Kuzul

Fresh off of taking two of three from the New York Yankees in the Subway Series this past weekend, the New York Mets play host to Philadelphia for a three-game set starting Tuesday, hoping to get back into the NL East race. 

While the Mets find themselves looking up at the Phillies in the standings,  they may need to look into the Philadelphia Phillies’ past to figure out what to do with one of their current struggling superstars.

The Mets couldn’t be welcoming the Phillies to town at a better time.  Jimmy Rollins, the human embodiment of the Mets-Phillies rivalry, has just gone back on the disabled list with a lingering calf injury.  Rollins, who certainly draws the ire of Mets fans whenever his name is mentioned, also serves as a sparkplug in the Phillies offense and a motivating force in the Mets-Phillies rivalry.

The Rollins injury couldn’t come at a worse time for the Phillies, whose bats have suddenly gone cold for the second time this season.  After scoring 12 runs against the Pirates last Monday, the Phillies have scored a grand total of 15 runs in six subsequent games against the Bucs, Cubs, and Red Sox, including one game in which Daisuke Matzusaka came four outs away from no-hitting the usually robust Phillies offense.

The Mets are not without their own problems, however.  Just two years ago the Mets featured two of the most promising young players in all of baseball on the left side of their infield in David Wright and Jose Reyes.  In 2010, though, there is trouble in Mets-land.  Wright simply seems to have forgotten how to hit the ball; he is hitting a career worst .261 with 60 strikeouts in only 44 games.

Meanwhile, Jose Reyes, who missed almost all of the 2009 season due to injuries and discovered at the beginning of this season that he has a thyroid disorder, has entered the Quentin McCracken Zone (named after the Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder who regularly flirted with a batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percent all under .300; this is also known as the 200/200/200 Club).  Reyes currently had an RSL of .222/.266/.284/.550.

So what’s eating Jose Reyes?  As soon as the Phillies get to town, the Mets should ask them what to expect from Reyes, because they’ve been here before.

In the early-to-mid 1980s, the Phillies had their own speedy five-tool infielder from the Dominican Republic by the name of Juan Samuel.

Like Reyes, Samuel could hit for power and steal bases.  Like Reyes, Samuel led the league in triples and at-bats multiple times, and regularly had over 700 plate appearances.  Like Reyes, Samuel had four great seasons in which he looked to be the paradigm for the new generation of ball players.

At the age of 27, however, Juan Samuel figuratively fell off the cliff.  All of his numbers dropped significantly; his on-base percentage went under .300, he had career lows in triples, home runs, RBI, stolen bases, and runs scored, while finishing with a below league-average OPS for the first time.

(Full disclosure: I’ve compared a current player to Juan Samuel before, and it didn’t turn out so well ).

The problem with Samuel was the same problem that Reyes may be having.  Like Reyes, Samuel was never considered to be a patient hitter.  Reyes, like Samuel, relies on his ability to make contact and use his speed to get on base.

The problem with that approach is that once a player who uses that approach begins to lose a little bat-speed, not to mention a little foot-speed, it becomes very difficult to continue to play at a high level.

Samuel was never the same player after he fell off the cliff.  Fortunately for the Phillies, they recognized this almost immediately and got rid of him while he still had some market value.  Ironically, the Phillies sent Samuel to the New York Mets for Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell, and Tom Edens.  Dykstra, of course, became the centerpiece of the Phillies’ 1993 team, while Samuel was traded away to the Dodgers at the end of the season.

So what’s the point of all this?

Jose Reyes is either having a little trouble coming back from some injury issues, and needs some time to get his mojo back, or, he is at the beginning of the end of the productive part of his career and the Mets need to try to get some return for him while they can.  Whichever it is, the Mets need to figure it out before any of the other teams in the league do. 

Who knows?  Maybe Jose Reyes could be traded away for the cornerstone of the next Mets World Series run.

Let’s just hope that as the Mets look to Phillies history to figure out what to do with the 2010 version of Juan Samuel, the Phillies are also mindful of their own history and avoid sending the Mets the 2010 version of Lenny Dykstra.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com

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The author of this column has an offer to make:

He will gladly challenge anyone to a fistfight who even thinks about blaming Roy Halladay’s tough start against the Red Sox on his high pitch counts in previous games.

