The Phillies showed their commitment to winning today when they signed super star secondbaseman Chase Utley to a seven year, $85 million deal. Utley had a monster season in which he hit 32 homeruns with 40 doubles and it was his second straigh season with an OPS over .900. He’s below average with the glove, but his hitting makes him one of the best second basemen in baseball.
Baseball Prospectus recently unveiled their latest PECOTA cards and when you check out Utley’s card, you like what you see. His weighted mean average has him at 31 homeruns. They also have his walk rate going up a bit, which you should expect as more and more hitters begin respecting him as much as they do Ryan Howard.
And speaking of Howard, he’s the next order of business. Locking the slugger to a long term deal would go a long way to making the Phillies big time contenders for the next several years.
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:12 am
Having Utley locked up, and next Howard makes me happy. They will continue to produce for years.