This time, though, he's watching what he says.
That's probably a good thing for the two-time defending NL champions, who held their first full-squad workout Tuesday.
The Phillies fell two wins shy of repeating as World Series champions, losing to the New York Yankees in six games last fall. They're trying to become the first NL team to win three straight pennants in 66 years.
"We do have a chance at doing something special," Rollins said Tuesday. "(Someone) told me that NL teams that go to the World Series three years in a row win two out of three. Sounds like some pretty good odds."
Pressed to make a specific prediction, Rollins smiled and said: "You just heard them."
The three-time All-Star shortstop and 2007 NL MVP is known for making brash statements. He started in January '07 by proclaiming the Phillies were the team to beat in the division. Rollins backed that up by leading Philadelphia to its first NL East title since 1993 and was MVP in the process.
In 2008, Rollins said the Phillies would win 100 games. They had 92 in the regular season, but added 11 more in the postseason en route to winning the franchise's second World Series title.
Before the World Series last year, Rollins said on "The Jay Leno Show" that the Phillies would beat the Yankees in five games. He was a little off on that one.
"The magic eight ball? Shoot, I don't know where that thing is," Rollins said. "At this point, it's just for fun, just for laughs. Everyone knows what needs to be done, everyone knows what's expected and more importantly everyone believes."
Rollins did cast his vote for teammate Roy Halladay as the best pitcher in the division. That was in response to New York Mets left-hander Johan Santana making the claim last week.
"Overall Roy is, as far as pitching is concerned," Rollins said. "If you bring the hitting side of things, Santana gets the nod. There is no doubt about that. Roy can't hit. There is no secret there."
While the Phillies have played exceptionally well the last two seasons, Rollins has struggled. He hasn't come close to matching the numbers he put up in '07 - .296 average, 30 homers, 94 RBIs, 20 triples, 41 steals. An ankle injury that forced Rollins to miss 25 games hampered him in '08. A terrible first half hurt his stats last year. Rollins ended up batting just .250 with a career-low .296 on-base percentage. He did have 21 homers, 77 RBIs and 100 runs, however.
Rollins has some lofty goals for 2010.
"I told (first-base coach) Davey (Lopes) I want to try and steal 50 bases. That's the first thing I'm going to try to do. Will it happen? We'll see, but that's my goal. It's a place I've never been before, so it gives me something to shoot at," Rollins said. "The errors I want to keep under three this year. That would be nice. Still trying to score 150 runs. Never hit .300 and working on 200 hits, so there's still a lot of things I need to do and if I do those things, I'll be doing a good enough job to bring us a championship."
The 31-year-old Rollins got married in the offseason and received a nice wedding present from the Phillies. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. surprised Rollins with a phone call saying the team would pick up his $8.5 million option for 2011. That's a move the Phillies could've waited a year to do.
"Ruben just called me. He just wanted to let me know he was announcing it," Rollins said. "I said, 'OK that's cool.' And then I started thinking about it and I was like, 'That's real cool.' He said to 'relax and play great. We want you to be here, so we're taking care of this, taking that pressure off.' I hadn't even thought about it. I've only ever been in this organization, so it didn't dawn upon me to leave."
