Blanton signs three-year, $24 million extension
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Blanton signs three-year, $24 million extension
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Updated:
Phillies righthander Joe Blanton, who signed a 3-year, $24 million contract extension Thursday, spoke about his deal at a news conference: "They came at me with the prospect of going long-term. I was thrilled. I've enjoyed my time here in the past year-and-a-half. I just feel the organization has gotten better and better.
"When you hit free agency, you want to go to a winner. I'm already with a winner, so I was thrilled."
General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said about the signing: "It was important for us to continue a pretty good trend. We like to keep our players in the system. Joe has been outstanding. He has been one of the most consistent pitchers in baseball."
Blanton, 29, went 12-8 with a 4.05 ERA in 31 starts last season and made four appearances (two starts) in the postseason. He was arbitration-eligible. In 44 regular-season starts for the Phillies over the past two seasons, he is 16-8 with a 4.09 ERA and the team is 26-18 (.591) in those games. He pitched at least 6.0 innings in 29 of those 44 starts.
The Phillies have two arbitration-eligible players remaining: catcher Carlos Ruiz and centerfielder Shane Victorino.
From earlier:
Breaking news from South Philly. . .
The Phillies have agreed to a three-year, $24 million deal with veteran righthander Joe Blanton, avoiding arbitration and keeping him in the fold through 2012.
The move could usher in a unique era of rotation stability, as the top four members of the rotation -- Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ and Blanton -- are now all under club control through at least the 2012 season.
Blanton had requested $10.25 million in arbitration, while the Phillies had offered $7.5 million.
A press conference is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Sorry, I'm not going to get over the stupidity of losing Lee unless the Phils prove they can beat the Yankees or Sox in the WS without him. And you're dead wrong about Lee wanting to test free agency. He was quoted as saying he wanted to stay in Philly and thought they were in the process of working out a deal when he was blindsided with the trade.— BroadStreet- Good Move!!! Good young pitcher who gives his all. Never forget that homer!!! Never!!! Go Joe Baby!!!— Phillyexp
- Put down the coolaid engineeringagr8.— brannigan73
- chuckw: I still think your last pt has merit. Phils would have 3 or 4 lefties the entire season. I also think Happ following Hamels would affect Happ's effectiveness( similar ptchers). I'd be shocked if rotation wasn't set up as Halladay, Hamels, Blanton, Happ, Kendrick/Moyer. While not the main reason for why not Blanton instead of Lee, I do think it was a factor.i do think Amaro wanted a more balanced rotation for the long haul. Ability to sign one of them (Blanton/Lee) to an extension and also maximizing prospect return to have a chance to make a deadline move if need be due to injury or poor performance, were also factors. Not to mention 140mill budget so you couldn't have both (Blanton and Lee)— Deitz4
- Losing Cliff Lee was stupidity, it was reality. First of all we have to agree that it would have been for just one year if we did. But that would have meant completely selling out our minor league system, I remember Phil's fans ripping the team for not having a decent farm system for years. The Lee trade allowed us to get Halladay and keep our farm system stocked. I know you want to win now, we all do, but it's not worth the risk for one year and then Lee's gone.— PhillyAustralian
- 12 wins a year gets you 8 million. I bet Shane Rawley, Don Carmen and Charles Hudson are kicking themselves for being born too early.— booman55
- Great move! Halladay, Hamels and Blanton locked up to long term deals! Every team would wish for this. And remember, we are an offensive team. Now let's stop calling the Phillies cheap.— hawk18
- somebody posted these words: "having a club that contends every year is much better than one ws ring." my gawd, how you philly folk think! you are so accustomed to not winning (as in...WINNING)that you are content to contend. do you say to each other, 'hey, remember than great season when we contended!?'no-o-o, those seasons vanish from your brain box the moment the trunks are packed and bats put in storage. $24 mill/3 yrs for a guy ONCE won more than 14 games, ONCE had an era under 3.95, rather than parcel out bucks for an ace: whew.— kiwi
- those people who are defending the trade of cliff lee act like we got great value in return.. we got three players of which one, ramirez, doesnt even rank among our top 10 prospects.. seattle had two shortstops in the top 50 of mlb prospects and you mean to tell me we could not include one of those in the deal because we needed to pickup the $8-million 2011 option of our 225 BA sub-300 OBP leadoff hitting shortstop?! what about the angels? they had just lost lackey.. did we check to see if they could make a better offer than seattle? im telling you - two first round picks and a year of halladay-lee is more valuable than the chumps that seattle traded to us.— zwarte piet
- So it's okay to pay Blanton 8 plus million for 2010 but you can't pay Lee 9 Million ?!? Younow Lee would have negotiated with the Phils, he wanted to stay. I'm with Charlie on this one, damn you Amaro!— ohyoudo?
- The Great Blantbino has some more WS homers in his bat!
I like Joe a lot and I'm happy for him. He is a solid number three. For the folks who say "Cliff Lee is gone get over it!" stop fooling yourself. You know the decision to not keep Cliff for another year was a bad decision. You know we would have been the odds on favorite in 2k10 to win another WS. The object is to win as many rings as possible with this core of players. Nothing is guaranteed. No one wants to just compete each year. Stop thinking like the Eagles do.— delcodanno- Great! Now let's go get that 4th straight NL East title!— Timmy
- very solid move...the guy is a rock in the middle of the rotation...good deal at a fair price— TheLon
- Hey to all you Cliff Lee fan boys/girls, care to explain how the Phillies WON the World Series without Cliff Lee? I looked at the 2008 World Series roster and oddly enough, I didn't come across his name.— OnToTheNextOne
