I’m sure most of you have seen this already, but anyone holding out hope for Mo pulling a Joe Blanton out of his hat will be sorely disappointed.
In a much-rumored, long-developing deal – Blanton was sent to the Philadelphia Phillies today for three minor leaguers.
The players involved are 2B Adrian Cardenas, P Josh Outman, and OF Matthew Spencer.
From ESPN.com:
Cardenas batted .309 with six triples and 16 stolen bases in 67 games for Single-A Clearwater and ranked seventh in the Florida State League in batting average. Spencer hit .249 with six home runs and 41 RBIs in 84 games with Clearwater in his first full professional season.
Outman was 5-4 with a 3.20 ERA and one save in 33 games, including five starts, for Double-A Reading.
Once again (at least at first glance), it seems an offer the Cardinals surely could’ve beaten or at least compared with.
To me this means one of two things.
John Mozeliak is not pursuing a starting pitcher at all, and is prepared to ride out the year with the current rotation plus any currently rehabbing arms he can get back prior to season’s end.
Or…
He’s in on a bigger fish than Blanton. AJ Burnett’s name continues to be floated around, and with him expected to opt out of his current deal he represents a couple things on the trade market. The Blue Jays are in theory more likely to move him, and he is a low-risk investment for a team taking him on.
That being said, Blanton is under team control until 2010. For a pitcher with decent stuff who has won 12, 16, and 14 games in the last three seasons while piling up an average of 215 innings pitched per season, he’s surely a valuable commodity, especially at his salary. He has struggled this year, but seemed to be another perfect pet project for Dave Duncan.
Alas, the next two weeks will tell the story – let’s hope it’s a good one (or at least not an organizationally debilitating one).
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Blanton’s an upgrade… but not for the prospects that the Phils gave up. Sometimes I think that the Phils are incapable of making trades involving prospects. I just think back to the Abreu for Matt Smith (AA Trenton for Yankees) two years ago. Senseless.
Now that Blanton’s here, I think the Adam Eaton’s out and Brett Myers is in. The proof’s in the pudding on this one, I think.
There are a lot of teams that would gladly overpay for Blanton’s durability in the midst of a pennant race.
If he can reach back and find some of his old stuff, he could be a big key for the Phils pennant push.
Could be worse, at least they’re doing SOMETHING. 🙂
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