Not again - here go the Phillies giving false hope

The Phillies really don't have a chance of making the playoffs this year.

What they really need to do is trade some of their better players, shed some salary, and get a few good young prospects in return.

But GM Pat Gillick is hanging on as long as he can before making any trades, to see if the Phillies can climb back into thw wild card race. If they do pull to within a couple of games of the wild card, Gillick may put the future on hold and try and win now.

As much as I want the Phillies to win now, I know they are not going to. It would be in their best interest to start building for next season.

However, they have won two in a row and in the middle of a four game series with the Atlanta Braves (who they are now tied with), Philadelphia has a chance to put themselves in a better position in the playoff hunt. There are stil seven teams in front of them, but Cincinnati, who leads the wild card race, is only 5.5 games up.

If the Phillies hang in there, Gillick might decide to keep what he has and look for a postseason berth this year.
Big mistake.

It is inevitable that the Phillies will crumble down the stretch. And if they do not attempt to trade guys like Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Corey Lidle, etc now, they will have made a big mistake. Of coarse, they should only trade these guys if they get get fiar market value in return. July 31 is quickly approaching and with three more agains the Braves, three against Arizona, and four against Florida, Philadelphia could greatly alter their course of action should they get hot.