On one hand it's Friday and you can always handle bad news a little better on Friday. Plus you've got a full day of NCAA hoops to keep you occupied. On the other hand, none of this should come as much of a surprise to you.
But Jayson Stark's latest on your Philadelphia Phillies certainly isn't encouraging.
He starts out by pointing out that Jimmy Rollins is one issue among many that the Fightins are facing this season and that J-Roll not putting on the jets down the line to first every single time is actually probably pretty low on Ryne Sandberg's list of concerns. He's probably right.
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The parts that are new and extra cringe-worthy are the quotes Stark got from scouts. Here's just a taste:
“Most disappointing team I’ve seen all spring,” said one longtime scout.
“Their whole spring has been a train wreck,” said another.
“It’s painful to watch that team,” said a third. “That’s an old team, and it plays like an old team.”
And that's before we even get to the "he’s swinging in case he hits it" and "doesn’t have any sense of what’s a strike or what’s a ball" about Ryan Howard.
I don't know, it basically ends with "but yeah, it's still spring training numbers," so take it all for what you want.
Still, spring or not, it's certainly not encouraging.
>>Phillies' issues go beyond Rollins [ESPN]