Should the Phillies be buyers at the trade deadline?

The Phillies are off to a slow start and it has a lot of people talking about the team being sellers at the trade deadline. ESPN's SweetSpot blog from David Schoenfield presents the counter argument with 10 reasons why the Phillies should really be buyers.

One of the most important reasons he gives to why the Phillies decide to be buyers, who can they dump for a big return?

Schoenfield argues, "You could trade Chase Utley, but you're not going to get a franchise prospect in return for three months of Utley's services…You could trade [Cliff] Lee, although his salary is so high…that he might not bring much in return, either. In other words, trading assets isn't really the way to start a youth movement because you don't have valuable assets to deal."

So essentially the Phillies are stuck with these high paid players because the return value on trading them wouldn't do much to help the struggling offense.

Another key argument he presents is that Kyle Kendrick is actually pretty good. Due to Roy Halladay's injury, Kendrick has actually been pretty consistent for the Phillies this season.

According to Schoenfield, "Kendrick has stopped throwing so many cutters to left-handers and started using his changeup more often. It has given him a strikeout pitch against lefties and helped hold them to a .240/.290/.380 (BA/OBP/SLG) line against him this season."

Probably the most surprising counter argument given is that Delmon Young doesn't have a lot left in the tank. Schoenfield explains, "No, no, no, this is another good thing. The Phillies will eventually realize they'll need a better right fielder. Can you say Andre Ethier?"

[To read all 10 reasons CLICK HERE]