Phillies maintain the status woe

THE LINEUP that took the field for the home team last night at Citizens Bank Park had four players who are free agents after the season, and thus are not guaranteed to be back next season, and two young players whom management would like to see adapt to becoming big-league players in the season's final 2 months.

It also included two aging middle infielders with World Series rings and proverbial lifelong deals with the team, the only major league team for which either has played.

Three hours and 7 minutes after Major League Baseball's nonwaiver trade deadline passed, Michael Young was positioned for the game's first pitch at first base and Carlos Ruiz was behind the plate. Neither was traded.

Cody Asche made his first major league start at third base and Darin Ruf continued his ongoing leftfield education.

The result on the scoreboard at the game's conclusion was forgettable: the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants cruised to a 9-2 victory.

Like the Phillies, the Giants appear to be a team going nowhere in 2013. But with reigning MVP Buster Posey hitting cleanup, the Giants' season feels more blip on the radar than harbinger for seasons to come.

The Phillies' cleanup hitter was Delmon Young, a bust of a No. 1 overall pick a decade earlier who couldn't find a job this winter until the Phils came calling with an incentive-laden deal in January.

Much like Ruben Amaro Jr. standing pat on deadline day, the present-day Phillies are a team stuck in neutral. They're attempting to succeed with an eye on the future, but one on the past, too.

And so despite the usual flurry of rumors - the most involving Michael Young, who turns 37 in October - the underperforming and unimpressive Phillies continued their march toward another autumn without a playoff appearance without any moves at the trade deadline.

"We talked about a couple of [trades] late," Amaro said, minutes after the 4 p.m. deadline passed. "I guess the bottom line was we didn't find anything that was satisfactory. Nothing we thought was going to improve us. So we decided not to do anything."

But just because the Phillies were inactive yesterday does not mean they won't look to be active this month. Teams can trade players who have cleared waivers.

The Phillies made such trades for the likes of Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs once upon a time.

But those trades aren't as easy. For example, if Boston wanted to trade for Michael Young next month, its pursuit could be prevented if a team like Baltimore made a waiver claim on him first.

So there's a fair chance Young - and Ruiz and Delmon Young - leaves as a free agent after the season and the Phillies don't get anything in return. Amaro said he attempted to makes trades in the days and hours leading up to yesterday's deadline, but he simply wasn't fond of what was being offered in return.

"We asked for certain players we thought would be helpful for us, for now and for the future, and teams weren't willing to give up what we wanted," Amaro said. "To me, you can get a prospect or two if you think they're going to give you some level of production at the major league level. I'm not afraid of dealing major league players for prospects, but we hope to try to get those guys who are closer to the major leagues rather than further."

A Michael Young trade was not going to rebuild the farm system. But in holding on to Young, at least for now, Amaro also passed up on the chance to add a lottery ticket-type player to the Phils' minor league system and is instead only interested in locating players who can help his team win in the near future. Amaro does not intend to oversee a rebuilding project next season; he wants to compete for a World Series in 2014 instead.

"That is what my job is - to make sure the Philadelphia Phillies are contending for a championship every year," Amaro said. "We're not contending right now. We aren't completely out of it, but we aren't in the position I'd like us to be in, clearly.

"I have to think about 2014, and when I think about 2014, I don't think about coming in second or third or fourth place. I think about trying to win our division and trying to put us in a position to do that. Whether we can do that with younger players, or older players, or experienced players, that remains to be seen. That's part of our job, to design the club so that we can be a better club and contending club."

Once again, it would appear that any success the Phillies hope to have in the next year or 2 depends not on what trades or signings Amaro is able to complete but instead on the mounting list of "ifs" that populate his already hefty payroll of former All-Stars. If Ryan Howard returns to being a productive middle-of-the-order hitter, if Jonathan Papelbon rediscovers his velocity, if Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels are capable of bounce-back seasons, and so on.

"There has been a dropoff in the talent level," Amaro said of his highly paid veterans. "I'm not delusional to say there hasn't been. But I do believe we still have the talent level - if we keep it on the field more consistently - to be a contending club. It hasn't worked out."