The Philadelphia Phillies finally pulled the plug on the Joe Girardi era, issuing the manager his pink slip as the team sits seven games below the .500 mark. The franchise remains just about hopeless despite having a massive offseason, several strong hitters, a reigning NL Cy Young Award nominee and the reigning NL MVP.

Phillies presient Dave Dombrowski said that firing Girardi was something has has been thinking about because the team was not playing up to its potential. After thinking long and hard on the matter, he made the move.

Dombrowski needs to realize that his roster is not built to be highly successful. The Phillies, who won just 82 games last season, are abysmal in two key areas: defense and the bullpen. Their fielding can be downright comically bad only to be upstaged by their bullpen letting opposing teams take the lead like clockwork.

Injuries to key players like Bryce Harper and Jean Segura have hurt the Phillies but they are still spending too much on this team to be so bad. Although firing Girardi, who posted a 132-141 record in his time in Philadelphia, was the right move, the team won't make muuch progress until they get more reliable relief pitchers and can aleviate Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos from playing the field so regularly.

Girardi diagnosed the Phillies' many problems on his way out the door. With Rob Thomson taking the interim manager duties, it's up to the front office to fix the team's flaws and snap the franchise's 10-year playoff drought.