By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Phillies may not win the National League East title in September of 2018. But managing partner John Middleton hopes that his team is playing meaningful games in the final month of the 2018 campaign.
In fact, Middleton, who joined Marc Farzetta and Al Morganti on SportsRadio 94 WIP Friday, says he hopes to be discussing buying at July's non-waiver trade deadline with general manager Matt Klentak:
I'll be disappointed if we're not sitting there having good games in August and September. And what I really want, I really want to be able to look at [general manager] Matt Klentak around mid-July and say 'Matt, what are you gonna do, given where we are, to get us over the hump.' That would be a good place to be in mid-July, to have pressure on you now to make a trade in July to get us so we are playing meaningful games in September."
Middleton, who is the closest thing that the Phillies have to a majority owner, has been increasingly visible in the public over the past few months. He was in the box of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie for each of the team's three playoff games in their Super Bowl run. He was the most notably emotional person in Lurie's box, and the Eagles run perhaps has him excited that after what's mostly been a miserable decade for his team, the Phillies appear close to returning to contention.
Last week, Middleton praised the club's new manager, Gabe Kapler, while also saying that he believes the team should be competitive in 2018.
"I think he may have the most positive energy of any human being that I've ever met, Jim," Middleton told Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. "Gabe has been even better than I hoped he would be when we hired him. Beyond his energy, his standards, he said – and he's right in this – 'there's no reason why we shouldn't be in the playoff hunt this year.' Now we all recognize that for that to happen, people have to take a step forward. Even established players who are good players – Aaron [Nola] and Odubel [Herrera] and Cesar [Hernandez] – they have room to improve."
The Phillies haven't had a winning season since 2011, when they won a franchise-record 102 games. They haven't finished at .500 since 2012, when Jimmy Rollins led the team with 23 home runs. But there's been a noticeable culture shift at Kapler's first Spring Training. Some of it, as Middleton alluded to, is because players really appear to be buying into the culture that Kapler is attempting to establish. Another reason, as J.P. Crawford said earlier this week, is that many of the young talents on the Phillies roster don't know anything but how to win.
"We're going to prove to the whole nation that the Phillies are ready. The rebuilding process is here, and we're going to shock a lot of people," Crawford said on the SportsRadio 94 WIP Morning Show Thursday."We want to win. We hate losing. We've been winning since the minor leagues … [and] we're going to carry that tradition here."
Phillies Nuggets: After Career Year, Tommy Hunter Adds Power, Versatility To Phillies Bullpen
Aaron Nola will be the team's Opening Day starter. He's still only 24, but this will be the former first-round pick's fourth season with the team. He's been with the Phillies through some lean years. But he thinks the club's rebuilding process is over.
"Everybody still thinks we're in the rebuilding stage," Nola told the Associated Press Sunday. "I don't think any of us think that. I think we're going to compete this year and we're definitely going to be better than last year."
Even Pat Neshek, who has played on seven different teams that reached the postseason, seems to agree. The 37-year-old, who returned to the Phillies on a two-year free-agent contract this offseason, says he thinks the Phillies are further ahead than the 2015 Houston Astros team that he played for, who won the second American League Wild Card with 86 wins.
"Last year was kind of messy, but I feel like we're way ahead of where Houston was [in 2015]," Neshek told MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince in February. "I know they have the money to add if we start winning. And the National League East isn't that great this year."
It's been since the 2011 non-waiver trade deadline that the Phillies were in a position to buy. With visions of a second parade down Broad St. that year, Ruben Amaro Jr. completed a major trade with the Astros in July to acquire All-Star outfielder Hunter Pence. It's unlikely the Phillies will be in a position to make an investment of that degree in 2018. But if they are in a position to consider making an investment at all, that's a step forward from where they've been for more than half of a decade. That's all Middleton wants.
