more than Robinson Cano (4.7-3.4). But 40 points of OBP and a run's worth of defense will do that. Even with a clean bill of health, my championing of an Utley MVP seems almost futile now.

As much as it pains me to say, it might be time to turn my lack-of-MVP-consideration fascination to Ryan Zimmerman.

J-Roll Has A Stake In Justin Bieber

Jimmy Rollins doesn't want to be just another former baseball player after he retires. He has big plans involving the music industry. Now, I couldn't name a Justin Bieber song but he seems like a safe bet since that kid is always trending on Twitter and Tom Brady apparently stole his haircut. Rollins has tried to develop his own music stars but let's just say he isn't quite P-Diddy yet so he turned his attention to buying in on established artists. And I'm using "artist" in the loosest sense with Bieber. Here's the deal...

Rollins owns 5 percent of the publishing rights to Justin Bieber's "Eenie Meenie," a hit duet with Jamaican chubster Sean Kingston. The song appears on Bieber's platinum album, "My World 2.0."

*snip*

Rollins indicated that his investment in Bieber's song cost him about $20,000. Rollins' attorney, Christopher Cabott, who also teaches entertainment and sports law at Temple, yesterday presented to the assemblage a formula that, for that 5 percent stake, recoups about $10,000 per million units sold.

I guess the $20,000 investment in Bieber isn't a bad move for a guy who bought a $350,000 Bentley with his 2008 World Series check. Instead of me alienating my 13-year-old girl fan base by filling the rest of this post with Bieber jokes, I decided to focus on my other problem with the Phillies short stop. And if you read me at all, you should know where I'm going with this.

I'm still upset about the 2007 NL MVP results. That voting was worse than a grown man buying a single ticket to a Justin Bieber concert. Let's just move right past the fact that Albert Pujols should have won with his .327/.429/.568 line instead of finishing NINTH, and focus on the Phillies. Rollins hit 30 home runs and a .296/.344/.531 line for a good .378 wOBA. Sure, maybe he deserved some MVP votes but he wasn't the most valuable player on his own team let alone in the league.

Ryan Howard finished fifth thanks to 47 homers even though he struck out 37.6% of the time. But the real crime here was that Chase Utley finished eighth in the voting despite finishing both third in WAR (7.7) and wOBA (.420) while playing Gold Glove defense at second (which he didn't win either).

It boggles my mind how Utley doesn't get more MVP love. He's been one of the top five players in the National League for the past five years. He's clearly the Phillies best positional player but still can't beat out Howard in MVP voting. It makes me sad. And whether you agree with me or not, you have to be impressed that I managed to turn a Justin Bieber post into a Chase Utley love fest.

At least Utley finally got to be on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Chase Utley And "It's Always Sunny" Together At Last

If you're a fan of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and this blog, you probably know that Mac and I share some special feelings for Phillies' second baseman Chase Utley. While Mac actually writes love letters to Chase, I tend to simply dedicate 500 words here and there on why he deserves more MVP love than he gets. I mean, come on. The highest he's ever finished was 7th in the MVP voting even though he's been the second best player in the NL since 2006 and the best second baseman in all of baseball over that time. The poor man can't even win an effing Gold Glove.

Okay, sorry. This isn't the space for that rant. In last night's It's Always Sunny episode "The Gang Gets Stranded In The Woods," Chase Utley makes a cameo appearance along with former MVP Ryan Howard (who also received a second place MVP vote this year despite not be as valuable as Utley; anger rising). The gist of this episode is that the gang is headed to Atlantic City for an animal adoption fundraiser which will be attended by the two Phillies stars. Of course, hijinx ensues.

Here's the clip of Utley and Howard watching Dennis and Charlie get hammered...



That clip might not last long seeing as how I don't have the expressed written consent of MLB or FX. Either way, it was pretty funny even if Utley and Howard played it pretty safe. I'm still waiting for the episode that features Utley, Mac and myself getting wasted and talking about on base percentage and Ultimate Zone Rating. *fingers crossed*

Ryan Zimmerman Gets Chase Utley'd

The BBWAA released the outcome of the voting for the National League MVP earlier today and Joey Votto ran away with the award. Votto grabbed 31 of the 32 first place votes while Albert Pujols vultured the remaining top vote to prevent the sweep. Both hard slugging first basemen were deserving of the award so it's not worth dissecting how close the two really were despite the wide margin of victory. Besides, Rob Neyer already did that.

Instead, I'll use this space to complain about Ryan Zimmerman's 16th place finish. I may have written a few words in the past about the lack of MVP support that Chase Utley has received over his career. I mean, Utley has been the second best player in the NL since, roughly, 2005 but the highest he's ever finished in MVP voting is 7th. Hell, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard have even won MVPs when Utley was a more worthy candidate. I could go on but there's some pretty ominous wording in this restraining order. (Can't resist; Utley finished with the 14th best fWAR and received zero MVP votes this season) Okay, on to Zimmerman and his Utley treatment.

