After spending 15 years with the Phillies, shortstop Jimmy Rollins was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on December 11th. Rollins, the 2007 National League MVP and instrumental piece in the Phillies’ 2008 World Series win, will replace Hanley Ramirez, who signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent.

Rollins had a great few seasons with the Phillies. Last year he batted .243 with 17 Home Runs, 55 RBIs, and had 28 stolen bases. He was one of baseball’s top offensive shortstops and had 453 career stolen bases, the fourth amongst active players.

Phillies general manager, Ruben Amaro Jr. commented,  “I know there’s a lot of Jimmy Rollins stuff out there. There’s nothing to announce, and as I’ve said before, we’re keeping our options open and our minds open on any way that we can improve our club long term.”

The Phillies will two minor league pitchers in the deal, Zach Eflin and Tom Windle. “Our goal is to try to get younger and give other people opportunities on our field in 2015,” Amaro said.

“We don’t know if that’s going to happen, but that’s the goal.” The Phillies took a big step in trading one of their best players in return for youth. Will the team have a successful 2015 season? We’ll see!