Must-do trades for retooling the Phillies

July, 30, 2012

7/30/12

1:45

PM ET

By Jim Bowden | ESPN.com

For the first time in his career as a general manager, Philadelphia Phillies GM Ruben Amaro finds himself a seller as baseball’s July 31 trade deadline looms.

At present, his team simply isn’t good enough to get back into the postseason race, either for the division crown or even one of the two wild-card berths. Simply put, he should sell ... liberally.

That means Shane Victorino, Cliff Lee, Hunter Pence and Juan Pierre.

Amaro’s wheeling and dealing over the years to acquire talent such as Roy Halladay and Pence has cost the Phillies’ farm system depth. Certainly it has seen its share of attrition, but the trades have depleted much of the currency with which Amaro has been accustomed to trading. In effect, by dealing Lee and Pence, he is essentially trying to reverse what he has done.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Jim Bowden

Bowden, who served as the senior vice president and GM for the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals, is an analyst for ESPN.com. In 1992, Bowden became the youngest GM in MLB history when the Reds hired him at age 31. The Reds finished in first place twice during his 10 years as GM, and he was named MLB Executive of the Year by Baseball America in 1999. After working for ESPN in 2004, Bowden became the first GM of the Washington Nationals when the franchise relocated from Montreal to Washington, D.C., in 2005, working in that role until the 2009 season. Bowden co-hosts the "Inside Pitch" radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio. Follow on Twitter: @JimBowdenESPNxm.