Philadelphia Phillies

With pitchers and catchers reporting Monday and the full team beginning spring training shortly after, the only major change for the Philadelphia Phillies in the starting position players will be the absence of Jayson Werth. 

There has been a lot of debate over who will replace Werth in the outfield and in the lineup.  There has been talk about platooning right field with either Ben Francisco and Dominic Brown or Francisco and Ross Gload.

Dominic Brown's future in the Major Leagues is bright.  He's 6'5, has speed, quickness, baseball instincts, and is looked at as a "five-tool" player. 

However, the Phillies need to recognize where Brown is at in his career before they throw him into a starting role, or should I say the lion's den.

Here's some reasons why Brown will start the season in the minors.

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Coming off a year plagued with injuries, Jimmy Rollins has many reasons to rebound in 2011.

But should he bat leadoff or should the job pass to Shane Victorino?

In 2010, Victorino took the majority of the at-bats in the leadoff spot while Rollins nursed a sore calf.

In 348 at-bats in the leadoff spot, Victorino posted a .276 batting average; Rollins, in 294 at-bats in the same spot, batted only .242.

As MLB Spring Training approaches, predictions are being thrown around like snowballs in winter.

For the Phillies organization, losing a big offensive star in Jayson Werth was met with the arrival of pitching ace Cliff Lee.

When the opportunity arose for me to make some wild predictions of my own for the upcoming season, I couldn’t resist.

The following slideshow is my five wild predictions for the 2011 MLB season pertaining to the Philadelphia Phillies.

For Philadelphia Phillies fans, February 12th cannot come soon enough; that's when pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater, Florida.

Expectations have never been higher in the entire 121 year history of Philadelphia professional baseball. Behind four of the top pitchers in the game in Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels and a lineup that features two former MVPs and perennial and potential all-stars.

Quite simply, Philadelphia is in "Baseball Heaven."

I know that it is way to early to be thinking about the 2012 season, as the 2011 season has not even started yet, or is it? Some teams as of right now know that they will not have a chance for the World Series, and some of those teams are probably already eying players who are due to hit the free agent market after the conclusion of the current season. It is wise for all teams to look at this point in time at the holes that may be left in their current roster after this season and see who will fit into that hole.

Michael Young has played his entire career with the Texas Rangers. He has put up some pretty impressive numbers during his career, averaging 17 HR, 87 RBI, a .300 BA and a .795 OPS. He has posted these numbers while switching positions twice already, and if he plays with the Rangers in 2011, he will once again switch positions.

For the 2012 season, it should be a reasonable assumption that the Philadelphia Phillies will contain both Jimmy Rollins and Roy Oswalt.  In 2010, Rollins had a down year due to the fact that he spent nearly half of the season on the disabled list.  However, it is safe to assume that he will return to form in 2010.

MLB Countdown Till Pitchers and Catchers Report: Five days.

The man that Philadelphia Phillies fans love to call “Chooch” has just turned 32, and has never been voted onto an all-star team or honored with a Gold Glove award.

Michael Young of the Texas Rangers made it clear that he is not happy with his current situation in Texas, where Young's role will be reduced to designated hitter, with the signing of Adrian Beltre.

Young has long been a good sport to the Rangers.  Young came up as a second baseman, working on the other side of second base to his natural position of shortstop, because the Rangers had Alex Rodriguez.

Then, Young moved to shortstop after Alex Rodriguez was traded to the New York Yankees to play third base there.