Phillies fans, including yours truly, were clamoring for Chase Utley to return to the team as either the bench coach or a veteran player coming off the bench. Rob Thompson’s hiring as bench coach eliminated the thought of Utley being on the coaching staff, but there was hope he’d return as a player to lead a young team.
According to MLB.com Phillies insider Todd Zolecki, neither of those hopes were likely to come true.
Zolecki says there’s a “0-1” out of 10 chance Utley returns to Philadelphia for the 2018 season. He also notes that the reports of Utley being a candidate for the bench coach job were exaggerated and were never a reality.