"There is no point in the unfolding of a baseball season that more neatly weaves together the past (who's no longer around from the previous season), the present (the incumbents and the new faces on the roster) and the future (wondering what it all means) than the first official workout for pitchers and catchers at spring training.

For the Phillies, that intersection arrives this morning, to be played out across the neatly manicured fields of the Carpenter Complex and Bright House Field. And when that happens, a couple of items will stand out.

Pedro Martinez won't be there.

J.C. Romero will.

While second-guesses and what-ifs some 3 1/2 months after the fact will do nothing to alter the reality that the New York Yankees took the Phillies out in six games of the World Series last fall, it's grimly intriguing to wonder how the result might have differed if just those two situations had been reversed.

What if the Phillies hadn't signed Martinez as a midseason life raft? And what if Romero had stayed healthy instead of being shut down with the elbow injury that eventually required surgery?

Think about it. Without Martinez, the Phillies would have had a set rotation of Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ.

With Romero, there would have been less temptation to bounce Blanton and Happ back and forth between the bullpen and the rotation, a situation that meant neither was able to even approximate the rhythmic comfort zone that starters enjoy during the regular season. And it wasn't realistic to consider using Pedro in relief. Considering his age and his stature, if he was going to pitch it was going to be as a starter. So the Phillies were sort of stuck betwixt and between.

As a result, beyond Lee, the whole postseason had sort of a make-it-up-as-you-go-along feel to it when it came to the pitching plans."