Don’t rip Roy. Don’t second-guess Charlie. Don’t go there.

But watching the Phillies get their butts kicked by Boston continues to be an annual interleague ritual.

For more on that, click here. It ain’t pretty.

Sunday’s final score of 8-3 was misleading. It wasn’t that close. The Phillies were embarrassed, even with their three cosmetic, hollow ninth-inning runs.

Their play on Sunday (and Saturday, too) was totally disheartening, but not at all because of Mr. Halladay’s effort.

No, Roy wasn’t great against the Sox. Not even he can be every time. But his final pitching line in the box score is extremely misleading. The Phils ace deserved a much better fate.

A Kevin Youkilis second-inning triple set the stage for Boston’s first run. The ball was in center fielder Shane Victorino’s mitt as he flagged down the drive to deep center. Tough play for Shane, but a play he usually makes.

Two innings later, Adrian Beltre’s tailor-made double-play grounder with the bases loaded went right through third baseman Greg Dobbs’ legs, leading to two runs and a 3-0 Boston lead.

Halladay could have easily had a shutout through five innings had those plays been made. By the time the Sox tacked on four runs in the sixth to make it 7-0, it was obvious that things just weren’t meant to be…  

Once again, the Phillies offense came up small behind their ace. In five of Halladay’s 10 starts, the Phils have scored two runs or less with him on the mound. Four runs of support for Doc should be enough to win most every game. Philly has scored just a single run in its last 16 innings with Roy out there.

Halladay still has six wins this season, but he could easily have eight if only he got the same run support that teammate Jamie Moyer has received over his years in Philly.

Meanwhile, Boston starters Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield entered this weekend’s series with a combined two wins in 10 starts a 6.21 ERA during 2010.

Teams were teeing off these guys. Apparently not the Phillies.

Dike-K and Wake combined to shut out the Phils on six hits in 16 total innings.

Of course, the Phils offense just isn’t the same without Jimmy Rollins, replaced on the 15-day DL this Saturday. High-quality shortstops such as J-Roll are extremely rare, the main reason why the Phillies should make re-signing him a much higher priority than re-upping two-month legend Jayson Werth.

So far this season we’ve seen just how much the Phils miss Jimmy’s multi-faceted offense and steel trap-tight defense.

But injuries are part of the game. No excuses, the Phillies missed a great chance this weekend.

Boston came into the series at just 22-20, good for fourth place in the ultra-competitive AL East. The Phils wouldn’t be facing Boston’s two best starters (Jon Lester and Clay Buccholz) while the Sox would be facing the Phillies’ two best (Cole Hamels and Halladay). In the NL park, the Sox wouldn’t be able to use red-hot David Ortiz as a DH, while Boston’s bullpen had been worked extremely hard in its two-game Monday and Tuesday series at the Yankees.

The Phils even had tons of momentum after taking Friday’s series opener, 5-1, behind Cole Hamels’ awesome performance.

But old habits die hard. The Phils are now 5-16 against the Red Sox since 2004 and 11-25 overall in interleague play since 2008. Yeah, and the 2010 interleague play schedule resumes in just a few weeks. Gulp.

As always, the key as a fan is to keep each loss, and win, in perspective.

It’s hard for any fan not to be extremely pleased with the Phillies current 26-17 record, and come July, maybe their lineup and pitching staff will be back to almost full strength.

The New York Mets will continue to whine about their injuries (as always) while the Phillies will continue to win despite their own.

Of course, these Phillies always get better as October inches closer.

In case the author wasn’t clear enough, the answer to the headline question is a resounding NO.  

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“You can do a lot with two inches.”

That’s what my son said while pondering his binder preferences at Staples.

Maybe you can.

You can also do a lot with two pitches. Cole Hamels tossed his curve into his limited repertoire but it was his fastball and change-up that ruled the game.

As a result, Ricky Botallico said Cole Hamels has “turned the corner.”

Are you kidding me?

That’s like saying my child is safe because he hides a cheap Swiss Army knife under his pillow to fight off perspective burglars. I said, “What you gonna do… file his nails to death?”

No doubt Cole had a hot night against a tough interleague rival. He threw 116 pitches—76 for strikes, sent eight batters back to the bench bitching, walked one, and allowed one earned run on three hits. But the question remains: Has he turned the corner?

