I was pretty happy when the Phillies committed to Chase Utley by signing him to a seven year, $85 million deal. I thought it was win/win. Utley gets a ton of cash, and he gets it quicker then if he went through the arbitration mess. And we get probably the best player at his position locked up for seven years. That price tag looks like a ton, but by the end of this deal, Utley’s contract will look like a huge bargain if he’s bee able to avoid injuries.
This NBCsports.com column talks about how Chase Utley “happened” was about as good of an outcome that you can hope for from a first round draft pick.
And it’s hard to believe that the Phillies haven’t made the post season since 1993. They’ve been so close the last couple of years that you forget that it hasn’t been since that loss to the Blue Jays in the World Series that we’ve seen the Phillies in post season play (it’s also the last time the Blue Jays were in the post season. In this column, Evan Grant offers some hope and feels that the Phillies are on of the teams who have a shot at breaking their streak of not making the playoffs.
