Larry Brown Sports

Team USA held its first official workout on Monday in preparation for the World Baseball Classic, and Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton reportedly stole the show. The 23-year-old Stanton is one of the MLB’s brightest young stars. Comments from some of his Team USA teammates, who happen to be some of the game’s best players, reminded us of that.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mark Teixeira said when asked about Stanton’s batting practice session, via Eye on Baseball. “I’ve played with a lot of guys headed for the Hall of Fame, but I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Stanton reportedly sent towering home runs into the parking lot behind the Arizona Diamondbacks’ spring training facility. The cars were parked well beyond the fence, but the slugger came close to hitting them.

“I think I was OK because my car is in Tampa,” Teixeira said. “Although, with the right wind, he still might be able to hit it.”

Jimmy Rollins was also amazed by the power Stanton displayed.

Jimmy Rollins to Giancarlo Stanton:”You cannot be real. You cannot be human.” Stanton heard it all day at the USA workout.

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) March 5, 2013

It’s one thing for the fans and media to talk about how incredible Stanton is, but these are MLB All-Stars who you would think are used to seeing balls fly out of the park. Apparently Stanton stands above all the rest, which isn’t exactly a surprise given his 37 home runs and .608 slugging percentage last year. What is a surprise is that he is only 23, meaning he could be one of the game’s elite players for well over a decade. The Marlins may be listening to offers for Stanton, but they might as well enjoy him while they can. It seems inevitable that he’s going to price his way out of Miami.

Photo credit: Jennifer Stewart-US PRESSWIRE

The Philadelphia Phillies may have only finished third in the NL East with an 81-81 record last season, but that’s not stopping Jimmy Rollins from saying that the division still belongs to his club.

Rollins, who is no stranger to expressing confidence in his club, doesn’t care that the Washington Nationals were the class of the division last season.

“It still runs through Philly,” Rollins said at a benefit earlier this week, via The 700 Level. “[Washington] had one year to win it. It was just like when the Mets took it from Atlanta, it was still up for grabs. I’m sure Atlanta felt it was still theirs, but fortunately we were able to come in and take it the next five years.”

Rollins offered some fair reasoning. He says that the team was “on the mend,” and points out that guys like Roy Halladay will be back. For some reason, he also thinks Cliff Lee performed poorly last season. Someone should tell him that just because Lee couldn’t get a win until July (he finished 6-9) doesn’t mean he didn’t pitch well.

Rollins also said something that should make the fans optimistic about next season.

“Everyone’s a little angry,” Rollins said, “which is good to get a chip on your shoulder and just go back out there and prove that this is still our division, but not only that, but that we’re still World Champions.”

The Phillies are older and breaking down, but they did finish the season strongly. Cole Hamels, Halladay, and Lee in the rotation should keep them competitive, but they need hitting. Their offense has gone downhill and could use a boost.

Two weeks after a billboard went up in Philadelphia criticizing Jimmy Rollins for not hustling, the Phillies shortstop was pulled from a game for repeating the same offense. Rollins did not run hard after popping up in the sixth inning of Thursday’s Phillies-Mets game (pictured above), so he only made it to first instead of second when the ball dropped. He later was tagged out after making a poor decision on a fielder’s choice. The lack of hustle was enough to merit a benching from manager Charlie Manuel.

“I got two rules: Be on time and hustle. And hustle’s part of it,” Manuel said after the game. “Running balls out is definitely part of it.

“It’s a reflection on myself, it’s a reflection on whoever don’t do it, and things like that. It’s a reflection on our team, it’s a reflection on the organization. My frustration grows every time I see anyone not hustle,” said Manuel.

Rollins reacted defiantly when asked after the game if he planned to talk to about being pulled.

“Hell, no,” Rollins said, per Todd Zolecki. “[Charlie Manuel] already told you what happened. There you go.”

It’s about time Manuel addressed the matter. It doesn’t matter what is going on with a player — there is no excuse for not hustling and running out balls hard. Being a former MVP shouldn’t excuse Rollins from this basic expectation.

Below is a video of Charlie Manuel talking about the benching following Philly’s 3-2 win:

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Jimmy Rollins‘ lack of hustle has bothered Phillies fans, so Philly sports radio station 97.5 The Fanatic decided to address the matter. The station blasted the Phillies shortstop with a billboard message that says “Hey Jimmy, run! Don’t jog!!”

A particular incident during Wednesday’s game coupled with Rollins’ response to a fan set things off.

Rollins jogged down to first base during the top of the sixth inning of the Phillies-Marlins game on Wednesday with the team down 2-1. Rollins hit a slow ball to shortstop Jose Reyes, who backed up to field it, giving Rollins plenty of time to reach first. However, since Rollins wasn’t hustling, he wasn’t even in the picture when Reyes made the throw:

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Josh Thole is not going to hear the end of this blunder for a long time. The Mets catcher was on first base with one out and pitcher R.A. Dickey at the plate when he got tricked by Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins Friday night. Dickey laid down a sacrifice bunt and Thole advanced to second. As Thole was approaching second base, Rollins was using his hands to signify that Thole should go easy into the bag. He also appeared to mouth “foul ball” to Thole.

Thole began running back to first base even though he had safely advance to second on the sac bunt. Pitcher Cliff Lee then threw to Rollins at second, who relayed to first to get out Thole, who finally realized it was a live ball and dived back into the base.

Thole acknowledged the huge gaffe after the game, but he didn’t blame Rollins. From the Star-Ledger:

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Jimmy Rollins and Jose Reyes have been two of the top shortstops in baseball at different points in their careers. Both are set to hit the free agent market, and although Reyes is expected to command much more money, Rollins thinks being in the same free agent class is a good thing.

Rollins, who is no stranger to asserting his team’s greatness compared to the Mets, wasn’t impressed by Reyes’ controversial decision to bunt and then leave the game on the final day of the season.

“I’d have played the whole game – that’s me, though,” Rollins told reporters. “I fought this hard, to be in this position, and I’m going to see it all the way through to the end. My personality, I’m going to ride it out. I worked this hard to be this good and put up these numbers, I could see it all the way to the end.”

Nobody argues that Reyes is a superior player at this point, but that’s not the issue. The issue is that Reyes took the easy way out. If he were a true batting champion, he wouldn’t have been afraid to hit. That’s taking the wussy way out.

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins has been known to be a confident guy. He’s cocky, he has swagger, and he generally backs it up on the field. Of course it’s easy to front as a tough guy when you have a bunch of 6’5″ 250 pound giants backing you up, and that’s the case for Rollins.

After winning 97 games last season and reaching the NLCS before losing to the Giants, the Phillies brought in Cliff Lee — who helped spark their World Series run in 2009 — to bolster their already strong rotation. Because of the improvement, Rollins guaranteed the team would win 100 games this season, according to a tweet from reporter Matt Gelb.

It may be a bold prediction, but it seems to be within reach for the Phillies. They’ve upgraded their staff to a historically good level, and they have plenty of sluggers in the lineup. Still, Chase Utley is coming back from injury, Raul Ibanez had a down year, and they lost Jayson Werth. On top of all that, they need their bullpen to repeat last year’s success enjoyed by Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge, and Jose Contreras, and they have to compete with the rest of the league.

The NL Central and NL West have several strong teams, and the Braves should present a challenge in the East. Oh yeah, and Rollins is in a contract year and stunk the past two seasons (largely because he got hurt). If the Phils are to win 100 games — which won’t be easy — they’ll need contributions from everyone, especially Rollins who has been a disappointment lately. As LBS writer Alan Hull put it to me best, it’s put up or shut up for Jimmy.