Last year, the Philadelphia Phillies started off slowly but got hot at the right time and made it to the World Series. This year's team is also off to an unimpressive start, though the feelings of last season are not making things much better. Disappointing performances from numerous stars have made Phillies brutally inconsistent. But team president Dave Dombrowski isn't panicking.

Bryce Harper's return from Tommy John surgery hasn't sparked the team due partly to some massive woes in the pitching staff. Selling off a few pieces at the 2023 MLB trade deadline isn't totally out of the question right now. Still, Dombrowski believes in his team, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

“The last few games is the first time, even when we’ve played better earlier in the year, that I felt we were getting close offensively,” Dombrowski said, via The Athletic. “What are we, 7.5 games behind the Braves? They’ve got a good club. But we have really good starting pitching. When it’s pitching well, it can shut down anybody. We have a really good bullpen, a shutdown bullpen. And our good hitters can hit good pitching as well as anybody when they’re playing well. That’s the key for us. If we can get to that point, once you get in, then you take your chances.”

The Phillies are not far out from the Braves but have the Miami Marlins and New York Mets ahead of them. Trea Turner, Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler have been big disappointments and J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber have not been as productive as the Phillies have needed.

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The Phillies should definitely look to make moves at the 2023 MLB trade deadline. Their pitching is too inconsistent to rely on for the rest of the season, even if Wheeler and Nola get back to being great. If the bats pick up — and that's still not a guarantee, especially with first baseman Rhys Hoskins still sidelined — Philadelphia could sneak into the postseason again.

Dombrowski is right not to give up on this Phillies team, at least not right now. The talent level is too vast and the unpredictability of the playoffs allows anything to happen.