Should The Phillies Trade Prospects To Aid A Playoff Run?

With a 24-17 record the Phillies are a half game out of first place in the NL East before the start of play on Thursday.  While the unexpected play of the Phillies has been a pleasant surprise for fans, there looms the question of what does the organization do if the team is still in playoff contention when the MLB Trade Deadline comes around at the end of July?  NBC Sports Lead Baseball Writer Craig Calcaterra was a guest on The Sports Bash on Thursday and was asked about this potential scenario for the Phillies:

"That is the most difficult position for a General Manager of a 'Rebuilding Team' to be in if they're ahead of the game and all of a sudden you gotta change the plan. (Matt) Klentak will never say 'I hope we start losing so I don't have to make that choice', you always have to talk about wanting to win now no matter what your overall plan is. But in some ways it kind of would be a mistake I think to trade prospects or trade arms or anything like that for a shot at a half a season rental of a decent bat. But how do you portray that to fans? Fans want wins and if the playoffs are close you sort of have to do something but it's a very very tough decision on how much you're gonna risk a Rebuild that you think is going to take two or three years at least to try and go for some short term gain."

Checkout what Calcaterra had to say about when he looks at the schedule as the point a team is considered "In Contention" along with the latest on the rumors of the Angels trading Mike Trout