Breaking news: Phillies place Rollins on 15-day DL

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins sprained his ankle April 8, but was used just yesterday as a pinch hitter. Chris Snelling has also been placed on the DL. As for their replacements, you don't even want to know.

Beerleaguer: Nice feather in the cap for the training staff, front office or whoever is responsible for advising on the latest in a growing list of blunders regarding the health of a player.

To make matters worse, the Phils have replaced Rollins with Double-A infielder Brad Harman, who was hitting just .222. They also placed Chris Snelling on the disabled list with left knee inflammation, replacing him with 28-year-old outfielder T.J. Bohn, a tall, athletic type who looks like he should be able to hit, but can’t. He was hitting .190 for Lehigh Valley. Both Bohn and Harman were conveniently on the 40-man roster for some reason. I'm glad this worked out well for the Phils, aren't you?

Without Rollins, it sets them back for the rest of the month. When it's all said, he'll basically miss a month total, having suffered the injury April 8. Shortstop takes a hit. The top of the lineup takes a hit. Snelling, who’s always hurt, probably played his final game in Philadelphia. Let's be honest about that. Plus, two strange call-ups with no chance of helping the club. There's a logical explanation somewhere, right? Meanwhile, Kenny Lofton is only a phone call away.

The Phils are having quite an afternoon, and are well on their way to another spectacular April. They try to avoid being swept at home tonight. Don’t count on it.

Comments

[atom eatin']

whoever had the idea to keep rollins active should be fired...they disabled vic for no reason, snd sill lose rollins

what a joke

[drake]

golson would've made infinitely more sense than bohn, the only explanation i can come up with for these call ups is that the front office is 'celebrating' 4/20.

[GM-Carson]

This organization continues to find new ways to piss me off. Whether it's the manager, GM, or the players I never seem to be short on reasons to openly bitch.

[atom eatin']

even gillick hasn't heard of these guys

[RSB]

Let's read again what a great job Ed Wade did with this team. Let's throw a more few on-air softballs to Mike Arbuckle about how the farm system is 'getting there'. Inevitably, there are days when the Phillies are fully exposed as the bungling, scarcely competent organization it is, and this is one of them. The Met fans posting here show more depth than Arbuckle's farm system has produced in over a decade and a half.

Losing Rollins was a prospect the Phillies were in no position to afford - but even more galling, they made it worse on themselves by refusing to deal with the problem head-on for a week and a half. If they miss out on the playoffs by a game or two, we already know the biggest reason in advance.

[Morty]

"...bungling, scarcely competent organization..."

Yep.

[J. Weitzel]

The fact that it's Bohn and Harman and not Donald and Golson should tell you all you need to know about the Phillies policy about young players. And actually, I don't know that I would rather see Donald and Golson at this point.

How about making a call to Kenny Lofton's agent? Go get yourself some temporary help up at the top of the lineup. Harman, Bohn - these guys don' help you at all ...

[drake]

we've still got the guys to not have a terrible run while jimmy recovers for the next two weeks. we just have to be smarter and more creative with our lineup and situational game management, which this team has won in spite of in the past.

this is the lineup i think we should have based on who's available:

werth
utley
burrell
howard
jenkins
feliz
ruiz
bruntlett

there's no excuse for harman to play unless bruntlett or feliz gets hurt. period. if chase gets hurt, it's time for a fire sale.

[clout]

Bizarre decision on the callups. I would've guessed Woodward or Gookie Dawkins over Harman necause of their major league experience.

The handling of Rollins injury, as I and several other posters have suspected, has been a mixture of lies and rank incompetence.

[GM-Carson]

Weitzel- your suggestion of signing K-Lo is a great one, in fact I think he should have been this teams 4th/5th outfielder all along. We need a leadoff hitter and he certainly fits the bill.

[GM-Carson]

"The handling of Rollins injury, as I and several other posters have suspected, has been a mixture of lies and rank incompetence."

Clout, I agree with you completely their. See we do agree on some things.

[KidCarnivore]

Yep, we're f*cked.

[JUANSAMUEL]

This lineup is still plenty loaded to withstand this if howard gets his act together. Utley, howard, burrel and feliz are capable of a blast at anytime. I agree there is some piss ass managing, but injuries happen to every team every year. I still think losing Rowand was the biggest loss

[The Artist]

hey I know I've been cracking on your team all day but serious question, don't you think Rollins carries as much if not more blame that the GM? I mean if he's been trying to be the gamer and saying that he wasn't as bad as he really was isn't it on him? Sprains aren't like tears and breaks where you can see the degree, it's mostly the players word. Now I don't know if that's the case here, but I do know that we went through a similar situation with pedro in 2006, and that didn't work out too well for us.....

[Tray]

I'm a Feliz booster, but he's not "capable of a blast at anytime." He can hit mistakes and bad pitchers, that's it. Why in the world didn't we do this before, and why Harman instead of Woodward?

[Jim J]

Call Lofton. If he can't answer, call Ricky Henderson. You know he'll put on the spikes to pad his stats in a second. May as well see if Frank Thomas will suit up, too.

[RSB]

That's why a team has medical specialists and trainers. That's why a team uses expensive equipment and procedures to determine the extent of an injury - to weigh against the verbal vagueness of a player eager to get back on the field. Sure, Rollins may have misled, but the Phillies were all too willing to mislead themselves right along with him. This instance is just the latest in a recent but growing history of making poor medical decisions. It reeks of delusion, denial, and incompetence. And seeing how piss-poor the options without Rollins, you can almost understand why they failed - no, refused - to exercise caution. The Phillies look flat-out terrible here. No apologist could possibly argue otherwise, though I'm sure Wheeler and McCarthy will be rattling off the company-spun rationales as soon as they're back on the air.

