"The way Jimmy Rollins sees it, every season is a contract year. It's just that sometimes a guy doesn't have a job lined up for the next season.

And so for the first time in 12 major league seasons, Rollins faces the possibility of facing an off-season as a free agent. According to sources, it's a predicament that won't be ironed out until the end of the season since Rollins' representatives and the Phillies will not discuss an extension during the season.

Nevertheless, if there is a legacy that Rollins has built during his career with the Phillies, it's one of winning, says the shortstop. In fact, in an exclusive interview with CSNPhilly, Rollins says the Phillies' unprecedented run of five straight NL East titles and postseason dashes was spawned from a sentence he spoke before the 2007 season.

When Rollins claimed the Phillies were, "The team to beat," it was a precursor to all that the team has achieved, he said.

"In short, yeah. Without 2007, without me coming out saying, 'We're the team to beat,' without all of that, the organization operates the way it always has -- that's just willing to be competitive and going out there fielding a team and hoping one day we'll be good," Rollins told CSN. "Since that day there's no longer a hope. It was, 'We have to prove it every single time out here.' Then fans showed up. With fans came money. Then players came over. Then better players came over. Then we won the World Series in between all of that. And this is where we are today. And it started with that little mustard seed and that little spark. Without that, I don't think it would be the same."

Interestingly, the Phillies will face the off-season with a few tough choices. After all, not only will Rollins be a free agent, but Ryan Madson and Raul Ibanez are playing out the last months of their contracts while lefty Cole Hamels heads into an arbitration year with free agency looming.

The Phillies have more than $109 million committed to nine players for 2012, which does not include salaries for players like Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, Jose Contreras or Hamels.

Still, it's tough to imagine the Phillies not coming to some sort of extension for Rollins.

"That's always a tough decision," Rollins said about his looming free agency. "But it's a decision everybody has to live with. You play to win. After winning, you play to make a living. If you have a chance to become a free agent, that's your decision whether you want to do something now or see what's out there. You can become a free agent and not go anywhere."

Rollins is in the last year of a six-year, $46.5 million deal he signed in June of 2005 when Ed Wade was the general manager of the Phillies. At the time, it was believed that Rollins got the better deal in terms of length of contract, but the Phillies made out in terms of salary. However, during the time since Rollins signed his deal, the Phillies have doled out big contracts to Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Hamels, Ryan Howard, Ibanez, Brad Lidge, Chase Utley and even Joe Blanton.

In terms of salary, Rollins, a three-time All-Star and NL MVP in 2007, is the 10th-highest paid player on the team.

As far as shortstops go, Derek Jeter, Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez, Rafael Furcal and J.J. Hardy are all better paid than Rollins. Still, if the Phillies are to re-sign Rollins, he could command a deal similar to the three-years, $30 million Furcal got before the 2009 season."