Being that we are already less than ten weeks from the non-waiver trade deadline, I’d like to throw out my opinion on how the Phillies should approach buying and selling. With the Phillies struggling as mightily as they are, one would think it would take a considerable run over the next couple of weeks for the front office to want to pursue adding pieces. It definitely appears that they should be sellers, albeit with very few chips to sell. We can break down what the availability should be by breaking the players down into three categories: Untradeable, Untouchable, Unlikely and Useful.

Leading by example. Showing you what NOT to do!

Unfortunately, the Phillies have a lot of untradeable players. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cliff Lee, and Jonathan Papelbon all have contracts that would make trading them hard to move, be it from lack of health, lack of production, or just inflated salaries. Together they make up roughly half of the payroll. While the pitchers have performed admirably, albeit Lee hasn’t gotten the results, the position players are what is really hurting the team. Utley’s offseason work out regimen has apparently made his overall condition worse as he officially won’t be making his season debut until long after he made his debut last season. Despite the “updates” the Phillies have provided, I am still under the impression that Howard won’t be making his season debut until after the All Star Game.

The Baby Aces may not be the answer, but they should be a part of the solution.

As far as untouchables go, there really shouldn’t be many, if any at all. I can understand wanting to hold on to the “Baby Aces” and some of the position players, but depending on the deal, just about every player should be made available. The Phillies really need to succeed at determining which players within the organization can be viable contributors moving forward.

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Tags: Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Hunter Pence, Jimmy Rollins, Joe Blanton, Jon Pettibone, Jonathan Papelbon, Julio Rodriguez, Roy Halladay, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino., trade deadline, Trevor May