Let’s just say he put on the blinker. Except for excessive home runs and walks allowed this year, it looks like he’s recovered from his 2009 hangover. But Cole is more comfortable pitching with an offensive cushion and the lineup gave him that. He’s also less flustered when his fielders aren’t flubbing and he got that too.

But showing mild displeasure as the result of a bad strike call can’t be considered a new level of maturity.

Maybe he’s outgrown the terrible twos, but all moms know when your pitcher is tired and grumpy all you can do is put him to bed.

I’m just the girl to do it.

I’m sorry, was I thinking out loud?

In this 5-1 Phillies win, the lineup was restored to its previous luster—if only for a moment. Jimmy Rollins stepped to the plate first while Shane Victorino was demoted to seventh because it let him watch more guys bat in front of him.

That’s a warm, fuzzy feeling I thought you could only get by rolling naked in polar fleece.

Not that I’d know anything about that.

But then Jimmy limped to first base in the sixth and Juan Castro took his place—again. Saturday I predict Shane will bat leadoff—again. And I’ll bet Wilson Valdez, freshly outrighted to Lehigh Valley, is packing enough socks and underwear to come back for at least 15 more days—again

The injury report has also changed the life of Paul Hoover. I’m willing to bet he’s found himself a home as permanent backup pitcher. It was an untimely strain for Brian Schneider but one man’s misfortune becomes another man’s wife.

Just ask Jayson Werth. An injury to Geoff Jenkins is what gave every girl the option to drool over the bearded wonder and gave Jayson the opportunity to prove he was an everyday player.

Now he’s landed on baseball’s 50 best list at a humble 49th. He’s behind like, well, everybody, but look on the bright side: Hanley Ramirez made the top 50 best players in baseball but he won’t make the top 50 best teammates.

And I’m certain my boobs are as big as they’re gonna get but my butt isn’t.

Did you hear? Pat Burrell was released from his duties as a pinch hitter for Tampa Bay. He can now be had for a cool $350,000—that’s what a player is worth when all he has left is one tool.

He’d get picked up faster placing an ad in the personals.

Baseball’s a tough crowd. What if I was off my game? Would I be put out to pasture with the other middle-aged innuendo junkies and see people hold up signs in my honor that read, “Mom or Machine?”

And if contracts are all about ability to perform, maybe Jimmy Rollins is coming closer to being considered a trade alternative to keep Jayson Werth. Jimmy has been around longer than any of the Phil’s original draft picks on the current 25 man roster. He was chosen in 1996 and is playing his eleventh season with the team. He’s spent more time as a Phillie than Pat Burrell or even Brett Myers who found a new home because he couldn’t get his mojo back after surgery.

Now Jimmy’s injured—again.

Like Terry Francona told the struggling David Ortiz, “You don’t take for granted the time together.” With Ruben Amaro Jr. weighing options to keep his outfield intact, this might be a no-brainer.

Unless Jimmy’s calf can turn the corner.

See you at the ballpark.

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For the first time since mid-April, the Phillies lineup was the way it should be. Every starter was playing, and they were handling John Lackey and the Red Sox fairly well along with the help of a stellar performance by Cole Hamels.

But once Jimmy Rollins hit a single in the sixth inning and had to limp to first base, the mood was immediately sucked out of the air.

The Phils got by without Rollins for an entire month, but no one wants to see if they could pull it off again. Even Juan Castro and the newest-but-not-so-new member of the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, Wilson Valdez, weren’t happy to see Rollins pull up like that.

It was clearly his right calf again as Rollins aggravated the injury that kept him out of the lineup, until recently, since mid-April.

However, Rollins doesn’t seem all that concerned.

“An hour later, it feels a lot better than it did when I came out,” Rollins told the media after the Phillies’ 5-1 win against the Boston Red Sox, “so we’ll see.”

Charlie Manuel, on the other hand, seems a bit more worried than does Rollins.

“Yes, I’m concerned about Jimmy,” Manuel said. “He said he doesn’t think it’s bad, but we’ll see. We’ll probably be able to tell more about it tomorrow.”

