Phillies GM Pat Gillick is one of baseball’s most respected front office guys. He built winners in Seattle, Baltimore and Toronto. But as the New York Times points out today, there is no greater challenge for a GM than trying to win in Philly.

When Gillick arrived in town, he said he was a man with a plan. He was going to build around the team’s young nucleus of Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. But lately Gillick’s plan seems less clear.

Take a look at some of Gillick’s personnel moves. You’ll see what I mean:

• First, to make room for Ryan Howard, he traded Jim Thome and got Gio Gonzalez and Aaron Rowand.  He then traded Gonzalez and Gavin Floyd for Freddy Garcia, who is about to have surgery that will end his Phillies career.

• He traded Bobby Abreu for left-handed reliever Matt Smith and prospects. He traded David Bell for a guy who he later cut. He let Mike Lieberthal go. And he traded two minor league pitchers for Jamie Moyer.

• He signed Adam Eaton,  Tom Gordon, Antonio Alfonseca and, most recently, Jose Mesa.

It’s that last move — bringing back Mesa — that really has me worried. I mean, if there really is a plan, and it includes Jose Mesa … well … that’s a terrible plan!

I suspect Gillick probably views the Mesa signing, as well as the Alfonseca signing, as low risk ventures. They’re both making the minimum, after all.

And I suspect Gillick is just biding his time until he can unload Pat Burrell and his $13 million per year salary. Burrell has one more year left on his contract after this one.

But look at the guys Gillick has added: Alfonseca, Mesa, Moyer, Gordon…could these guys be any older? I understand the desire to bring in some veteran guys to mentor younger players like Utley and Howard. But there’s a difference between veteran and ancient, and I’m not sure Gillick appreciates that difference.

Sure, it’ll be nice to get Burrell’s $13 million per year salary off the books. But it would be unfair to blame all of the Phillies problems this year on The Bat. After all, the Phillies are spending just as much money on the combined salaries of  the injured Gordon and the aging Moyer as they are on Burrell.

Pat, I know you’ve got credentials. I know you’ve got World Series rings. So I’m gonna have faith. But if you could, just give me a sign that you’ve got this all under control. Just give me some indication that there is still a plan. And for the love of god, tell me it doesn’t include Jose Mesa!

So it has come to this. The Phillies have become so desperate for bullpen arms that they are considering bringing back Jose Mesa.

I think I speak for Phillies fans everywhere when I say, “Oh good god, no!”

Mesa is the Phillies’ all-time leader in saves, which should tell you something about the franchise’s inability to find a consistent and capable closer these last few decades.

When Mesa last pitched in Philly, fans dubbed him “Blose” (as in, “he blows, eh?”). They weren’t just trying to be cute. Mesa really did crap the bed, especially in his last year in Philly when he went 5-7 with 24 saves and an ERA of 6.52.

While there’s no doubt the Phillies bullpen is in dire straights, bringing back Mesa is not a palatable option. Instead, let me suggest the team hold an open tryout, a la the 1974 Philadelphia Eagles. Somebody in the Phillies front office must have seen Invincible, right? This could work!

Seriously, the thought of both Mesa and Antonio Alfonseca working out of the Philadelphia bullpen is just too much. An open tryout really isn’t that ridiculous. There’s got to be somebody living in the Philadelphia area who can throw the ball better than Mesa. Lets go find him. The next Vince Papale could be out there!