[NCPhilly81]

Where is CJ Henry?

[J. Weitzel]

The decision-making with injured players is just as maddening as these call-ups. Once again, we're left wondering "Where the hell did THAT come from?" Just like last year with Anderson Garcia, Brian Sanches, Yoel Hernandez, etc.

[RPIazza31]

Unlike the posters yesterday who were hoping to see Oliver "mow 'em down" Perez have a broken hand yesterday, I feel sorry for you. As said above the mets don't the best recent history of managing injuries to star players either and it is maddening.

[RPIazza31]

Mets still haven't beaten the Rollinsless Phils.

[RPIazza31]

Sorry I meant haven't beaten him when he was in the starting lineup.

[Aristo The Greek]

Do Phillies Fans CHEER when their own shortstop gets put on the DL?????

Serves You Right!!!!

[Mike H.]

Subtle, but effective. Note the Red Cross sticker on J-Roll's helmet.

[Tony]

the reason, at least i imagine, donald wasn't called up instead is because he has hardly been playing since getting hit by a pitch a couple games back

[denny b.]

Clout...

What I proposed was bringing Golson up, in a Michael Bourn type role for a couple of weeks. Who are you going to go to, for a SB late in a game or someone to go 1st to home, on a double? Coste? Harman? Hamels?

Golson did a good job in ST and has gotten off to a solid start in AA. He is one of the few Phils at any level, actually hitting. Bring him up, let him get his feet wet and then send him back when Vic or Rollins is ready to go. If he is overmatched, so be it. Like TJ Bohn won't be? Like Pete LaForest wasn't last year?

He also might come up and win you a game with his speed. And, as close as this race will be again in September, it might be the difference between the playoffs and going home. You never know.

[king myno]

I wonder if there's another 'contender' in baseball with so little depth in their high minor leagues. The events of today have been stunning so far. An Adam Eaton meltdown and maybe a few more errors tonight would be the icing on the cake, a true organzation-wide representation of the ineptitude of the Philadelphia Phillies.

[college phan]

Clout: last saturday, didn't you set the over/under for Rollins being placed on the DL at 6 days? I knew I was right to take the over (yes I'm patting myself on the back here). I predicted Monday instead of today. I think it would have been smarter to put Rollins on the DL after the Sunday Night National TV game. But then again, it probably would have been even smarter to put him on the DL the day IMMEDIATELY AFTER he injured himself. But hey, what do you expect from a bungling, scarely competent organization?

[AWH the RBP]

"The handling of Rollins injury, as I and several other posters have suspected, has been a mixture of lies and rank incompetence."

clout and all:

Start with ownership, all members of the Lucky Sperm Club at the top. Right below, throw in the chairman, The Walking Sphincter who actually thought he could be a GM. Then, The Puppet who reports to him, hired someone we all know as Liar Liar, which is a moniker he earned by expertly continuing the modus operandi of the entire DISorganization. Liar Liar has a temporary assistant we call Seattle Stew, who's headed out of town soon. Throw in a team medical staff that has erred on numerous occasions in the past, costing the team games and money.

With this cast of characters is there really any wonder? Really?

[Bob]

We all know how bad the Phillies pharm system is, but I'm still in shock at who these players are that they're calling up. This means they have absolutely nothing in the pharm system other than golson. (position players)

[Bob]

I'm totally in favor of Lofton, as some are suggesting. But don't be booing him as soon as he runs onto the field. We all know who he is. He's an ass, and he can help.

[fljerry]

What date is Rollins retro acitve to? or Is it 15 days starting today?

[Sophist]

Fljerry - he PH'd yesterday. No retro-activity.

[king myno]

This is where Zolecki, Murphy or even Lauber could earn some more respect from the fans - by getting someone in charge on the phone and asking them why exactly Rollins wasn't DLed 10 days ago. Or talking to the medical staff and finding out what the deal was. Even if they give the company line as an answer, you can at least get it into the paper and try and make everyone aware just how poorly this situation was handled. The more bad press they get, the less likely they'll be willing to jerk both players and fans around next time.

[Parker]

I have a feeling that Rollins had something to do with his not being DL'd as well. He is a stubborn guy. That is part of what makes him who he is, but I can also see him trying to talk his way into staying on and gutting it out. I think the management probably gave him that shot, and after he didn't show quick improvement, they decided enough was enough. This is all speculation, but I can't find any other rational thought that would suggest that he should not have gone on the DL.

[Bob]

fyi.. t.j. bohn is 28 years old (the guy from a-town that's replacing snelling)

[Sophist]

Dobbs and Coste in the lineup tonite. Werth leads off and Dobbs hits second.

[Sophist]

Jenkins in RF batting 6th.

[fyffem]

Karma is a bitch...cheering Reyes'head injury was just wrong on so many levels.

I could be wrong here but I believe bringing up Golson will start his major league service clock. They don't want to do that as it may cost them down the road. They prefer to save money as opposed to possibly helping the team now.

As for the medical staff and front office... The members of the lucky sperm club (I had to steal that) favor loyalty over competence and have done so since the Carpenters sold the team. How else can you explain this constant parade of incompetent management personnel.

I mean, Chris Wheeler has been there for 50 years.

This is the way things will be until ownership changes. Bad decisions by staff that are company men - not competent men.

If I were a player I'd be heading out of town as soon as my first contract is over. You will never win with this ownership unless lightening strikes.

[fljerry]

So we can't see Rollins back for another 14 days? This will make it over 3 weeks when he can return. The guys who are taking his and snellings place will eventually have to pinch hit - can you imagine needing a hit and sending these two up?

[CBru]

There was a site posted somewhere on beerleaguer where you could compare players' careers by years of service, age, etc...does anyone know the link?