Phillies Nation

Where will Jimmy be in 2012?

Almost a year ago to the day, Jayson Werth sat on the stage in front of the hoard of media in the Phillies press conference room in the bowels of Citizens Bank Park. He gave the answers you thought he would, proclaiming he’d had a wonderful time in Philadelphia and will always love the fans. But there was always a sense that Werth would take the money and run. The Phillies were not willing to overpay for an outfielder, so it was pretty well known he wouldn’t be back.

As Jimmy Rollins took the podium on Tuesday, for what could be the final time as a Phillie, there was much more uncertainty regarding the face of the franchise than there had been with Werth in 2010. Manning shortstop since 2001 on a full-time basis, the Phillies wouldn’t feel like the Phillies without J-Roll. That infectious smile, that rocket arm, that big mouth that ruffled some feathers, but was the catalyst for a playoff berth in 2007; Rollins will have some suitors once free agency begins.

At 32, it’s clear Rollins is no longer the guy he was at 28, the age when he won the National League Most Valuable Player award and led the Phillies to the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons.

First off, his bat has slowed down. Rollins’ OPS took a leap this year, going from a career-low .694 in 2010 to .734 in ’11. The bad news: this year was the second lowest OPS of his career, although in fairness, numbers were down across baseball again this season.

On Tuesday, Rollins made it painfully obvious that he’ll test the waters in free agency and he won’t come out until he’s got cash the way he wants it.

“Obviously, if I was to go somewhere else, it’d be probably for money, and for years, and to another good team. I’m just not gonna go somewhere just because they’re giving you a lot of money. It has to be the right circumstance.”

During his final interview of the 2011 season, Rollins made no bones about his intentions.

Can you fault him? Rollins has been grossly underpaid by industry standards over the last few seasons.

Just after Rollins inked his long-term pact, Chase Utley signed one for nearly double. Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee; the Phillies broke the bank for all of them. Raul Ibanez and Brad Lidge both got more.

Luckily for the hoards of Phillies fans who have been wondering where he’ll go and what his plans are this offseason, J-Roll assured them that Philly is the place he wants to be first and foremost. But heis prepared to move on to an organization that is willing to go five-years on a deal.

“When the offer’s on the table – well first, like I said, from the Phillies, see how that goes. And then if that doesn’t work out exactly how I would like for it to, we’ll weigh all the other options in and see what makes sense.”

If anything, applaud him for bucking the ever-growing trend of star athletes wearing clichés out en masse. Rollins could have said, “we’ll see what happens” or “it’ll play itself out.” He could have taken the high road, but he didn’t. He let everyone know what his true intentions were.

So, if this is it, then it’s been a fun ride through twists and turns of the past decade. If you go Jimmy, we’ll miss you. But we’ll all move on.