Comments | baseball: Blanton to the Phils

holzerhedrpca in baseball

Blanton to the Phils

Jul 17, 2008 23:26

I can't believe no one mentioned this. Joe Blanton to the Phils for three prospects not named Carrasco. We didn't have to give up Victorino either. Awesome trade for us, I think.

How do As fans feel about this, seeing that Oakland is still in the hunt and they traded BOTH their #1 and #2 starters?

phillies, a's, trades

Comments 93

ceetar July 18 2008, 03:32:50 UTC

It's panic time when you have to feel good about getting a guy that's 5-12 in a pitcher's park. Or maybe the panic's that steamrolling Apple barrelling past?

fsfwannabe July 18 2008, 03:55:38 UTC

He's a groundball pitcher, so moving to Citizen's shouldn't harm him that much. That being said, he's allowing too many runners in a park where that can be very damaging.

Compared to other options, I really don't think that the Phillies are doing that bad here. Will it help them? Probably not. He's better than Myers has been the last while, but that's not a high threshold to meet.

numb_kisses July 18 2008, 04:05:49 UTC

Obviously this means Adam Eaton is done. How is that not good for the Phillies?

mightymightyq July 18 2008, 05:33:57 UTC

Joe Blanton - 77 ERA+ and you have to give up 3 prospects
Adam Eaton - 77 ERA+ and you don't have to give up anything

Thread 52

(The comment has been removed)

arrowintwolakes July 18 2008, 04:50:22 UTC

:shrug: It seems to work. The A's are one of the winningest franchises as far as record is concerned over the past decade.

0bsessions July 18 2008, 14:29:58 UTC

On the other side of that, that's only because they've been merely consistently "good."

They have a lot of regular season wins because they tend to do about the same every year in what's been probably the weakest division in the AL for a few years, but they've only won one playoff series since adopting the Moneyball philosophy.

It's been a great strategy for essentially treading water, but a .500 record doesn't really account for much if you can't win a thing with it. They're essentially the Royals or the pre-2008 Rays with more regular season wins. Nobody associates players with them ever. The closest thing they have to a franchise player is a career .270 hitter and that's not something you can build a team around. Any player you see coming up through the A's organization isn't regarded as an A's player, they're typically regarded as a future star elsewhere. The A's, as they're presently run, are one step up from an elite AAA team, pretty much everyone is being groomed as trade bait with no apparent plan to use it for anything.

fsfwannabe July 18 2008, 06:03:28 UTC

But to the A's credit they've come out ahead on most of these "pillagings." Outside of Damon, there isn't a recent loss for the A's where I really think that the A's came out completely at a loss.

And keep an eye on Gio Gonzalez, who will step into Blanton's slot in the rotation and was a product of the Nick Swisher trade. The A's seem to have a knack of getting quality when they trade their better players.

Thread 8

phut July 18 2008, 04:04:14 UTC

I'm accustomed to this, not having our good players stay very long with us....

I trust Beane

ichbineinbrlinr July 18 2008, 04:54:59 UTC

Exactly how I feel. Somehow we manage to pull something out of nowhere, and to be honest, I was never really that high on Blanton.

numb_kisses July 18 2008, 04:11:14 UTC

Even if Blanton isn't amazing, he is better then Eaton. We have stayed in front/in contention in spite of Myers and Eaton, and I fail to see how this guy isn't an improvement from AT LEAST one of them.

mightymightyq July 18 2008, 05:31:26 UTC

According to ERA+ their production was identical this year (ERA+ of 77). But the Phils just gave up 3 prospects in order to get a starter of the same quality.

numb_kisses July 18 2008, 05:44:53 UTC

So ERA+ is the only stat I should look at when valuing Blanton over Eaton?

mightymightyq July 18 2008, 06:12:41 UTC

If you have another stat that factors in the ballparks I'd be happy to see it.

Thread 19

outkastforever July 18 2008, 04:41:31 UTC

Uh, we had a losing record when Blanton pitched this first half. And a good chunk of those could be blamed on microscopic run support figures, but I would feel better about trying out Gio Gonzalez from our AAA team as some are predicting... Yeah, I still feel good. I dont think we'll catch the Angels this year, but ya never know, we have a small chance. So, its still an enjoyable season, we'll finish a winning team, and be pretty darn confident that we'll be even better next year. Bottom line, the A's are a good team AND a young team, and our minor league teams are stacked. I like it.