Time To Panic About Phillies?

Ryan Howard is out until at least June, possibly even longer.  Chase Utley is now doubtful for Opening Day.  Polanco will be in and out of the lineup with his injuries, and left field is a big question mark as well.  Am I the only one worried about this team?

In years past the main theme has been that the Phillies starting pitching is good enough to carry them even if the offense isn't producing.  But going into this season, the Phillies will be without their three and four hole hitters, and will mainly be relying on Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino to lead the offense.

I know just how amazing this starting rotation is: Roy Halladay is an absolute ace, Cliff Lee is a horse and innings eater, Cole Hamels is coming into the prime of his career, and having Vance Worley and Joe Blanton as your four and five makes this Phillies starting rotation easily one of the best in baseball once again.  But to win games, you have to produce runs, it's that simple.  Halladay, Lee, and Hamels aren't going to throw complete game shutouts every night and the Phillies offense has to step up when needed.

Although the current injuries to Howard and Utley are enough to make any Phillies fan sick, the Phillies prepared during the off season for just this scenario.  All through out the off season, Ruben Amaro Jr. added bench players for two main reasons: to have depth come October, and to have guys ready to fill in for this aging team.

Overall I think that Phillies fans should be somewhat worried going into Opening Day because the NL East got a whole lot better this past off season.  While the Phillies added minor pieces here and there, the Marlins completely revamped their team signing Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, and Mark Buehrle.  The Nationals as well added pitchers, and the Braves are always a competitive team.  A sixth straight NL East title is not a guarantee this year especially if the Phillies struggle in the early going.

Right now I'm not too worried about Ryan Howard.  While he did suffer a minor "setback", I think the Phillies are just being extremely cautious with him and aren't going to try to play him until he is fully 100%.  But I'm extremely worried about Chase Utley.  This whole spring the Phillies have been very mysterious with Utley's status and today they announced that he will most likely miss Opening Day.  I fully expect Ryan Howard to come back and be a productive hitter, but I'm not so sure about Utley.

The good news for the Phillies is that the starting rotation is fully healthy and ready to go heading into the season.  The pitching will definitely have to carry the Phils in the early going until the major bats come back to the lineup.