A separate but valid point I agree Howie might only be a 2B but he's solid. Always on fielding and batting. Clutch hitter good on base. Hard to find many better over time. Howie is a keeper.
and he can't hit worse than .212 next year... can he?? at least we re-signed AJ on the team so we'll have at least two dead spots in the line up.
It's not like Utley was having bad plate appearances. I feel like in a lot of at bats, he was absolutely pissing on the ball and it always seemed to be right at someone. I saw more than a few reports where they mentioned his BABIP was pretty rough outside of August in which he was crushing it and finding holes. Maybe him being healthy in the offseason will allow him to have a little more oomph in his step. All signs are he is a tireless worker, a good teammate and it is not like he is year's from being a productive 2B. Yes he is obviously on the downside of his career, but if he's healthy in 2016, we should see much better numbers from him.
^..... raw optimism there ... I would love to have had Utley a decade ago but at 37 who are we kidding?