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Thursday, July 17, 2008
Phillies Get Blanton

The Phillies hope Joe Blanton can help their rotation for the stretch run much like Jamie Moyer helped them in 2006 and Kyle Lohse helped them in 2007.

They just acquired the 27-year-old righthander from the Oakland Athletics in a trade for minor-league prospects Adrian Cardenas, Josh Outman and Matt Spencer. Blanton, 27, is just 5-12 with a 4.96 ERA this season, but the Phillies must think he’s an upgrade over what they have.

Brett Myers is expected to return to the rotation next Wednesday against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, which seems to signal Adam Eaton’s move to the bullpen. Eaton is 1-4 with a 9.64 ERA in his last five starts, and has been inconistent at best since he joined the Phillies before the 2007 season.

Why Blanton over other pitchers out there? There could be a few reasons. Take away his four worst starts this season and he has a 3.58 ERA, which is more than respectable in the American League. He went 16-12 in 2006 and 14-10 in 2007, so he has a winning track record. He also has thrown more than 194 innings each of the past three seasons, which makes him an "innings eater" -- something Eaton is not. But he’s also intriguing because he can’t become a free agent until after the 2010 season, so this isn't a 2 1/2 month rental.

Who'd the Phillies give up?

Cardenas was a supplemental first-round pick in 2006, and one of the organization's top prospects. He was hitting .309 with four homers and 23 RBIs for single-A Clearwater. Outman, a 10th round pick in 2005, had been moved to the bullpen in double-A Reading. He is 4-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 28 relief appearances this season. And Spencer, a third-round pick last year, is hitting .249 with six homers and 41 RBIs for single-A Clearwater.

More to come ...

Update: Here's the story that appeared in today's paper.

Here's a look ahead to the Phillies' second half (it looks a lot better in the paper, by the way).

Posted by Todd Zolecki @ 7:16 PM  Permalink | 178 comments
Comments   
Posted 07:03 PM, 07/17/2008
gallen024
YUP...
Comment removed.
Posted 07:08 PM, 07/17/2008
gallen024
Eaton is a true tool!
Posted 07:10 PM, 07/17/2008
yahmpy
so long Eaton...Blanton's not only an innings eater, apparently he's also a buffet eater. This guy makes Jon Lieber look like Shawn Bradley.
Posted 07:11 PM, 07/17/2008
RG
Wow, thats not good. They traded two of their top 10 prospects for a guy with a 5 ERA in a pitchers park who couldn't strike out Ryan Howard. Gillick just got fleeced. Even if Cardenas never would have played here, he had higher trade value even if they had to wait til the offseason. Ouch.
Posted 07:11 PM, 07/17/2008
gallen024
We would like to thank Adam Eaton for participating in this year's baseball season.
Posted 07:14 PM, 07/17/2008
jimmymack
Well, it's a B list with some potential & track record at least. Works for me. Problem is, do we really want Eaton coming in the 6th or 7th inning and giving up 5 runs? His big inning potential scares me coming out of the bullpen. Of course now that he "found" his mechanical problem on tape, I expect he'll be fireman of the year.
Comment removed.
Posted 07:15 PM, 07/17/2008
markdlv
"Take away his four worst starts this season and he has a 3.58 ERA," And if you take away his four best starts, he has a 5.81 ERA. This is why you don't pick and choose which games to count for cumulative stats.
Posted 07:18 PM, 07/17/2008
RG
Wow, his split stats are really bad, he is terrible away from oakland for his career, nearly a 5 ERA and a .292 batting avg against. this was a move for the sake of making one. Calling up Happ would have saved us prospects to use as trading chips later.
Posted 07:20 PM, 07/17/2008
Dave
yea.......go away Adam Eaton.
Posted 07:21 PM, 07/17/2008
gallen024
Everyone needs to relax on trashing him before he even makes a start. Hes much better than Eaton and has proven he is capable of winning double digit games.
Posted 07:24 PM, 07/17/2008
fatdarren
he's terrible. we blew our chance of becoming world series contenders by not getting harden or sabathia
Posted 07:24 PM, 07/17/2008
RG
gallen, i wish i could, but look at his career stats vs eatons, almost no difference, he's got a slightly worse w-l record and batting average against, and a slightly better era and whip. you'll be booing him until his contract runs out in 2010. cardenas was their top prospect according to BA, you dont give that up for a 4-5th starter, you call up a happ or carrasco to fill that spot. I am usually 100% behind the org, but this has disaster written all over it.
Posted 07:24 PM, 07/17/2008
yahmpy
the Phillies seem really high on Blanton, so we shall see. As for getting fleeced or not, who knows. I'd rather see a new face on the mound than Adam Eaton. I still can't believe Adam Eaton is making 25 million dollars. By that scale, Cole Hamels should be making 250 million dollars.
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About Andy Martino
Andy Martino is in his first season on the Phillies beat. A former New York City public school teacher and graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he previously wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered baseball and worked with the award-winning investigative sports "I-team."
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