2004 Topps Heritage #206 Michael Young

2004 Topps Heritage #206

The Phillies were a little late this year in assigning numbers to their new acquisitions, but I noticed yesterday on the Phillies website that all 60 players scheduled to be in camp this year now have uniform numbers next to their names.  In my mind, the assignment of new uniform numbers is the final milestone to reach prior to the official start of Spring Training.

As I did last year, here's a run-down of who will be wearing new numbers next week in Clearwater:

New Players

#2 Ben Revere - Revere wore #11 with the Twins.  As that number is currently taken by Jimmy Rollins, he's going with #2, worn last year by departed first base coach Sam Perlozzo.

#3 Delmon Young - Young gets a fresh start with Hunter Pence's old #3.  The outfielder had previously worn #21 with the Twins and Tigers.

#10 Michael Young - Young wore this number for a decade with the Rangers.  Juan Pierre wore the number last season for the Phillies.

#27 John Lannan - Lannan was #31 with the Nationals over the past four seasons, but Erik Kratz has that number with the Phils.  New Marlin Placido Polanco had been wearing #27.

#37 Mike Adams - For the second year in a row, Antonio Bastardo was coerced to give up his number to a more veteran pitcher.  Last year, he surrendered #58 to the newly acquired Jonathan Papelbon.  This year, Adams claimed his familiar #37 from Bastardo.
#43 Ender Inciarte - My guess is that Inciarte was just assigned the lowest number left over after the new veterans got their picks.  Josh Lindblom wore #43 last season.
#45 Chad Durbin - Durbin wore #37 during his first stint with the Phillies.  I wonder what made him choose #45, made famous by Tug McGraw, for this go round?  The Phillies haven't assigned #45 to anyone since Pedro Martinez wore it for part of the 2009 season.

1990 Topps #525

New Coaches
#5 Steve Henderson - The new hitting coach assumes former bench coach Pete Mackanin's old number.
#21 Wally Joyner - Joyner wore #21 during his formidable years with the Angels.  Former hitting coach Greg Gross wore the number last season.
#23 Ryne Sandberg - Sandberg made this number famous during his Hall of Fame career with the Cubs.  Brian Schneider's recent retirement made the number available - although I can't imagine Sandberg wearing any other number.
#54 Rod Nichols - The Phillies "unretired" Brad Lidge's #54 for their new bullpen coach.

New Numbers
#8 Juan Samuel - Samuel wore #12 during his first two years as a Phillies coach.  With Shane Victorino's depature last year, Samuel's old #8 was freed up so he made the switch.
#59 Antonio Bastardo - As discussed above, Bastardo's #59 is his third uniform number in three years.

2002 Topps Total #486

Other Stuff
- From 1 to 60, the following non-retired numbers are still available - #49, #56, #57.  These numbers were last worn by Vance Worley, Joe Blanton and David Herndon, respectively.

- New non-roster invitees receiving low numbers include catcher Humbero Quintero (#12), outfielder Joe Mather (#22), infielders Josh Fields (#24) and Yuniesky Betancout (#25) and pitchers Rodrigo Lopez (#16) and Aaron Cook (#29).  Veterans are typically saved the embarrassment of sporting numbers in the 60s and 70s.

- Outfielder Zach Collier wins the prize for the highest number with #80.  The last player I remember being in camp with a number that high was Chase Utley, back when he was a non-roster invitee in 2002.