Phillies vets Rollins, Utley tune out trade talk

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Even though the media -- social, mainstream and otherwise -- is a abuzz with the potential for an active trade deadline for the Phillies, the players have been able to ignore most of the chatter.

Burrowed into a cocoon where TV and computers are used for watching video on hitting and pitchers, the trade chatter hasn’t filtered into the clubhouse.

Or so they say.

Though the stands are filled with scouts from opposing teams and the sports media continues to remain on alert for possible trades, old warhorses like Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley are living by the old clichés.

Just one game at a time.

“As baseball players, I’ve been around a little while and we really try to focus on that day and when that’s over you focus on the next day,” Utley said. “You try not to get distracted or get too high or too low and you really try to put your blinders on and stay focused.”

According to Rollins, the trade talk is more pronounced when the team is losing.

“It happens every year -- more so when you’re losing,” Rollins said. “When you’re winning they talk about who to bring in. I’ve been around it, [Utley has] been around it and it really has no affect on us.”

It’s fun for fans to make fantasy trades or pretend they are the general manager, Rollins said. But ultimately, the players like to concentrate on other things.

“It makes a little excitement around baseball, but inside the clubhouse it doesn’t change a thing,” Rollins said.

Rollins and Utley have been around, though. And, with 10-and-5 rights -- 10 years in the big leagues, five years with one team -- both players can veto any trade.

Lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo has been mentioned as a centerpiece in trades (see story), which is something he probably hasn’t heard much of.

Or maybe he has.

“I’m not that kind of person looking to see what’s going on around the league and stuff. I’m not into that," Bastardo said. “When I come in here I shut everything down. Everything is about baseball. That’s it.”

In other words, Bastardo has learned well from veterans Rollins and Utley.

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