If the Philadelphia Phillies weren't aware before Thursday of how hard it can be to repeat, the World Series champs know that now. The team announced Thursday that second baseman Chase Utley will need right hip surgery that potentially could keep him out until the first week of June. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Thursday that the team expects Utley to be "fairly close to ready, if not ready, by Opening Day." Source: ESPN - Philadelphia Phillies' Chase Utley to undergo hip surgery
Huge blow to the Phils.......how does the GM expect him to be back by Opening Day if the Doc's are saying June? Worse case scenario is June I guess.
Yeah, the recovery time is 4-6 months, so if it did take the whole 6 months, he'd be out til June. I'm praying that he'll be ready in time for the season, but if he only misses a month, it won't be so bad. Every time you think you can't love the guy anymore, you learn something new. First "World Freaking Champions", now this. We definitely saw the effects this had on his hitting, but if you were watching him play the field or were listening for complaints or excuses, you would have never known something was nagging the guy. It'll be interesting to see what they do. They could bring in a guy like Punto and then move him to the bench when Chase returns or they could bring back Iguchi and let him battle with Jason Donald for the spot. This would be a nice opportunity to give Donald some experience and showcase him off to other teams in case we wanted to deal him at the deadline. Anyway, here's hoping that Utley recovers as quickly as possible and doesn't miss a major amount of time.
I think during spring training all eyes will on the battle at 2nd base. I'm not sure who's out there, but they are going to be looking to bring someone in I would think.
