It appears that Cliff Lee lacks teams that can take his money and afford the prospect price. Papelbon appears to lack suitors, in part thanks to his contract, but also his big mouth. Michael Young is throwing around his no-trade clause weight to direct his market to a select few teams (if not one). For some reason, Ruben is not shopping Carlos Ruiz, Kyle Kendrick, or even Delmon Young (though he's basically worthless).
Could the Phillies stand pat?
The sad answer is yes, and I think that would be disastrous. It's not 100% certain that the Phillies will do anything, and it appears that there are no surprises in the making (even with no contract right now, Utley won't be shuttled off suddenly). Even if they do manage to move Michael Young, it won't wildly change how we should view this deadline.
The Phillies are not a good team. They were 81-81 last year. They are 50-56 this year. They are 11.5 games out of first, and 8 games out of the second Wild Card. Sure, the names might be similar to 2011, but the players aren't those guys anymore. I do understand the need to extract the best value for your players, but there has to be some realism here. Maybe your players aren't worth what you think. If you don't clear a big contract (here's looking at you Papelbon), or clear room for some of the advanced minor league talent (Cesar Hernandez should join Asche and Ruf, and all should play), this is a big failure. This team will not get better playing Delmon Young or John Mayberry Jr., or for that matter, Michael Young.
Inaction is a defeat. Ruben needs to get on with this. And with that, I have IronPigs tickets today.
