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.
Nice. Now lock up Ruiz and Victorino.— Stuie- Good for him...That's not a bad starting four. The number 5 starter will be the question (but isn't that the problem with pretty much every one else's 5). He deserves it!— sima_down_nah
- Very good signing.
- good signing. an innings eater and still in his prime. - better #3 than most teams have.— JesseH
- Ugh, good signing, but just imagine that the article were saying that the Phillies just signed their 5th starter, ushering an era of stability featuring a rotation of Holliday, Lee, Hamels, Happ, Blanton....a man can dream right?— birdsfaninnc
- Ill bet this year his salary won't be that much since they are trending to be over the $140 million budget. My guess is something in the 7-8-9 per year range.— BammBamm
- Big Joe can buy a lot of cheesesteaks! Hope this works out better than the last 3 year $24 million dollar deal we gave out.......— Mark1npt
- That's great. All we need now is Cliff Lee and we'd have a fantastic five.— cbiancosi
My only question is, "What took so Long"! Well Done!- Ummm, why would they go for extra years and similar dollars for Blanton and not Lee? Sorry, Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Happ tops the current rotation even if it were only together for one year.— RG
- GET OVER CLIFF LEE! Cliff Lee was not going to sign an extension for $8 million per year. Get a freaking clue! We got Halladay at a "discounted" extension price of $20 million per season. Lee wanted market value and wasn't willing to discount. He wants CC money - $25 million per year. Cliff Lee wasn't going to sign a 3-4 year extension for $8 million per season, which by the way is even less than he was already making ($9 million) without being a free-agent. Lee is gone, get over it and move on.— JimG
- Jim, the object is to give your team the best chance to win it all. Blanton wasnt even in the original postseason rotation. Once again, Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Happ gave them their best chance to win, even if only for a year. Lee would leave, the Phils would get draft picks as comp, and could sign another starter comparable to Blanton.— RG
Thanks for the update Fonzie :)- Well said, JimG.— JMRE5150
- Will the posters who comment about Cliff Lee shut up already! He is gone! The Phils/RAJ KNOW for certain that Lee was going into free agency NO MATTER WHAT! So we have Cliff here for one year and then he leaves because the Yanks, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, or Angels would pay him more than what we could afford to keep him. He told the Philly media that he was going to test FA. The Phils were smart to move him for proven prospects instead of two first round draft picks. Which could turn out to be busts. Yea sure MAYBE having another WS ring this year would be great, but after that Lee would be gone, and we would be left in two years with a club that would remind of the late 90's Phils. Um NO THANKS! Having a club that contends every year is much better than one WS ring. Look the Phils aren't the Eagles, a team with no Super Bowl wins. They are better off contending every year and the fans are better off rooting for a team that contends every year. Everyone forget about Lee, he gave us a great year last year and now it is Doc Holliday time!— engineeringagr8tdrive
