Jimmy Rollins now wears Dodger blue.
Cole Hamels takes the hill for the Texas Rangers.
Ryan Howard and his massive contract is not going anywhere.
Carlos Ruiz likely will join him as a red pinstripes lifer.
That leaves one remaining icon from the great Phillies team that delivered a World Series championship back in 2008.
Chase Utley has made it pretty clear that his wish was to finish his career the way he started it - as a Phillie. And for most of a thoroughly miserable beginning of the season when his batting average limped along south of that most mediocre mark in sports, the great .200 Mendoza line, it looked like that might indeed be the case.
But Utley revealed an ankle that he injured in the off-season had been bothering him all season. After a stint on the DL, and while watching Cesar Hernandez play his way into the team's every-day second baseman, Utley emerged looking refreshed, going 4-for-10 with three doubles on the West Coast.
As columnist Jack McCaffery points out, if the Phils ever planned to move Utley, now is the time.
They already got a break when Hamels dispelled worries about his arm with a no-hitter in his last start for the Phils, allowing them to plunder the Rangers for a treasure trove of prospects.
Now it's Utley's turn.
Sure, we will welcome him back at some point with open arms, give him the requisite standing ovation, and raise a banner on the Phils' Wall of Fame.
But that is for later. Now, with the team in the midst of a turnaround (last night's thrashing at the hands of the Diamondbacks not withstanding) Utley should go for the best offer the Phils can get.
We'll always have "World Bleeping Champions." Utley's salute to the fans at the World Series victory celebration is one of those iconic sports moments, whether you winced at his off-color choice of words or not.
That, as hard to believe as it sounds, was seven years ago, a lifetime in the world of professional sports.
The Phils have since fallen on hard times. So has Utley. There is no reason to believe this latest resurgence by the aging second baseman will continue. The same can't be said of this new group of Phillies and the way they are responding to new skipper Pete Mackanin.
That's why, as hard as it is, the Phillies need to deal Chase Utley.
The quicker the better.
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