CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Prompted by suggestions that the club had not been honest about Chase Utleys physical condition, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. gathered a group of reporters late Monday afternoon and delivered a message.We dont have anything to gain from hiding information from you guys, Amaro said in a conference room at Bright House Field. Thats not our modus operandi. There are times we just dont know.I'm not trying to deceive anybody. Why would I lie to the public? How is that going to make the organization's relationship with the public better? What benefit would I have to tell you Chase is fine when I know that he's not? What good does that do for us? We pride ourselves on having a pretty good relationship with our fans. There's no real benefit for us to lie to them.Specifically, Amaro was referring to the stance he had maintained for the first month of spring training. Whenever he was asked about Utley, he said that he expected the All-Star second baseman to be ready for the April 5 season opener. Amaros answer remained the same even as Utley suffering from sore knees because of a cartilage problem was being held out of games and fielding drills. That was all part of a plan to ease Utley into games, Amaro said.
A week ago, the plan changed and the Phillies admitted that Utley would not be able to get on the field for a second straight spring training and that he would start the season on the disabled list for the second year in a row.We honestly thought until March 15, or whenever the hell it was, that he was going to be our every-day, Opening Day second baseman, Amaro said. He came into spring very, very optimistic, ready to go. He did some things on the field that I think made him feel uncomfortable and it never really got better. We thought it was going to get better and it never really did. So it got to the point where the plan we had implemented wasnt going to work anymore.Utley had held out hope of being on the field this spring until as recently as March 18. The next day, it was announced that he had reached a plateau in his rehab. He left Clearwater to visit an unnamed specialist that turned out to be Arizona-based physical therapist Brett Fischer.The Phillies followed Utleys wish and did not name Fischer publicly. The secrecy surrounding Utleys exit from camp fueled speculation that he was either investigating season-ending surgery or retiring.Neither turned out to be true as Utley confirmed in a rare burst of Glasnost on Sunday: He was going to treat his problem with stretching and alignment exercises and he hoped to be back on the field sooner rather than later. (And, oh, by the way, dont call his problem chronic, even though it was first hinted at by coach Davey Lopes in 2010, cost him 46 games last season and who knows how many more this season.)Phillies officials hold Utley in high regard and sometimes seemed to go overboard in deferring to his wishes for privacy. On Monday, Amaro seemed almost unburdened that Utley finally shed some light on his condition to reporters.I was glad he was forthright in giving you the information because so much stuff gets thrown out there that is frankly a lot of BS, Amaro said. I just wanted to make sure that you didnt think we were trying to deceive you. We just dont know when these guys are going to be back. We have no idea when Ryan Howard is going to be healthy. We have no idea when Chase is going to be healthy. I wish I did. Would make my job a lot easier.Utley admitted that he is suffering from a painful condition called chondromalacia, which is a roughening of the cartilage under the knee cap. He was able to manage the condition in his right knee and play in 103 games after coming off the disabled list last season. This spring, the condition flared in his left knee after he started doing more baseball activity.Amaro admitted Monday that he spoke with Utley several times a week over the winter and that he believed Utleys problem was at the least under control.Yeah, I sure did, he said. Not necessarily over the problem, but that he had done what he needed to do over the course the off-season, and I had no reason to think after he played so much at the end of the year and basically got through it. He would have told me, Ruben, Im not doing so good. He never indicated that. He felt confident that he was going to be fine.Freddy Galvis will be the Opening Day second baseman because Amaro traded valuable utility man Wilson Valdez over the winter.Amaro probably would have conducted his business differently over the winter had he known that Utley was not over his problem.I might do things differently, said Amaro, admitting that he doesnt look too intelligent for trading Valdez. But I had no reason to believe during the course of this offseason to think that he would have downtime, specifically at the outset of the season. He thought that he was going to be fine, too. He would have told me. Hes got too much loyalty to this organization and this club. Hes not going to want to put this team in a situation where its in a bind.Utley could come north with the team next week to continue his rehab under head athletic trainer Scott Sheridan. There is no timetable for when he will be ready to play.But he is adamant that he will play at some point this season.
E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com.