MLB: Joe Blanton to the Phils and Other Random Tidbits

In an effort to sure up the backend of its rotation the Philadelphia Phillies shipped off 3 little known prospects in exchange for Joe Blanton yesterday.  The Phillies felt they needed to do something with the Mets having caught them in the standings on the strength of winning their last ten games and guys like Adam Eaton and Brett Myers having horrendous seasons.  Is Joe Blanton really the answer though? 

Even though Blanton has floundered this year in Oakland he has been a reliable arm at the back end of Oakland’s rotation.  He had won 42 contests and posted a 4.09 ERA in the 3 previous seasons leading up to this one.  However, the caveat here is that he has always pitched markedly better in the pitcher friendly confines in Oakland and has been pretty bad when pitching on the road.  Over the past 3 seasons he has averaged 6.7 innings per start while posting a 3.48 ERA while averaging just under 6 innings on the road and posting a 4.70 ERA.  He is going from a pitcher friendly park in McAfee Coliseum to an overwhelmingly hitter’s friendly park in Philadelphia.  This move just seems like the Phillies feel the need to do something and they are just grasping at straws here.  The only thing Blanton may give the Phils is an extra inning a game that Adam Eaton was not.

Don’t look now but Kyle Lohse is inching closer and closer to being a legit Cy Young candidate.  After last night’s 7-inning outing Lohse is now 12-2 with a 3.35 ERA.  Lohse may not have the sexy strikeout numbers or the dominating ERA but he has won his 9 decisions last not lost since May 13 and the Cards have won 11 of his last 12 starts.  With Chris Carpenter currently on the shelf and Adam Wainwright right next to him for the past few weeks Lohse has stepped up and filled the role of staff ace quite ably and is a big reason the Cards are still in the postseason hunt.

In addition to Lohse’s hot streak Rick Ankiel and Troy Glaus seem to have both re-discovered their swings at the right time.  Glaus is hitting .360 and Ankiel .354 for the month of July and each has launched 6 home runs in their 13 appearances during the month of July.  In concert with that Ryan Ludwick seems to have re-found his groove since Albert Pujols returned from his 2-week stint on the disabled list.

Everyone is quick to hail the Brewers and the Cubs as the teams to beat right now with their respective acquisitions of C. C. Sabathia and Rich Harden but keep in mind that Adam Wainwright is beginning to throw again and Cris Carpenter will be making his first rehab start on Sunday and pitching coach Dave Duncan expects him back sooner rather than later.  The Cardinals starting rotation is poised to get significantly better without having to give up any of the current talent to do so.  Not only are they getting better but they are getting two guys back in Carpenter and Wainwright who shown they can win in big game situations.  Carpenter owns a 5-1 career record in the postseason while Wainwright assumed the closer duties during the Cardinals magical run to the 2006 World Series after Jason Isringhausen went down.  A lot of teams would be remiss to completely write the Cards off at this stage with some key bats warming up and two big time arms about to re-join the rotation.

Here is an interesting tidbit that caught my eye this morning: Francisco Liriano’s agent is requesting the player’s union to investigate why it is the Twins are keeping his client in AAA for the time being.  His agent suspects that the Twins are doing it to keep Liriano from reaching the required amount of Major League service time to be eligible for arbitration.  You see by keeping him down on the farm the Twins may be able to squeeze another year out of Liriano before having to pony up a significant raise to keep him.  They may have a case here given the Twins history of letting some of its better talent go as opposed to paying them the money that the market demands.

But, working in the Twins favor is the fact that aside from Livan Hernandez the other four guys in the Twins rotation have pitched well this year.  The Twins make an argument for keeping Hernandez due to him being the only real veteran and they like having him around to help mentor some of the younger starters.  They also reason that given his past history of postseason success they may need him around if they manage to make it into the postseason which is not entirely out of the question given they are only a game-and-a-half out of first.

I can not help but wonder if the Twins are ultimately looking to next season as being their year.  They may be looking to a healthy Liriano to anchor a staff consisting of Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Glen Perkins, and Kevin Slowey.  That would be a rather formidable young pitching staff that could make the Twins awfully tough to beat for the next two or three years until they begin losing some of them to free agency that is.