The Philadelphia Phillies are in the midst of another underachieving season, as they sit at 51-61 and 17 games back in the NL East, but they’ve managed to lock-up one of their best players for the foreseeable future.
According to Jim Salisbury, the Phillies and All-Star 2B Chase Utley have reached agreement on a two-year contract extension.
Utley currently has a nice .275 batting average through 342 plate appearances, and has been a bright spot for the Phillies this year. If Philly is going to reach contender status again, they clearly believe the fastest way to get there is with Utley in the fold.
Financial terms have not yet been disclosed, but CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported last week that the deal would pay Utley “in the neighborhood of $13 million a year”.
Utley is considered one of the best players of his generation, and was chosen as the second baseman on numerous all-decade teams for the 2000s, but the past few years have seen a significant decline in his performance,and due to a variety of knee problems and right thumb surgery in 2010, averaged only 100 games the previous three years.
Utley finished the 2011 season having scored 54 runs with a .259 batting average. He finished 2012 with numbers very similar to 2011, hitting .256 with 11 HR and 45 RBI.
He is a five-time All-Star and a career .287 hitter with an .874 OPS.