Joe Blanton might be the only member of the Philadelphia Phillies who wasn’t ecstatic to hear that the team signed free agent ace Cliff Lee.
Lee’s addition now gives the team two Cy Young winners, a former World Series MVP, and Roy Oswalt. Because he now seems expendable, some reports have Blanton being shipped to the Boston Red Sox.
But Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports suggested that the franchise might be leary about dealing away Blanton. He tweeted this morning “Some with Phillies want to keep Blanton. 2 yrs left. Safety valve in event of injury or Oswalt exit after ’11. Payroll the issue.”
Blanton is 30 and came to the Phillies in the middle of the 2008 season. In those two and a half seasons, he has posted a 4.38 ERA and a 25-14 record in 118 starts.
Blanton made $3 million last season so he was relatively cheap, but is scheduled to make $8.5 million each of the next two seasons before becoming a free agent in 2013.
For more on the MLB offseason, see MLB Free Agents: The Latest on Cliff Lee, Adrian Beltre and Others