The Philadelphia Phillies hold the first overall pick in the draft this June. The last time they had it, in 1998, they chose outfielder Pat Burrell. Ten years later, Burrell doubled to start the go-ahead rally on the night the Phillies won the World Series.

Success in baseball is rarely so orderly. Today’s losing does not guarantee tomorrow’s parade. But as the Phillies rebuild a roster that staggered to 99 losses last season, they believe an upswing is inevitable.

“The teams that get themselves in the most trouble are the ones that try something for two years, it doesn’t work, so let’s try something different,” said Andy MacPhail, who will begin his first full season as the Phillies’ president for baseball operations.

“Name the team that embarked on a legitimate, honest attempt at a rebuild that didn’t, in the end, profit from it,” MacPhail said. “Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Baltimore — as long as they stay with it, they are going to be rewarded in the end. But it takes patience, and that’s not an easy commodity to come by.”

If ever there was a time to ask for patience in Philadelphia, this is it. The city has been bruised by the failures of its professional sports teams, but smart fans accept that the Phillies’ previous strategy — clinging to highly paid, fading veterans — was failing. A full-scale renovation is underway, run by MacPhail — who has helped turn around the Minnesota Twins, the Chicago Cubs and the Orioles — and the new general manager, Matt Klentak.

“To understand where we want to end up, we need to understand where we are today and build the foundation appropriately,” Klentak said. “But a lot of pieces of the foundation are already here.”

Third baseman Maikel Franco, center fielder Odubel Herrera, starter Aaron Nola and the top shortstop prospect J.P. Crawford are part of that foundation, but so is Klentak, 35, the youngest general manager in Phillies history. A former shortstop at Dartmouth, Klentak served under MacPhail as an assistant general manager for the Orioles, then spent four years in the same role for the Los Angeles Angels.

In Baltimore, he helped the Orioles recover from a string of losing seasons. In Anaheim, he helped sustain a winning Angels team. He plans to experience both extremes in Philadelphia, with an ownership group that has shown it will spend to win, when the time is right.

“When players show that progress is being made,” Klentak said, “I have no doubt whatsoever that the resources will be there for us to add the pieces that we need.”

Last season, the Phillies gave 77 starts — almost half of the schedule — to Phillippe Aumont, Chad Billingsley, Kevin Correia, Aaron Harang, Dustin McGowan, Sean O’Sullivan and Jerome Williams. They went a combined 13-39 with a 5.70 earned run average as starters, and have one thing in common now: not having a spot on any team’s 40-man roster.

To avoid a repeat, the Phillies traded for the veterans Jeremy Hellickson and Charlie Morton, who will make $15 million combined this season. (“If we wanted to lose 120 games, we wouldn’t have spent that,” MacPhail said.) If Hellickson and Morton pitch well, the Phillies could trade them to add to their prospect depth. For now, the two should give the team a better chance to compete, without the appearance of so-called tanking.

Morton pitched for the 2010 Pirates, who went 57-105, and stayed as they won the National League’s top wild-card spot in each of the last three seasons. He has lived through a disciplined reconstruction.

“There’s a different methodology, organization to organization,” Morton said. “With the Pirates, my impression was: Save money, spend it in the draft, don’t sign big-name free agents, sign the free agents you need to solidify the roster, and then develop your young guys. You have to have a core group of guys. Because when you’re constantly changing rosters, I’d imagine it’s really tough to get any kind of consistency, even in the clubhouse, not just on the field.”

The Phillies hope to coalesce around Crawford, Franco and the others, but for now the players are virtual strangers. Just 18 of the 65 Phillies invited to camp were part of the team last spring.

Six came from Texas last July, when the former general manager Ruben Amaro traded starter Cole Hamels in a deal that has been widely praised. MacPhail and Klentak swapped Ken Giles, an elite reliever with five years of club control, to Houston in December for five pitchers, including the promising right-handers Vincent Velasquez and Mark Appel, a former No. 1 overall pick.

“What was explained to me,” Appel said of his first conversation with Klentak, “is that the Phillies are an organization with a great history, so many quality teams in the past, and what we’re doing right now is building to create another quality dynasty.”

The Phillies’ history is actually darker — founded in 1883, they have finished last 33 times — but they strung together nine winning seasons through 2011, when they went 102-60. That season ended with the slugger Ryan Howard tearing his Achilles’ tendon as he grounded out to end a playoff series against St. Louis. Then Howard began a five-year, $125 contract extension, and a steep decline in production.

After this season, though, and the expected buyouts on various contracts, the Phillies will be clear of their commitments to Howard and catcher Carlos Ruiz. That would leave only Matt Harrison — an injured starter acquired from Texas to offset some of Hamels’ salary — on the payroll, freeing MacPhail and Klentak to start over.

They have added a full-time analytics director from Google; an extra amateur scout in Florida; more strength and conditioning staff members; a pitching rehabilitation coordinator; high-definition cameras to help with video analysis; and software systems to enhance player fitness and measure batted-ball data.

The Phillies were late to adapt to the statistical revolution, and to the need for a patient, methodical overhaul. Now that they are committed, they expect to win again before long. In a league increasingly geared toward young players and competitive balance, there is no excuse if they fail.