I don't think that's actually true. We had shifted gears from "sell out the future to win NOW!', including devoting bonus money from the farm to the MLB payroll into what I believe could more fairly be described as a more balanced, neutral postion. We weren't sacrificing the future (much) to win now, but we were locked into the marketing strategy I call 'the Nostalgia Express', in which our marketing-oriented, Giles-trained ownership team and part of upper management couldn't bear to shed the security blanket of the big name old vets from 2008 and admit to the fans that the run was over and a rebuild was needed.
Not until we traded the old core, and did so late enough that we probably got 50% what we could have on all but Hamels, could we be said to actually be rebuilding. That both sent the message to all that the focus had moved several years into the future and started to re-stock the farm. The Giles trade is the action which really screamed 'full rebuild' because he is young and moving him pushed the timeline for contention a year or two farther into the future. I hesitate to say we have even entered aggressive rebuild as of today, since we haven't even done such things as spend 150% of our international allocation or sign mid-20s international amateurs.
The vast, vast portion of spending is still directed at old, mediocre, one-year, vet stop-gaps, most of whom have zilch chance of being flipped for a meaningful return. This means we are still operating with one eye aimed at current-year respectability and the other eye half-focused on rebuild, but not willing to undertake any aggressive action or spending to hasten that rebuild. It is still a confused approach lacking obvious direction. Perhaps after this flop of a year, TPTB will finally focus upon re-building with extreme urgency, so the job can be completed in a reasonable amount of time. As the author of this article strongly implies,
TPTB greatly over-rated the health and quality of a lot of their prospects, thinking a return to almost contention would be relatively easy. Most of the pitching prospects have shown themselves to be #3/4 starters and middle relievers, while many of the position prospects look like second-division starters and none look like budding stars (hoping Altherr is, but next year is really the telling season, as the pitchers will lie in wait with new strategies to attack him),
I think in trying to fool the fans, the Phillies PTB have drunk their own Kool-Aid. There simply is no justification for so little spending on the farm and so much spent on iffy vets for a team which is supposed to be in full rebuild mode. Of course, TPTB did not expect the team record going into the second week in June.
