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| Photo by Richard Wilkins Jr. |
The Phillies hit the halfway point at 36-45 on the season. That's not good. Now they're 36-46, and eight games out of first. The truth is, 2014 is not going to end well for the Phillies. Whatever hope you got from them sweeping Atlanta last week, that should be gone after being swept in four games this week. This is a bad baseball team.
It's time to look forward now. What do you want to be here in 2015? I look at the bullpen and see Giles, Diekman, Hollands, De Fratus, and Martin as future pieces, and they should get the opportunities to learn on the job now. I look at Cole Hamels as the cornerstone of the future rotation (if he's willing to be that guy), and see maybe Buchanan sticking for the future as well. Cliff Lee would depend honestly on his value on the market, and how much of his contract you can move, and the prospects you'd get back. I look at the line-up, and really besides Asche, I'm not sure anyone will be around for another championship run. I'd like to see Ruf get his chance in left once he gets healthy, but other than that, we're a little bit away from seeing any internal improvements. We'll probably have to sign some free agents, and wait it out on some prospects. I'm certainly not giving a Cesar Hernandez a crack at regular playing time, but i'm not sure I buy too far in right now.
In short, the overwhelming majority of our roster should be for sale. We should sell off, and start playing for 2015. That isn't fun, and it isn't what fans want to hear, but it's the responsible decision. It's time to move on from 2008, because that team is done winning.
