MLB: Phillies Need to Add Quality Starter Before Deadline to Win

Are the Phillies ready to win and take their division over for the next five years? They certainly have the players to do it, but we'll see if the front office has the mentality.

In order to push into that next tier of teams, the kind that make it deep into the playoffs year after year, the Phillies NEED to start getting quality pitching on their roster. They just haven't had a deep rotation in the last 15 years.

The first move for the Phillies: realize that Brett Myers is not an ace. He never has been and never will be. Hamels is your man. He's young and he's got great stuff. Be excited.

Myers is solid, but he is not a No. 1.

In a division where the Mets and Braves are fighting for last place and the youth of the Marlins and Nationals is starting to show as the year goes on, the Phillies look like the favorite to win the division and get into the playoffs. But can they go deep?

The Phillies are not going to win the World Series with Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick, and Adam Eaton in the back end of their rotation. It isn't a surprise they are looking to add a starting pitcher before the deadline, but will they just go for mediocre?

It is the Phillies' time. Don't go the cheap and ineffective way like years before. Don't add a Bronson Arroyo or an AJ Burnett. It's time to step up to the plate. It's time to win with the big clubs. In order to do that, you must act like a big club.

The second move for the Phillies: go out there, give up some good prospects, and add a CC Sabathia or an Aaron Harang. Then sign that player at the end of the year and have a dominant lineup and rotation for years to come. Don't let that player walk, or else you're right back to the better than average team you've been.

Enough of the cheap stop gaps. If the Phillies want to win like an elite team, they need to start acting like it. Don't settle for a body.

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