Blanton Trade Was Worth It
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Tue, November 04, 2008 05:28 PM | Comments: 19
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On July 18, the Phillies traded Adrian Cardenas, Josh Outman and Matt Spencer to Oakland for Joe Blanton. At the time, not many liked the trade, including me:
“I’ve written the Phils need a pitcher who can go deep into games, dominate most teams and line up against other No. 2 starters in key games. Does Blanton (with his 6 IP, 3 ER starts) do such a thing? No. He’s Kyle Kendrick. He’s Jamie Moyer. He’s just another back piece.”
What nobody realized was Brett Myers would perform like a No. 2 pitcher during the second half, and that the collective rotation would toss a bunch of quality starts in the postseason. Blanton, meanwhile, performed at about the rate of a No. 3 starter (including playoffs):
87.2 IP / 6-0 / 39 ER / 82 H / 67 K / 37 BB / 4.00 ERA
As for what the club gave up:
Cardenas (AA): 26 G / .279 AVG / .392 OBP / .326 SLG / 0 HR / 7 RBI
Outman (AAA): 15.1 IP / 1-0 / 1.76 ERA / 15 K / 5 BB
Spencer (A+): 41 G / .331 AVG / .374 OBP / .556 SLG / 8 HR / 27 RBI
Outman finished the year in Oakland, going 1-2 with an ERA over 4.50 for the Athletics in four starts. He could begin 2009 in the A’s rotation. Cardenas has struggled a little since moving to AA, while Spencer has rejuvenated himself in A-ball over there.
Obviously prospects are high for the hard-throwing Outman, and still high for the young Cardenas. Blanton may always be a pitcher who hovers around 4.20 or so — his pitching style will probably never make him dominant — but for what he gave the Phils (a push to the championship through consistent pitching), he was worth his weight … literally.
Moreover, the Phils have him for another two years through arbitration rules. In trading away Cardenas, Outman and Spencer, the Phils received 2.5 years of Blanton and — in a way — a world championship. I’ll take that.
Posts: 0 Manny
Joe the pitcher!!
Posted: 05:59 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 Jim
Call me synical, but I still did not like the move. Yes, it worked out in the end, and for that I am extremely happy, but I mean at the time, who really thought this was a good idea. There’s no way Pat Gillick KNEW that Joe Blanton was going to pitch the way he did in the playoffs (and before that, he was only satisfactory, with ERA+ of 103).
Posted: 06:40 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
Very true. And what if Myers comes back and is as bad as he left? Or maybe just a tinge better? This trade is looked at differently. But that’s all relative. I mean, on the other side of the coin, there was no way that Gillick knew Freddy Garcia would shit the bed like he did.
Of course, a physical would’ve helped …
Posted: 06:59 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 pb
ph@ck yea!! it was worth it, we won the World Series and Blanton did his fair share to help us get it.
Posted: 07:31 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 chase mutley
hooooome ruuuunnnnn jooooeeeee blllaaaannnnnttttooonnnnn!
Posted: 07:42 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 mikemike
Blanto trade I hated and he wasn’t a world beater in his 14 starts, but he came up big in playoff game, worth the trade. Cardenas was my favorite player in there system, but he will hit and play ok defense, a future major league, outman is on the fence could be a bust . or a 4 or 5 starter in major. Boston gave up hanley ramirez to win a pennant he is a stud but if you win its worth it to me.
Posted: 07:56 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 Jim
I thought about it some more. Points for Gillick for this trade because Blanton, even though not statisically great in the regular season, was still worlds better than the guy he replaced, Adam Eaton. Do you remember he was on this team? That seems like so long ago now.
Posted: 08:34 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 bigbobster
I think the Blanton trade was good for two reasons…1) he came up big in the WS game, and 2) he’s a steady innings eater…I had him for two seasons in my fantasy team when he was on Oakland, and he was amazingly consistent….give Gillick credit for this one.
Posted: 09:04 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 I know Sal...
I just read that 3rd base coach Steve Smith was fired today…read it on Philly.com
Posted: 10:09 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 Durbinator
Unless Cardenas or Outman become Hall of Famers, the Joe Blanton trade was great. It helped us to win the World Series!
Posted: 10:20 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 Amanda
this just in..
steve smith was fired.
Posted: 10:43 PM on November 4, 2008
Posts: 0 Fran
seriously?
Posted: 12:27 AM on November 5, 2008
Posts: 0 Phillies Phan SC
I saw Blanton pitch on MLB Extra Innings and aganist the Phillies. I thought it was great trade from the start PROVIDED – he kept the ball in the park.
Posted: 01:26 AM on November 5, 2008
Posts: 0 J-Man
I wasn’t a fan of trading for Joe Blanton when we did because he led the AL i losses and has a high ERA and we passed up on CC Sabathia,A.J. Burnett,and Rich Harden,but in the end it was a good trade because he was a big part of us winning the World Series…Yea i read too Steve Smith was fired,i kinda seen this coming because he made alot of dumb moves over there,like i was at a game and he tried scoring Chase Utley from 1B on a ball hit to CF…I heard Juan Samuel could be his replacement too because his contract expired with the O’s
Posted: 03:36 AM on November 5, 2008
Posts: 0 Phillies Phan SC
I admit Joe Blanton had his share of issues in the AL. However, if we look at those with issues, Brad Lidge had his own issues – and I am his #1 fan saying that. BOTH of them did great. Blanton is a contact pitcher, if he has his slider/sinker (they call it a slider, but it has screwball qualities) he will be OK, but if he relies on his fastball, he gets in trouble. I saw him pitch some great games in Oakland, and I thought he might have just needed a change of scenery. I admit though, as much as I liked Brad Lidge, I was skeptical at first because I knew he had a pitching meltdown in Houston. We now know it was because he needed a change. In my worthless opinion, it was the best two trades Philly made for the 2008 season. While there were other good trades (Eyre), these two were the best.
Posted: 05:11 AM on November 5, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
I thought at the time we would live to regret sending Cardenas to Oakland but no matter which way Blanton goes from here, as an integral part of a championship winning team you suck it and up knowing it was worth it.
At the beginning of the year Cincy balked at sending Votto and Bailey to Oakland so this deal wasn’t that bad, I think with Golson like guys in A-ball we should have sent him not Cardenas but teams have given up much more to see their championship run turn to nothing.
Posted: 08:54 AM on November 5, 2008
Posts: 0 Matt Kwasiborski
I was not in favor of Blanton either, considering he had 12 losses already by July. But hey, he did pitch well in September and performed awesomely in the WS and hit a HR. He was well worth it. And for those of you who criticize, you are morons. Every year the mantra is that we need to do something at the trading deadline. This year, we did and look what it got us. And we have him for another two years. Cardenas is unproven and Outman, if he is a solid starter for OAK might be a trade candidate at the next deadline.
Posted: 01:39 PM on November 5, 2008
Posts: 0 Groty
It has to be the Socks
Posted: 04:51 PM on November 5, 2008
Posts: 0 jimmyk
Blanton got off to a bad start this year with the A’s but look at his numbers the previous seasons. I don’t think he will ever win 20 games but he is a solid number 3 starter. I think he is only 27 so he is young and by starting the year with the Phils he will put up good numbers with our offense
Posted: 02:17 AM on November 6, 2008