I had Zimmerman third on my BBA ballot which might have been a tad high in retrospect but I wouldn't have had him lower than 5th-ish. How could I be so far off from the people who get paid to write about baseball? What do they know that I'm missing? Let's go to a little Twitter conversation with Fox Sports' own miniature baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.



First I'd like to take a moment to reflect on how polite I was. I was surprisingly calm for something I so vehemently disagree with. Contending team? That's it? Really? Strap on the nerd boots and let's go to the stats...

Ryan Zimmerman
142 G, 25 HR, .307 AVG, .388 OBP, .510 SLG, 13.9 UZR, 7.2 fWAR (Fangraph's WAR)

Scott Rolen
132 G, 20 HR, .285 AVG, .358 OBP, .497 SLG, 10.6 UZR, 5.0 fWAR

In Rosenthal's eyes, playing for a contending team negates the fact that Zimmerman was worth TWO more wins than Rolen. That is a significant gap even with the 10 extra games Zimmerman played. Rolen only finished two spots and eight points ahead of Zimmerman in the final tally but it still hurts my brain.

I might put more stock in WAR than I should but Fangraphs loved Zimmerman this season. His 7.2 WAR was only one tenth of a point behind Albert Pujols and two tenths behind Joey Votto. That would make him the third most valuable in the National League for the 2010 season. Yet, like Chase Utley before him, he was almost ignored in MVP voting. Why?

Much of Zimmerman's value is tied to his brilliant defense at third base. While there aren't any perfect metrics for defense, the nerds in basements have been making big strides in understanding defense and it's value. But, I guess it's still easier for the mainstream media to give votes to a terrible fielding first baseman who hits 31 home runs and strikes out over 150 times (Ryan Howard received a 2nd and 3rd place vote).

Still, 16th place is absurd. And so begins my crusade to get Ryan Zimmerman more MVP respect. Don't hold your breath, Ryan, it didn't help Chase any.

More fun with the NL MVP results
*Troy Tulowitzki finished 5th; five voters left him off of their ballots.
*Martin Prado finished 9th because why not.
*Brian Wilson finished well ahead of Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Johnson.
*Jimenez received one fourth place vote and that's it.
*Carlos Ruiz (Chooch!) finished ahead of Brian McCann.
*Buster Posey finished 11th including one third place vote. Not a bad year.

Boyfriend of Offbase Staff Member Cleared to Begin Hitting

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, long the love interest of our very own MTD, Wednesday was cleared to begin hitting. Utley, who has a .277/.383/.466 slash line in 316 plate appearances but hasn't played since June 28 because of a torn ligament in his right thumb, is hoping to return by the end of the month.

Here's a short conversation with Utley MTD had in his mind when he heard today's news.

MTD: "So, they cleared you to begin hitting? That means you could be back in a few weeks, right?!"

Utley in MTD's mind: "Sure did, fella. I should be back by September 1 at the latest, but like you said the other day, I go 4-for-4 every day in here.

MTD: "You sure do. Yesterday, you hit for the cycle twice. It was a 17-inning game. Sorry, you guys lost. Danys Baez really stinks."

UIMM: "Who? Well, anyway, I'm going to start doing that thing with my back leg we talked about."

MTD: "You had me at "stop stealing my eye black."

Not Chase!!!

Chase Utley will miss 8 weeks after having thumb surgery. I can only assume the thumb was ripped off by Big Foot in a scrum that Chase dominated.

I've kind of come to terms with Chase not getting MVP votes but this will definitely cost him the Gold Glove. And for that I'm...

:(

And I hate emoticons.

In other site news, I'm stuck in Baton Rouge and both the Internet and AT&T hate me. It will be a miracle if I can publish this post. I'll be back in New Orleans tomorrow and I'll catch you up on the Shots of the Night and any missed Sombreros.

Chase Utley Summons Jobu

I know the blogs have already covered this story here, here and here. But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Chase Utley turning to voodoo to cure his recent hitting slump. After all, our roundup is named Curveballs For Jobu. So when Chase decided to build a voodoo shrine to help bust his slump, I gots to write about it.

Utley hasn't hit a home run since May 20th and was hitting a mere .180 over the past 25 games. Somehow, he has managed to escape any bashing from Phillies' fans. An impressive feat in it's own right. But the All Star second baseman needed to do something to break out of his slump. When in doubt, it's voodoo time.

The Zo Zone describes it for us...

Three of the bats formed a triangle. At the top of the triangle sat the Red Bull (the tin placed atop it), apple, orange, banana and vitamins.

Nice handy work, Chase.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied.

But those who know say Utley was the culprit.

I live in New Orleans, I know voodoo works. But that's one messed up offering he's making. Red Bull, fruit, vitamins and a can of dip? No money or booze or virgins? Yikes. Chase should at least rum up that offering some. Although, I hear you can't trust Ross Gload around free booze. And we all know it's very bad to steal Jobu's rum.