[vincesanity82]

ESPN is breaking news that the phillies have acquired Joe Blanton from the Oakland A's. No details yet..

[Phils20]

Damn. I just got home from work. I hope not, he sucks this year...

Hope they didn't give up much.

[Phils20]

ESPN - Phils reach agreement on Blanton - MLB

[njpsufan]

They gave up ntg. One single-A 2B who has some promise but is years away. A Florida League OF who is also years away and a AA reliever who has some minor promise to be in bullpen eventually. Blanton may not be having the best of years but he has had 3 gd years in the ML. 12-12, 16-12, and 14-10 playing for A's teams that were always competitive in the AL West. This year has been tough but maybe a change of scenery will help. Guy has been gd for 200 innings a year with an ERA 2 of the 3 years under 4.00 so that wil be a change for a Phils pitcher not named Hamels. His BB totals are up this year but he is a GROUND BALL pitcher, that is what we need in our ballpark. No reason based on past performance and his age (27) that he should not do better then what either Eaton or Myers is doing.

[Phils20]

I sure hope so. Not for the fact that we gave up much, since it appears we didn't break the bank. But we just need a break. Seems these deals never pay off for us!

[njpsufan]

What you mean?? Moyer in 2006, Lohse in 2007. Both worked well. Imagine if they had kept Lohse... not that he would pitch this well, but they never would have traded for Lidge. Instead they would have made a deal for a SP and kept Myers in the pen. Take his bad starts out of the equation and put an average SP in there and we are 10 games up... well maybe not 10 but you get the idea. Lot of people point at some of Blanton's numbers and say he is not much better then Eaton. To me, I see a groundball pitcher, which is key in our ballpark, a guy who has had 3 gd years before this year, is only 27 and eats innings. He is a good, not great, #3. So you go Hamels, Kendricks, Blanton, Moyer, Myers. By pushing Moyer back to #4 you allow him to face off agst easier opponents. Myers now gets to ease his way back in. Seen a lot of comments from people about who they gave up.... they gave up ntg but "potential" 2 single A and 1 AA. They gave up no one who was deemed a major prospect at the higher lvls. Blanton comes from a good system, has no injury history and they get him for another yr. Sabathia was a 2 1/2 month rental who would have cost us at least one high prospect. Hardin has an injury history even if he did come cheap. But with this we got a solid guy and gave up no one who had a shot of making a difference in the next 3 years... that is key.

[Phils20]

I'm thinking more like Schilling for a bag of magic beans, or other great Philly trades!

I know it's not fair to compare, but this guy hasn't been good this year.

I'm hoping a change will do him so good! His past is decent, so it's not a stretch to say he will do better here!

I won't get to see any games this weekend, I'm going away until Sunday Afternnon, but I'll be checking Sportscenter to see what is happening!

[Lefty Noob]

Don't forget Phils, the NL is thought to be a more pitcher-friendly league.
Blanton may have had his struggles, but so did CC Sabathia before he went to Milwaukee. You just never know.

[Phils20]

Hey, I sure hope he is a stud here! He's only 27, so hopfully this year has been a fluke!