By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Philadelphia Phillies legend Jimmy Rollins wasn't even out of baseball the entire 2016 season, but he appeared on FS1's MLB coverage a few times and eventually latched on to TBS' coverage of the American League playoffs. The reason there was so much interest in Rollins as an analyst is that he's one of the game's best storytellers.
The 38-year-old told a touching story when former Miami Marlins starter Jose Fenandez tragically passed away last September. He also recently told an interesting story involving a future Hall of Famer.
In an interview early in Spring Training with Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Rollins says that former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter jokingly called him old when they saw each other this past offseason:
Rollins ran into Yankees legend Derek Jeter at a gym during the winter in Tampa, and even Jeter, 42, couldn’t help himself.
“Jete says, “You old.’’ Rollins recalls. “I said, “Hey, who’s talking? You’re older than me.’ ’’
Jeter: “Yeah, but I’m playing the game of life. You still playing baseball.’’
Rollins: “Ahhh, you got me right there.’’
In Rollins' defense, Jeter played until he was 40 and wasn't especially effective at the very end of his career. That said, in his age 38 season, Jeter slashed .316/.362/.429, while Rollins is simply hoping to catch on as a bench piece at age 38.
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Jeter wasn't as good of a fielder as Rollins was even through age 35, but since leaving Philadelphia, Rollins has declined as a fielder. That probably means slightly less when you consider that he's competing for a bench spot on a team where Bradon Crawford will probably play 155 games at shortstop, but it doesn't work in his favor.
In addition, Rollins' bat has declined since the Phillies traded him after the 2014 season. He slashed .224/.285/.358 in 517 at-bats with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015 and was relegated to a bench role by the time that the team made the playoffs. Rollins made the Chicago White Sox out of Spring Training a year ago, but was released in June after slashing .221/.295/.329 in 149 at-bats with the team.
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I outlined last month how Rollins would need to hit his way onto the Giants' Opening Day roster, something he's not doing so far in Spring Training. The 2007 National League MVP entered the week with just a .103 batting average thus far this spring, which makes you think that Rollins is likely to join Jeter in "playing the game of life" this regular season.
