It's been a decade since the Philadelphia Phillies last qualified for the playoffs, but it seems more like a lifetime.

Aside from their surprising run in 2001, which fell four days shy of the postseason, the Phillies have wandered through the baseball wilderness, eclipsed in their own division by the Atlanta Braves and occasionally, the New York Mets, and in their own city by the Eagles, Flyers and Sixers.

Until Larry Bowa took over, the Phillies had suffered through seven straight losing seasons. Attendance had dipped precipitously, so much so that the Phils, despite playing in the fourth-biggest market in the country, have qualified for revenue sharing.

	The Phillies are hoping to add a veteran in Tom Glavine to their mostly young starting rotation.

But this offseason, of all offseasons, the Phils have decided to become players. At a time when the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox are attempting to pare payroll, the Phillies are embarking on a spending jag.

While others are looking to dump big contracts, the Phillies are handing them out. They've been the highest bidders to date for slugger Jim Thome and third baseman David Bell, and have brought both to town for high-profile recruiting visits. Later this week, they intend to do the same with pitcher Tom Glavine.

The Phillies, it should be clear to all by now, are back in the game. And don't think it's gone unnoticed.

"The fans are ripe -- they're really ready,'' says Bowa. "They've been very frusrated. But we've got their attention this winter.''

There have been too many years in which the Phils have failed to get the fans' attention in the summer. The summer, other than the surprising 2001 season, has been time to kill between playoff appearances by the Sixers and Flyers and the start of Eagles' training camp.

But while they were in danger of falling off the Philadelphia sports map, Ed Wade had a plan. The Phillies' general manager wanted to overhaul the farm system, develop talent for the major-league roster, and bring the club to the level of contender.

Then, when the time was right, he would whip out the checkbook and apply the finishing touches. That time is now. The Phils boast a young rotation, an athletic middle-of-the-infield combination of Jimmy Rollins and Marlon Anderson, and a powerful lineup.

"We're close,'' said Bowa. "But we need a couple of missing parts. We can't do it with what we have now.''

All they need now is to take the next step.

"Two things have sort of come together here,'' said Wade. "First, the effort we put forth to get our farm and scouting system has been successful. That's the first key element. We've got a nucleus of players, most of whom come up through the system and are close to being a championship-caliber team.

"The other situation is the building of our ballpark, which opens in 2004 and is going to increase revenues and allow us to expand our payroll. We made a determination that we'd use some of the (increase in) payroll to be aggressive right now.''

	“	We want to win. We think this is a great baseball town with great baseball fans. They've been very patient with us. We think they're dying to celebrate with this team. ”
		— Ed Wade, Phillies GM

The timing couldn't have been better. The Braves, who've won the NL East every year since the Phils' pennant-winning 1993 campaign, are re-tooling, in danger of losing twin aces Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. The Mets have suffered through two disappointing seasons since their World Series appearance in 2000 and are also in transition, having changed managers and ownership in the last few months.

The Expos and Marlins, while young and talented, have growing pains. Those factors, plus a depressed free-agent market, have allowed the Phils to step into a buyer's market. With one or two key moves, the Phils could leapfrog the rest of the division.

"We're certainly not in a position to set the market,'' said Wade. "But players and agents have welcomed the opportunity to talk to us, especially in this economic climate, where a lot of clubs are cutting back.''

Wade acknowledges that, in assembling these Phillies, he's used the Cleveland Indians of a decade ago as something of a template. Like the Phils, those Indians had overhauled their minor-league system and had produced a core of quality players in their mid-20s. And like the Phils, the Indians were about to get a windfall from moving into a new ballpark.

But he also used a more familiar model: the Phils themselves of the mid-to-late 1970s. A mostly-homegrown club, which included Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt at third base and Bowa at shortstop, needed some additional ingredients and found them in Steve Carlton, Garry Maddox and Pete Rose, producing the 1980 world championsip team.

For a time last spring, the Phils seemed in danger of derailing their own rebuilding timetable. Following up on their surprising turnaround in 2001, the Phils stumbled to a 9-19 start and were a horrendous 5-22 in their first 27 road games.

"After those two low points, we believe we played more in line with what we expected,'' Wade explained. "I think we had to be objective about what happened. It doomed us for '02, but it didn't take us away from the big picture.''

"If you take away April -- and I know you can't do that -- we did what we were supposed to do,'' added Bowa.

The Phillies' starting rotation -- Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla, Brett Myers and Brandon Duckworth -- is young, talented and improving, but needs a veteran like Glavine to make it complete.

	Vicente Padilla Starting pitcher Philadelphia Phillies Profile
	2002 SEASON STATISTICS GM IP W-L BB SO ERA 32 206 14-11 53 128 3.28

"We need someone to pitch either at or above Wolf and Padilla's level and allow Myers and Duckworth to pitch at their own levels,'' said Wade, "instead of trying to ratchet everyone up to a more significant spot in the rotation. If we could get Glavine, he would make everyone else in the rotation that much better.''

"It's important to have a veteran pitcher to stabilize our staff,'' said Bowa. "You need a guy who, after you've lost three straight, knows he's going to go out and pitch his game. And the rest of the team has to know it.''

Thome would further bolster a middle of the lineup which already features Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell and Mike Lieberthal. Bell could replace Scott Rolen's glove at third and add one more player with significant playoff experience to the mix.

Aside from the obvious on-field upgrades they would represent, the Phils have targeted Glavine, Thome and Bell because of their character and presence, the sort of attributes the club has lacked of late. Rolen was the leader of the team until his trade to St. Louis last summer, but never felt comfortable exerting himself in the clubhouse and his uncertaun contract status with the club further muddied things.

"We need some veterans on that team who've been through tough times,'' the fiery Bowa said. "All of our kids are basically the same age, with the exception of Lieberthal. They don't feel comfortable getting on one another. The chemistry would be a lot better if we could get a couple of these guys. You spend a lot of time together over the course of the season and you need guys who are good in the clubhouse and off the field.''

After Glavine's visit, the Phils will start getting their answers. If the first group of free agent targets signs elsewhere, the Phillies have backup plans in place and will focus on Jamie Moyer instead of Glavine and perhaps Cliff Floyd instead of Thome.

"Even if we don't sign any of them,'' Bowa said, "you've got to take your hat off to Ed Wade. It won't be because of lack of effort. We did all we can do. We're ready to go in a different direction. We're trying to upgrade.''

"We want to win,'' said Wade flatly. "We think this is a great baseball town with great baseball fans. They've been very patient with us. We think they're dying to celebrate with this team.

"People said you can't (rebuild) in Philadelphia. We think we have. We've taken our hits. But we never lost sight of the fact that we want to win."

Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal covers baseball for ESPN.com.