It’s possible Rollins is simply downplaying the significance of the injury this time because he would rather try to play through instead of having to head back to the disabled list and definitely miss at least 15 days of action, but that doesn’t seem like a move that would work with Manuel.

If Charlie thinks Rollins needs two weeks to sit on the bench, watch, and recover, then that is exactly what will happen regardless of what Rollins says. It will all come down to what the team doctors recommend, but it doesn’t seem likely Rollins hits the DL again.

He will most likely miss a game or two, but Castro is ready to go and has shown he can fill in well enough for Rollins in the field and at the plate.

Also, now that Valdez has cleared waivers (surprisingly enough) and accepted an assignment to Triple-A ball, the Phils have an insurance policy should Rollins regress and have to be placed on the Mark Prior List.

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It was one of those humbling moments that reminds you why the fans pay to go to the game and sit in the 400-level while the coaches get paid to go to the game and sit in the dugout.

In the Phillies’ half of the sixth inning of a 1-1 game against the Cubs on Tuesday afternoon, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins came to the plate with two outs and runners on second and third.  

The infield was playing back with first base open because of a rare tagging-up from first by Chase Utley on a Ryan Howard’s sacrifice fly.  So, when Rollins ran the count to 3-0, I suddenly had a brilliant idea.

Taking in the afternoon game on a beautiful day with five buddies, I started telling each of them “Wow, this would be a great moment for a suicide squeeze.” 

The timing struck me as perfect—3-0 count, two outs, first base open, infield playing back, the speedy Rollins somehow still batting fifth in the order—and I became absolutely convinced that we were about to see the most exciting play in baseball, the two-out suicide squeeze.

Just for good measure, and not a moment too soon, I said, “Whatever you do, don’t let Rollins swing away.”

There are two types of home runs in major league baseball—the ones you watch excitedly hoping they can get out, and the ones you know are out of the park the moment they leave the bat.  Rollins hit one of the latter into the right field seats, and the Phillies had a 4-1 lead.

Coaches 1, Asher 0.

Regarding how much smarter than me he is, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel expounded on letting Rollins swing away on 3-0.  “I let guys hit 3-0, especially guys who are good hitters,” Manuel said. “It builds confidence…I wouldn’t be sitting here now if I couldn’t teach guys how to hit 3-0. I’ve had great success letting guys hit 3-0.”

Not that they needed it, but the coaches got another on me in the eighth inning when, with one out and Utley standing on second representing the go-ahead run, Raul Ibanez hit a single to right field that Kosuke Fukudome got to just as Utley was arriving at third.  I don’t think I yelled, but I definitely said out loud, “Hold the runner!” 

Nevertheless, despite my advice, the Phillies third base coach waived Utley around and he stepped on home plate a step-and-a-half ahead of the throw and tag.

Coaches 2, Asher 0.  Ballgame.

But seriously, folks, it is time to ask: Are we seeing a new Jimmy Rollins? 

Rollins is certainly no stranger to home run power—remember, he hit 30 home runs in 2007, his MVP year , and he’s hit 20 or more two other times—but so far in 2010 his slugging percentage is .658 and his OPS is 1.116.  These are not numbers we’re used to seeing.

Rollins also seems, perhaps for the first time, comfortable hitting somewhere other than the leadoff spot.  In what is admittedly a small sample size, Rollins has an .886 OPS with four RBI and three runs in the four games since he returned from a month-long absence to nurse his ailing calf muscle.  

Yesterday, Rollins batted fifth for Jayson Werth, who got the day off in favor of Ross “He was in a nuclear accident and so he” Gload.

Could this be the dawn of the rest of Jimmy Rollins career? 

Would Jimmy be content to spend his 30s as a slightly above-average power hitter, providing protection in the order for Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and (if they can re-sign him) Jayson Werth?

Not likely.

Charlie Manuel has indicated that Rollins will probably be back in the leadoff spot at some point during this weekend’s series against the Boston Red Sox, and Jimmy has indicated that, despite his success over the last couple of days, this experiment in the batting order is probably short-lived. 

“I have at-bats when I still feel a little out of whack and others where I can feel my legs underneath me and my swing going in the right path,” Rollins said after the game. “The rest of it is just feeling my legs underneath me when I’m hitting and feeling the bat speed. When the bat speed is there, I think I’ll be ready.”

