by Michael DeLuca
Jimmy Rollins is not the only star player mired in a slump who’s been riding the pine lately. Yankees 3B Alex 
Rodriguez was also recently relegated to the bench for a brief time as well. Both teams’ claim the players need rest, some time to fend off mental fatigue.
Rollins, hitting just .211, will be back in the lineup and leading off on Tuesday “unless something really changes between now and then” according to Phils’ skipper Charlie Manuel. ESPN’s Eric Young believes that giving these players time off was the smart move, saying that slumping players tend to press and try too hard to break out of the slump. He concludes that because they are stars they would press even harder because they know what they are capable of. Young does go on to say though that the similarities end there for each players difficulties. A-Rod is believed to have returned too early from offseason hip surgery and also experienced a tumultuous
offseason. Rollins, conversely, has simply not been fundamentally sound at the plate. Compounding the problem, is that Rollins has begun to have mental lapses in the field as well.
Whether or not benching these players is the right approach is certainly up for debate. Rodriguez seems to be in favor of the rest and acknowledges that he may have rushed back too soon. In Rollins’ case, he has always seemed to respond following any form of discipline or inactivity. For Phillies fans, let’s hope he does tonight.
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