Ed Stefanski 1, Pat Gillick 0

Imagine for one moment that you're the General Manager of a professional sports franchise. Your team is on the cusp of being a legitimate championship contender, but there's one particular position where you're deficient. You have the resources to obtain a player that would address that need. So, what do you do?

If you're Ed Stefanski, you make a trade to clear salary cap space and sign the best free agent power forward on the market.

If you're Pat Gillick, you watch other teams in your league trade for Cy Young winners and staff aces as you stand idly by, unwilling to take a risk.

Within the span of one week, the immediate futures of the Phillies and Sixers have changed, one for the better.

Even though the Sixers drafted power forward Maurice Speights last month, they still needed an inside presence who could be the focal point of their half-court offense. They also had enough cap space to add a player. They had Atlanta Hawks restricted free agent Josh Smith in for a visit, but he wasn't the best power forward available in free agency.

Enter Elton Brand.

At the dawn of free agency, Brand coming to the Sixers seemed like a long shot. Brand was widely regarded as the best player available on the open market. He had indicated his intentions to remain on the west coast, either with the Los Angeles Clippers or Golden State Warriors. He was also the most expensive, thought to be demanding more than the Sixers could offer.

So Stefanski did what any shrewd GM would do. He dealt bench players Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth and a future first round pick to Minnesota, all the while keeping his eyes on the prize. Then he offered Brand a five year, $79.8 million contract.

Brand was officially announced as a Sixer yesterday.

The Phillies, meanwhile, have known since October that they had holes in their rotation. They did add closer Brad Lidge in an off-season trade with Houston, allowing them to shift temporary reliever Brett Myers back to a full-time starter. But that's the only arm they added.

Before the season, the division-rival Mets added Johan Santana, only the best pitcher in baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks grabbed Dan Haren to take some of the load off of Brandon Webb.

This week, the Milwaukee Brewers traded for reigning AL Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia, pairing him with Ben Sheets and a potent line up.

A day later, the Chicago Cubs fleeced the Oakland A's for Rich Harden and his dental-floss thin 1.74 ERA. He'll follow Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster, giving Chicago the most formidable starting rotation in the NL.

Myers and his 5.86 ERA were recently optioned to triple A.

As currently constituted, the Phillies will chase a championship with Cole Hamels fronting a 44-year old Jamie Moyer, unproven youngsters Kyle Kendrick and J.A. Happ, and either Myers or Adam Eaton.

There are still pitchers available, including Seattle's Erik Bedard and Toronto's A.J. Burnett. Neither carries the cache of a Sabathia, but either would improve the Phillies' current situation.

Now it's up to Gillick to pull a Stefanski.