Dodgers Could See Luxury-Tax Payroll Top $300M

The Dodgers are receiving $4 million from the Phillies to offset the $6 million that remains on Utley’s $15-million salary.

Though he didn’t show much of a personality and never smiled on the field, Utley is perhaps the most popular player to ever wear the red Phillies’ pinstripes.

After that, doling out playing time will get more complicated for Mattingly.

My 13-year-old nephew, who was proudly wearing an Utley T-shirt when I last saw him a week before the deal, didn’t take the news real well, either. He didn’t sign, opted to go to college and then was taken in the first round (fifteenth overall) of the 2000 draft by the Phillies. Anderson won his first career outing against Houston before striking out three in as many innings to pick up the save in his last meeting on September 8, 2013.

Utley can start by helping Los Angeles avoid its first six-game road slide since May 2013.

Utley spoke longingly about growing up in Long Beach and watching his favorite Dodgers, Brett Butler and Steve Sax and Kirk Gibson, and attending Game 2 of the 1988 World Series.

Utley debuted for the Phils over 12 years ago, and quickly became a household name.

“Chase Utley is the guy every kid needs to watch”.

RF Yasiel Puig was held out of the starting lineup for a third consecutive game with a right hamstring strain but Dodgers manager Don Mattingly anticipates that Puig will be available at some point this series.

The left-handed hitting second baseman also brings tremendous postseason experience to the Dodgers, holding a. 262 batting average, 10 home runs and 25 RBIs through ten postseason series. The list goes on.

Utley played 23 games at the Vet and was the final batter in the stadium’s history. “In fact, we had planned to do something very special for him during the course of the game”.

Since 2005, when Utley more or less started playing fulltime, he ranks 11th in OPS+ (126) among all players with at least 1,400 games played over that time – a mark that is virtually identical to his longtime American League counterpart, Robinson Cano (126), and better than Adrian Beltre (119), Ichiro (103) and Brandon Phillips (99). “And if baseball was meant to be, I’d always have another opportunity”.

Utley suggested it was the lack of that last element during recent seasons in Philadelphia that, after 13 seasons there, made the trade easier to swallow. He’ll be remembered as a player and person who loved representing the city of Philadelphia, on and off of the field.

Sports analyst Beasley Reece assessed the trade that ended Chase Utley’s career with the Philles and sent him to Los Angeles, speculating that his relationship with for teammate Jimmy Rollins led Utley to make the decision to waive his no-trade clause.

Philadelphia Phillies’ Chase Utley acknowledges cheers from the crowd after a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Wednesday, August 19, 2015, in Philadelphia.