Phillies GM says Chase Utley won’t start at 2B | SPORTAL

Is there any other appropriate reaction to the news this morning that Ruben Amaro Jr. has said that Chase Utley likely won’t be the starting second baseman when he returns from his stint on the disabled list?

Amaro didn’t drop the mic. He kept answering questions for another 15 minutes.

Chase Utley is one of the greatest second basemen of all time, and undoubtedly one of the best Phillies ever, but his career with them may be coming to an end.

Since Utley’s last start at second base June 20, Hernandez is hitting.438/.493/.516 with nine stolen bases in as many attempts. When the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, he hit 33 homers, drove in 104 runs and scored 113 runs. “He’s doing a lot of the things that we want to see out of our young players”.

Hernandez has been playing great.

The 25-year-old Hernandez is hitting.301/.386/.383 (116 OPS+) overall and.426/.487/.500 in 16 games since taking over as the regular season baseman, by the way.

Utley’s story has been well covered. Those words will likely sting Utley, but it’s also hard to argue against Amaro here, as Utley was performing at below replacement level prior to being placed on the DL. A total of 229 players have batted at least 200 times this season and only three have a lower OPS+ than Utley.

Utley has a vesting option in his contract based on plate appearances.

Hernandez, 25, has proved to be a far more productive second baseman than the 36-year-old Utley this year.

If Utley returned Friday July 17, the first game after the All-Star Break, and stayed healthy the rest of the season, he’d be on the active roster for 71 games.

The old adage is you can’t lose a starting spot because of an injury. One would hope so, as losing his job while on the disabled list to someone collecting a few extra singles is no way for Utley to go out. But, as a fan who has watched his entire career…