"In recent years, ever since they started rubbing elbows with baseball's big boys – heck, they are one of baseball's big boys – the Phillies have focused on trying to win that season's World Series.

But it is the responsibility of any organization to keep an eye on future seasons, as well. The Phillies have done that. No matter how much you detested the Cliff Lee trade of December 2009, it was made partly because the Phils' management had an eye toward the future and wanted to restock a farm system that had become thin after several big trades. In approaching trades, Phillies officials are always looking to obtain players they can control for more than one season. So even as they are looking to win now, they look ahead.

One has to wonder if we are seeing some of that philosophy in the team's handling of its current closer situation.

Ryan Madson, who deserved some consideration for first-half team MVP before he went down with a swollen right hand in mid-June, is back from the disabled list, but he still hasn't been re-anointed as closer, even after going 15 for 16 in that role after Jose Contreras went down three weeks into the season.

Antonio Bastardo handled save situations while Madson was out and has continued to do so – very impressively, we might add.

When Madson first came off the DL last week, manager Charlie Manuel said the righthander would be back in the closer's role after a short break-in period. It makes sense to ease a guy back in to the roiling waters of the ninth inning. But Madson has so far appeared in three games – he was twice strong and once a little shaky – and Manuel still isn't ready to publicly say Madson is his closer.

"We'll see how it goes," Manuel said after Wednesday's game in Chicago, where Madson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning in a 9-1 blowout of the Cubs.

The night before, Bastardo racked up his fifth save (in five chances) since Madson went on the DL. He did so by striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth in a 4-2 win.

"We've got two good guys right now," Manuel said. "That's a good problem to have. I don't mind those problems. We'll see where it goes. We've got confidence in both. I'm not afraid to use them at any point in the game."

Madson got his long-desired chance to close when Contreras went down with an injury in April and he did not lose the job when Contreras came back for a brief stint before going back on the DL. Now, Bastardo has staked a bit of claim to the job in the wake of Madson's injury.

We fully expect to see Madson get saves chances in the ninth inning in the very near future.

But you have to wonder if something interesting is going on here.

Madson, of course, will be a free agent at season's end and he and agent Scott Boras will be angling for big money, big years and a closer's tag. Madson is good enough to get all three and teams interested in his services will extend beyond Philadelphia.

The Phillies may want to ride Bastardo's hot hand a little longer in 2011 – can't hurt – but they may also be keeping an eye on 2012, to find out if he can do the job when/if Madson leaves, and to give him more experience going forward. The team actually has a responsibility to take both of these approaches because not only is it in a win-now mode, but it will remain in that mode next season."