Manuel said he thinks Rollins needs more at-bats and dropping him down in the order allows him to be more aggressive and take more swings. “I look at Jimmy as our leadoff hitter, and there are a lot of reasons why I look at him that way,” Manuel said. “He is our leadoff hitter.”

Oh well. 

The new Jimmy Rollins will just have to wait. 

Frankly, I’d like to see Rollins get an extensive try-out in the five-hole to see if perhaps the Phillies can’t save a little money by not giving Jayson Werth the $20 million contact he’ll probably want when he becomes a free agent after this season.

If Jimmy can give Utley and Howard the same protection that Werth gives them, maybe the Phillies could spend that money somewhere else.

Of course, what do I know?  I’m just a guy sitting in the 400-level.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is the co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com .

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For once, Jamie Moyer knows what it takes to pitch well and lose. Oh, the irony.

Moyer was brilliant for the Phillies as they faced the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, allowing only two earned runs on four hits and one walk in seven innings, while striking out seven and lowering his ERA to 4.30, in the rematch of the teams that faced each other back in 1986 when Moyer made his major league debut against Steve Carlton.

Moyer, who has spent the vast majority of his Phillies career collecting wins despite giving up four to six runs per game, found himself on the losing end of a pitchers’ duel with Tom Gorzelanny of the Cubs. 

Gorzelanny scattered three hits and two walks over six and two-thirds scoreless innings while striking out five.  The Phillies failed to capitalize on an inning and a third of John Grabow and Carlos Zambrano, two of the worst performing Cubs of the 2010 season, scoring only one run off of Grabow.  Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless ninth for his seven save.

This marks the second night in a row that the usually high-powered Phillies offense failed to take advantage of a gem from one of their starting pitchers; on Tuesday night, Roy Halladay took the loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates despite a complete game effort during which he allowed only two runs.

Meanwhile, both the Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals won tonight, picking up a game each in the standings. The Phils now lead the Marlins by three games and the Nationals by four. 

The Nationals also got good news from Triple-A Syracuse, as Stephen Strasburg pitched six and a third scoreless innings, striking out nine, walking two and allowing three hits.  Strasburg has yet to give up a run at Triple-A in 18 and a third innings.

Meanwhile, this was the Phillies third game since the return of Jimmy Rollins, and the Phils are now 1-2 in those games. 

In Rollins’ first game back, the Phillies won 12-2, but they have scored only three runs in the two games since then. 

Curiously, Rollins has batted third in two of these games and tonight he batted sixth.  During the last two games, Shane Victorino has batted leadoff and gone 1-for-8.

The ability of the Philadelphia Phillies to annually be one of the elite offensive teams in baseball despite having a leadoff man in Rollins with a .330 on-base percentage has always been befuddling, but for whatever reason, it has always worked.  So, here’s an idea – why don’t we move Rollins back to the top of the order, move Victorino back to seventh, and enjoy the rest of the season?

The Phillies play the Cubs in a business man’s special tomorrow at Citizens’ Bank Park at 1:05pm. 

The Phils will send Joe Blanton to the mound to face off against Ryan Dempster.  Hopefully Blanton can get some run support and avoid the same fate as Roy Halladay and—as odd as this is to say—Jamie Moyer by losing a well-pitched game.

Asher B. Chancey is the co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.

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It’s easy to root for a winning team, but what makes it even easier is when that winning team is made up of a bunch of likable guys.

The Phillies have a roster full of character players who truly enjoy the game. They play hard and they like each other. And as proven by their appearance in the previous two World Series, this team is good.

Here’s a look at my 10 favorite Phillies on a squad with a lot of guys to like.

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Who would have thought that the most indispensable part of the Phillies infield would turn out to be Juan Castro. 

When Jimmy Rollins tweaked his calf muscle in mid-April he was batting .391, with a .516 OBP, and a wOBA of .527. Impressive numbers, ones that he certainly would not have been able to keep up over the course of the season, but clearly he would be very hard to replace.

He was replaced by Juan Castro, who provided solid defense, in addition to at least moderately adequate offensive numbers, batting .258 with a .255 wOBA. 

But when Castro came down with a strained left knee, the Phillies had no choice but to insert Wilson Valdez into the starting lineup. 

