Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Even Newer Uniform Numbers Have Arrived!

2006 SPx #70
The recent signing of Bobby Abreu and a few other veteran non-roster invitees necessitated a re-shuffling of some uniform numbers.  This post serves as an addendum to my original post from a few weeks ago.

New Players
#7 Ronny Cedeno - I had originally hoped that prospect Maikel Franco would be assigned #7 as a sign of confidence in the young infielder.  Alas, the number went to veteran infielder Cedeno who joins his seventh club with the Phillies.  Cedeno has never before worn #7 in the Majors, and the number was most recently worn by fan favorite Michael Martinez.  (I'm kidding of course about the fan favorite bit.)
#53 Bobby Abreu - In a move that wasn't too surprising, Abreu reclaimed his old number from reliever B.J. Rosenberg.  I wonder if there was any bartering involved, or if Abreu just played his All Veterans Stadium Team member card and took his number back?
#57 Chad Gaudin - Gaudin has worn #57 for most of his 11-year career, so he swiped the number from relative newcomer Luis Garcia.

New Numbers
#39 B.J. Rosenberg - Rosenberg assumes #39 after Abreu claimed his old #53.  Steven Lerud wore the number the past two seasons, and the last pitchers to wear the number were Michael Schwimer in 2011 and Brett Myers from 2003 to 2009.
#43 Luis Garcia - Do you think they even bothered to ask Garcia if he wanted #43, or do you think the clubhouse guys just made an executive decision?

Other Stuff
- Not that anyone will ever care, but let the official record show that outfielder Dave Sappelt was once assigned #67 during his one month stint as property of the Phillies.  Sappelt was removed from the non-roster invitee list following the signing of Abreu.

- With the latest round of number assignments, the following non-retired numbers between 1 and 60 are still officially available - #34, #41 and #46.  #34 and #41 are definitely being held back as an unofficial tribute to Roy Halladay and Charlie Manuel, respectively.  I can't say the same for #46, which was last worn by reliever Raul Valdes.

Memory Lane

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, I'll take #46 if nobody else wants it.

Jim from Downingtown said...

Dallas Green is going to use it when he suits up by late-June!