Skip to content
Phillies
Link copied to clipboard

JOE B. COOL

Blanton starts spring as usual, ignoring trade talk

Joe Blanton will remain something of a question mark until he gets back in the regular rotation. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Joe Blanton will remain something of a question mark until he gets back in the regular rotation. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Most players will tell you that they don't listen to the trade rumors, but Joe Blanton sounds like he actually might be telling the truth.

"I wouldn't know what to do if they didn't come along," the veteran righthander said yesterday morning as he prepared for the first official workout of the spring.

Blanton, after all, spent his early years with the Athletics, an organization that essentially serves as a starting-pitching assembly line for the rest of the sport. From Mark Mulder to Tim Hudson to Rich Harden to, this offseason, Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill, Oakland makes and the world takes. Last year, the signing of Cliff Lee precipitated a wave of reports that the Phillies were looking to unload Blanton and his $8.5 million salary. This year, two recent stories on ESPN.com said general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is again looking for takers.

All of this added another dimension to yesterday's announcement that the Phillies had signed Kyle Kendrick to a 2-year, $7.5 million contract extension, which essentially tacks on an extra guaranteed year at about $3.9 million to the 1-year, $3.585 million deal he signed in January to avoid arbitration. If the Phillies are comfortable with Kendrick entering 2013 as the fifth starter in their rotation - which would seem to be the case, given their decision to guarantee him nearly $4 million for next season - then logic suggests they would be comfortable doing likewise in 2012.

"Right now, if you line things up, he's probably looking [at a role as] a long man," Amaro said, "but it's not out of the realm of possibilities that he is one of our starters this year."

Still, it is difficult to envision a spot opening up for Kendrick via trade. Blanton is coming off a season in which he started just six games before an elbow injury caused him to miss the next 4 months, making it difficult to envision a team agreeing to take on a sizable portion of his $8.5 million salary. Although Blanton returned in mid-September to log eight innings in six appearances, one of which came in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, then traveled to Florida for two starts in the instructional league, even the Phillies acknowledge that he will remain something of a question mark until he gets back on the mound in regular rotation.

"Arm-wise, he's fine; he's been doing great," pitching coach Rich Dubee said. "The big test is going to be taking the ball every 5 days. Joe has been a very good, established major league starting pitcher. I see him as our fifth starter, but his health is going to determine how far we can take him."

Blanton, who will make $8.5 million this season in the final year of a 3-year contract he signed after 2009, says he feels like the elbow is no longer an issue.

"You are talking about pitching in the playoffs, so that's the ultimate intensity on your arm," said Blanton, 31, who visited renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews last season but never underwent surgery. "Mentally, I'm optimistic. Physically, I feel like I'm over it."

To attract any sort of market, Blanton will have to prove it on the field. And it's doubtful that spring training provides enough time. So even though the Phillies might feel that they can get by with Vance Worley and Kendrick or Worley and non-roster-invitee Joel Pineiro behind Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, expect Blanton to get the first crack. At the same time, if a market suddenly develops for Blanton's services and the Phillies find a suitor willing to take on half of his salary, expect them to seriously consider a deal.

With a payroll right around $167.84 million for 20 players and at least $2.5 million more in salary on the way for the final five roster spots, the Phillies are either just over or just under the $178 million luxury-tax threshold, depending on the exact number that Major League Baseball will charge each team for player benefits this season.

The luxury tax, which would charge a first-time offender like the Phillies 17.5 percent of every dollar they spend over the threshold, is hardly a boogie monster that would handcuff a big-market team.

That being said, it certainly would behoove them to stay under the cap this year, particularly when you consider that they already have roughly $112.5 million against the threshold committed to just eight players next season. Among the costly positions they will have to fill are centerfield (Shane Victorino will be a free agent), No. 3 starter (Cole Hamels), third base (Placido Polanco) and catcher (Carlos Ruiz), not to mention another year of arbitration for Hunter Pence, who will get a raise from his current $10.4 million salary. Second-time luxury threshold offenders are charged a rate of 30 percent for each dollar they spend over the cap.

"It's a business," Blanton said. "Nobody takes it personally . . . I'm going to get ready the same way regardless of if I'm in Philly or somewhere else."

At this point, the odds seem to heavily favor Philly.