Doing his best Exxon Valdez impression, Wilson Valdez has been about as helpful to the Phillies offense as the oil spill was to the Alaskan wildlife. 

Valdez is currently batting .152, but more impressively has somehow managed to ground into five double plays in the last week alone.

It takes a sincere concerted effort to provide such a debilitating presence in a lineup. 

The penguins and seals that had the misfortune of making their habitat off the coast of Alaska in 1989 may have had their ecosystem destroyed by millions of gallons of oil, but at least they didn’t have to deal with rally-killing double plays.

While the injuries to the position players have been irksome, the injuries to the Phillies bullpen are now bordering on the macabre.

Brad Lidge had finally returned from his off-season knee and elbow surgeries, and at least initially seemed to be vaguely resembling the pitcher who saved 48 games in 48 chances in 2008.

This brief tidbit of good news was of course followed by reports that Lidge is yet again feeling tightness in his elbow and has been consulting with team doctors. 

But the Lidge injury cannot even come close to rivaling the unfortunate and cataclysmic event that happened to Ryan Madson. 

Perhaps dismayed with his inability to dominate opposing batters in the 9th inning of games so far this year, upon blowing yet another save, this time against the San Francisco Giants on April 26th, Madson returned to the dugout, where sources say he was rudely, irresponsibly, and vulgarly, verbally abused by a particularly sassy folding chair. 

Now being a man of supreme pride, and impressive martial arts abilities, Ryan Madson defended himself by issuing a swift roundhouse kick to said chair.

Unfortunately because of his aggressive self-defense, Madson managed to fracture a toe and now currently resides on the 60 day DL.

But such a small price to pay for reducing a sarcastic chair to mere splinters.

While on the plus side, the Phillies have still managed to chug along with a 20-13 record, one can only hope their days of rash decisions and unfortunate injuries are behind them.

But then again, this is baseball, and as long as there are games there will be injuries, and in Ryan Madson’s case, as long as there are chairs, there will be blood. 

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According to assistant GM Scott Proefrock via Matt Gelb and his Twitter feed, the Phillies expect to have Jimmy Rollins back next week when they start a seven-game homestand beginning with the Pirates, then the Cubs, and ending against the struggling Red Sox.

The Phils have played well without Rollins in the lineup, so having him back will make them that much better. Juan Castro and Wilson Valdez have performed admirably, but neither has been able to replicate Jimmy’s offense.

Rollins has only played in seven games this year, but he was on a tear to kick the season off (before hurting his calf), hitting .391 with three doubles, a triple, a home run, three RBI, two stolen bases, and an OBP of .516.

Shane Victorino, who has been the target of recent trade speculation, has been batting well in Rollins’s place at the top of lineup, but being able to move him back to the seven-hole will give the Phils back some speed at the bottom of the order.

And with Carlos Ruiz hitting the way he’s been behind him, it could mean a much better offense all-around for the Phils.

However, the Phils better be 100 percent positive he’s healed up and ready to go. Valdez and Castro have been playing well enough, so there’s no reason to rush him back and risk another injury that could knock him out for the season.

Some injuries won’t get worse simply by playing, but a calf strain will. If he has not fully recuperated, playing again could strain the muscle even worse or, worst-case scenario, he could tear the muscle entirely; Which could not only mean an end to his season, but his career if the tear was serious enough.

A lot of Rollins’s game is predicated on being able to run and making the opposing pitcher fear him while he’s on base; If he can’t run the bases, then he’s of no use to the team anyway.

The original reports said Rollins might not be able to come back before the end of the month, but now that he is expected back next week it makes me think the team might be rushing him back a week or two too soon.

Cutting two weeks off the expected time of return is difficult to do, so hopefully it just means that he truly is ready to get back in the lineup and not a move the Phils live to regret come September and (fingers crossed) late October/early November.

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Whitaker and Trammell. Morgan and Concepcion. Tinker and Evers. Maz and Groat.

So often, the 2B and SS are linked together on great teams. Why should they not be? What part of baseball more encompasses teamwork than the ability to turn a double play?

While top defensive pairings are not exactly a dime a dozen, the majors definitely have their fair share of talent at the pivot. Let’s take a closer look at the best.

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