:(

Holy fleurking schnit!

Crashburn must have submitted before me -- the phillies.com article mentions Feliz going in for back surgery too.
My tag line was Utley Hip to Surgery; Pete Happy Too

Oh and this is good and bad news -- bad in that he's undergoing surgery and might miss the start of the season; good in that what everyone conjectured as the source of his power outage was true.

Putting in the bionic hip finally? Next year he'll hit 40HR.

Since normal humans would recover from this in 4 to 6 months, I expect Utley to be completely healed about 2 days before the surgery happens.

Why are all of Utley's B-R comps catchers?

P.S. This absolutely sucks, and I'm a Mets fan. He's a joy to watch.

That sucks. Will it Bruntlett time? Jason Donald? Some short-term filler like Mark Grudzielanek or Tadahito Iguchi?

any labral or bony injury

I don't know why I chuckled at that phrase, but I did.

I hate the bastard with every fiber of my being and wish him a speedy recovery. As Krusty wrote, he is something to watch.

I dig that tag line, Edmundo.

Ryan Howard just became more valuable.

Hmmmmm . . . can we interest the Phillies in a certain lightly used second baseman? He comes cheap (only $18M for three glorious years!!!) and highly recommended (I'm sure somebody will say some nice things about him . . . .).

It's a bargain, I tell you. How else would you cover those 2-3 months when you won't have Utley???

I'm guessing we won't have a sale here, huh? Sigh.

So Utley will miss what, 2 months of the regular season? Odds that he still ends up being the most valuable player on the Phillies and once again gets shafted in the MVP voting?

I should have known this was going to happen. Just last night, I thought to myself, "I'll pay whatever I have to at the auction in the spring to get this guy."

Little bit of a change, though. Usually my guys get injured right after the auction.

An enjoyable player to watch, a class act to interview. I wish him well, and a speedy recovery.

what

my hip ####### hurts!

Sorry Sam M, if the Phillies want someone like that they will trade for Tadahito Iguchi a third time.

Between this and Cole Hamels throwing 260-some-odd innings this year, we're gonna need Ryan Howard to earn his MVP votes in 2009.

Just goes to remind us: a World Series is dependent on luck as well, and keeping the team as healthy as it was was luck.

When UNC won the Nat'l Championship recently, it was the first time that a team I'd pulled for had won the whole enchilada. The next year, May, Felton, Marv. Williams, and McCants bolted for the NBA and some less contributory seniors graduated (jawad williams, melvin scott, jackie manuel).

The following year, it didn't matter how they did. Everybody got a free pass, because it was a young team that was trying and you expected losses, and damn...they'd just won a championship.
The season was a true joy, despite a second round exit to Texas (I think...) in the NCAA.

I think I'm going to have that same approach to the Phils this year, even though they're all highly paid pros and not college freshmen. You can't win it every year, and they appeased me by doing it in 2008. Until (at least!) Nov 09, I can wear my Phillies World Series Champs T-Shirt in the face of Mets fans and continue to jab them with toothpicks. I'm not going to let this put a damper on my 2008 season euphoria.

I wish Utley a speedy recovery, am glad he's doing it in the offseason, and hope he's better soon. I suspect Tad Iguchi will play 2B for the Phils until Utley is off the DL, hopefully around tax day.

Here's to a speedy robot recovery. Utley almost makes me a Phillies fan, and it would be a shame if a bum hip slowed him down.

And Harris, that must be a hell of a feeling. I'm a Calgary Flames fan, and they won the Stanley Cup when I was 8, but have been pretty dismal since. I'm also an Eagles fan, and they've gone to great pains to dash my hopes. As for baseball well the Expos provided enough heartbreak off and on the field to last a life time. No one has quite supplanted them in my heart, though I have a soft spot for the Twins, Dodgers, and the Yankees.

There's been times where I've cheered for a team and they won, ala the Red Sox in 2004, but I'm not a fan really.

Sorry Sam M, if the Phillies want someone like that they will trade for Tadahito Iguchi a third time.

Last I saw Iguchi was optioned to AAA. Perhaps the Phils enticed him to stay with the promise of a temporary starting job.

It's a shame that the World F**king Champions will be without their best player for a couple of months...

In my opinion, nothing kills interest in sports more than the best players not playing.

Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be second basemen.

Well, OK, you can as long as they don't get hurt until after signing the big contract. :-)

This stinks but at least we got it out of the way before Tango's big battle of the projection systems.

In other Phillies news, Greg "Gregg Olson" Golson was traded for John Mayberry Jr.

I don't know if this deserves its own thread or not.

They lost to Mason the year after they won. They lost to Texas the year before they won.

4 to 6 months.

4 to 6 f****** months.

I can wear my Phillies World Series Champs T-Shirt in the face of Mets fans and continue to jab them with toothpicks.

I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to jab us with toothpicks, even if the Phils are the defending champs.

I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to jab us with toothpicks, even if the Phils are the defending champs.

Not even Dial? :)

They really should just play Donald. He's at least as good as Iguchi, and it'd be a great showcase for a trade. With Rollins there, Donald isn't that valuable to them, but he's a great trade chip. I was really disappointed the A's didn't get him in the Blanton deal (if he's an average to nearly average defensive SS, I might have preferred him to Cardenas as the centerpiece, seeing as how Mark Ellis is somewhat better than Bobby Crosby).

if [Jason Donald is] an average to nearly average defensive SS...

He isn't. Nowhere close. He might have the range for it, might, but his arm is shoddy.