Should Phillies trade away prospects? Last year taught us something.

At last year’s deadline, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski traded a real prospect for a closer who failed and a mediocre starter.

Don’t be fooled again.

It’s good to be relevant. It’s good to have hope. But it’s bad to believe that the Phillies have a real chance at doing postseason damage.

The Phillies are eight games above .500, and they’ve gotten here with Jean Segura and Bryce Harper injured. They occupy the third National League wild-card slot by a game over the Cardinals … against whom they scored seven runs in four games last month.

They’re 6-4 since the All-Star break, but three of those losses came to the woeful Cubs. Four of those wins came against the even more woeful Pirates, and the Phillies needed 10 innings to collect two of those wins — and, if you watched the games, the Pirates lost them more than the Phillies won them.

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Since firing Joe Girardi and promoting Rob Thomson on June 3, the Phils have had an eight-game winning streak and, as they enjoyed an off-day Monday, were on the second of two five-game winning streaks. That sounds great, but of those 18 wins, 14 came against the Pirates, Diamondbacks, Angels, Marlins, and Nationals. You can only beat the team in front of you, but how you play matters.

They’ve largely ridden the hot bat of former trade-bait third baseman Alec Bohm, who used to bleeping hate this place; the intermittent power of .204 leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber; and the right arm of Cy Young bridesmaid Zack Wheeler. These do not a contender make.

This proves they can beat bad teams. It does not prove they can beat good teams — teams that do not rely on homers, teams that play sound defense, and teams with dependable bullpens.

Situational hitting, defensive stability, defined relief roles: That’s what wins in the postseason. They cannot rectify these deficiencies by 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Last year, the Phillies traded starting prospect Spencer Howard for Rangers starter Kyle Gibson, whose career entirely defines the term “average,” and closer Ian Kennedy.

Kennedy, who was 36, blew three of his first 10 save opportunities and left for Arizona in free agency.

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In six September starts, Gibson went 0-4 with a 7.31 ERA. He had another year left on his contract, and since landing in Philly, Gibson is 10-10 with a 4.79 ERA.

Howard, who just turned 26, sputtered a bit early this year but he’s 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA in his last four starts.

Trading prospects for this year’s Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy would be foolhardy.