Shane Victorino

The Phillies' pursuit of B.J. Upton is over, and it did not end well if you believe he was the team's primary free-agent target. Upton, the youngest of the elite centerfielders on the free-agent market, will play next season with the Atlanta Braves after signing a five-year, $75.25 million deal. That was the news late Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Houston reliever Wilton Lopez was in Philadelphia for a physical that likely will be a prelude to a trade that sends minor-league prospects to the Astros.

        Like all of you I have a blueprint of what I think the Phillies should do in an effort to return to the top of their division and become a World Series contender again in 2013. The Phillies' greatest needs are known to all. As general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said last week, "I've been thinking about next season since September. " Let's start with some contract information. For luxury-tax purposes, the Phillies have a little more than $138 million tied to 10 players.

IT HAS BEEN 4 years and 2 days since one of the more memorable sports days in the life of many Philadelphians: the world championship parade down Broad Street, celebrating the city's first title in a quarter century. The Phillies have gone backward in each season since, and to use words like "stagnant" and "complacent" to describe the team and its core players isn't exactly uncharted territory. And that's probably why any thoughts of reconstructing the roster for the 2013 season with players from the 2008 team who have since departed might sound counterproductive or a tad crazy.

Second in a series examining the Phillies' potential offseason moves. Read the first part on center field options by clicking here . The solution to the Phillies' center-field vacancy created by Shane Victorino's departure and John Mayberry Jr.'s inability to take advantage of an opportunity likely will come from outside the organization. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is willing to reveal only that much about his offseason plans. Exactly who will be where in the two corner outfield spots remains a mystery, too. Domonic Brown is expected to be in the mix, but which side of the outfield he plays likely will be determined by other decisions that are made.

First in a series examining the Phillies' potential offseason moves. A shocked Hunter Pence left the visitors' clubhouse at Nationals Park after being traded from the Phillies to the San Francisco Giants on the final day of July. "I don't think anyone really anticipated the season that has gone on this year," he said during his final interview with the Philadelphia media. "It was just the perfect storm of injuries, and things didn't go right for us. " It all ended up perfect for Pence, who celebrated a World Series title with his Giants teammates Sunday night after they completed a four-game sweep of the Tigers in chilly Detroit.

You would have to go all the way back to November 1997, when Gregg Jefferies was entering the final season of a 4-year, $20 million contract, to find an offseason when the Phillies had as much uncertainty in their outfield. The Phils made a somewhat small, under-the-radar move that would add an anchor to an outfield for the next nine seasons. At Ed Wade's urging, they traded shortstop Kevin Stocker to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bobby Abreu, who had been drafted away from Houston in the expansion draft on the same day. Coincidentally, the Phils' current outfield situation is the result of the end of another Houston-to-Philadelphia deal: the team bid adieu to former Astro Hunter Pence, who was under contract for 2013, when they shipped him and Shane Victorino out west before the trade deadline this summer.

ONE ABSOLUTE foolproof indicator of a failed season is the love affair with new faces, faces who have not struck out in playoff contests with the winning run on third base, faces who have not failed more than seven out of every 10 times over a major league career that has lasted years, not months or even weeks. So Thursday, and Wednesday, and really over the last few months, there has been a considerable number of people urging the Phillies' brass to let go of the old players who represent not five straight trips to the postseason but a dismally failed attempt to return to it this summer.

WASHINGTON - BASEBALL IS America's pastime, a designation that is fully supported by the free-market principles that have long governed it. So it should not come as a revelation that baseball clubhouses often resemble the society outside of their walls. On Wednesday afternoon, in between handshakes and phone-number exchanges, various members of the Phillies' upper class took time to reflect on their .500 season. It had ended less than an hour before, with a 5-1 loss to the Nationals, but most had long since resigned to the fact that such a day would come.

NEW YORK - When Nate Schierholtz arrived in a trade for Hunter Pence, he was installed as the Phillies' starting rightfielder. Josh Lindblom, a righthanded reliever acquired for Shane Victorino, became the team's primary setup man. That was seven weeks ago. "I understand the situation," Schierholtz said before Wednesday's game, another spent on the bench. Schierholtz started nine of 10 games upon his arrival. He missed two weeks with a broken toe and has started a mere three games since.

WASHINGTON - Shane Victorino let out a hearty laugh when one postseason scenario was suggested. What if his old team, the Phillies, met his current club, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a play-in game to determine the second wild-card spot? It's not impossible. The Phillies, who were rained out Tuesday, entered the evening trailing St. Louis for the National League's second wild-card spot by 31/2 games with 14 to play. The Dodgers, who were rained out of Tuesdays' game against Washington at Nationals Park, were one game behind the Cardinals with 15 to play.