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Officer Joe Blanton?

Frayed Knot Dec 31 2006 04:31 PM

From Ray Ratto in the [url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/31/SPGQINARV71.DTL&hw=milledge&sn=001&sc=1000]SF Chronicle[/url] the Athletics, having already lost Frank Thomas, Jay Payton and Ken Macha, are likely to also dispatch their winningest pitcher, Joe Blanton, to New York as part of a deal that would fetch one of Billy Beane's longest-held desirables, outfielder Lastings Milledge. What seperates this from the usual columnist speculation are the words "are likely to" - although he doesn't back it up with anything other than that and it may just be columnist speculation that he, for whatever reason, expects to eventually come true. On a somewhat related topic, I heard NYDN writer (and friend of CPF) Adam Rubin on the radio the other day (Patchy Fogg's program) speculating about various A's pitchers. His view (IIRC) was that Danny Haren was the A's hurler who the Mets were most after rather than the also speculated-about Rich Harden who is scaring them on account of various injuries. Problem is that Beane is apparently asking for several bodies - presumably from among the Milledge/Pelfrey/Humber/Heilman crew. It's not clear from the above if Milledge would be the entire price involved for Blanton. Rubin also did little to disguise the fact that he thinks Milledge can be a real ass at times. Often crude, and with an ability to rub folks the wrong way both in the minors & during his time with the big club, he's a tough guy to like. Not sure how team mgmt feels about it all or whether that affects the odds of him being dealt. [url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blantjo01.shtml]Blanton[/url] (26 y/o) was a 1st round pick (24th overall) in 2002 - part of the famed "Moneyball" draft. He has 2 full seasons under his belt so would be under team control for the next 4 seasons. [url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/harenda01.shtml]Haren[/url] (also 26) was the StL product (2nd round - 2001 draft) who was one of two main prospects dealt to Oakland a few years back for Mark Mulder. Also has 2 full ML seasons to his credit plus a few partials. Could be arb-eligible now. Both would be next year.

ScarletKnight41 Dec 31 2006 04:46 PM

As between those pitchers, I like Haren the best. He's been developing nicely, and has shown improvement over the past couple of seasons. Harden is great when he's healthy, but he goes down often. Blanton's inconsistency can be maddening -- I'm not sure whether it's the kind of thing that Peterson can "fix" easily.

OlerudOwned Dec 31 2006 05:00 PM

I was really, really hoping they'd be able to pry Haren away. Looks like Beane won't budge, though.

smg58 Dec 31 2006 09:56 PM

Blanton this past year: 4.82 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, .309 batting average against, 109 K's vs. 241 hits. Zambrano could do that little, and he wouldn't cost us anybody this time. Or, to put it another way: no thanks.

Edgy DC Jan 01 2007 12:42 AM

I'm uncomfortable with speculating on who is an ass, because those things take on lives of their own sometimes, but I long suspected that Michael Tucker being carried on the roster over Milledge for the St. Louis series sort of suggested to me that there was something to the Mets considering Milledge a cultural negative. That said, I'm not sure if that means they're looking to deal him rather than redeem him.

Nymr83 Jan 01 2007 07:02 AM

if you look closer you'd see that Blanton allowed alot of HITS this past year but not a high amount of walks, hits tend to be more random and could easily be the result of bad luck... i'd be happy to get him if the price is Milledge straight up. Beane can keep the guy if he wants more.

Edgy DC Jan 01 2007 08:38 AM

Blanton rhymes with Stanton. Danny Haren anagrams to any darn hen. Harden, of course, can be a homonym for hard-on. It can be so hard to make decisions this way.

MFS62 Jan 01 2007 11:23 AM

="Edgy DC"]Blanton rhymes with Stanton. Danny Haren anagrams to any darn hen. Harden, of course, can be a homonym for hard-on. It can be so hard to make decisions this way. Wow! Its January 1st. There's a whole rest of the year to go, but it will be hard for Edgy to top that one. Funny stuff. Later

smg58 Jan 01 2007 12:21 PM

Nymr83 wrote: if you look closer you'd see that Blanton allowed alot of HITS this past year but not a high amount of walks, hits tend to be more random and could easily be the result of bad luck... i'd be happy to get him if the price is Milledge straight up. Beane can keep the guy if he wants more. But he struck out so few people that you'd have to expect a lot of hits simply because everything gets put in play. I just don't see enough upside to justify dealing Milledge for him. Haren is another story, but he's Beane's ace right now so obtaining him might not be so simple. Beane is obviously trying to get Minaya to settle for the inferior pitcher, but I think dealing Milledge for Blanton would be a mistake.

Frayed Knot Jan 01 2007 09:13 PM

Nate Silver over at Baseball Prospectus says; [url=http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/]DON'T DO IT OMAR[/url]!!!!

Edgy DC Jan 01 2007 10:43 PM

I was convinced going in, but it's sure nice to have the company on this one.

Johnny Dickshot Jan 01 2007 11:31 PM

I don't believe those Milledge projections, and the park-factor adjustment seems a bit extreme. That said it'd sure be nice to have a guy around considering injuries and the the threat of suck from Green. I do think Blanton looks pretty average, not that there'd be a whole lot wrong with predictable averageness. I'd prolly like a Blanton to take El Duque's spot and not Mystery Youngun #1.

duan Jan 02 2007 05:35 AM

"That said it'd sure be nice to have a guy around considering injuries and the the threat of suck from Green. " My biggest issue with this whole team is NOT the lack of a no 1. starter but the clear probability that our right-fielder's going to be distinctly below average. I think it'd only be prudent to anticipate SOME kinda back slide from Beltran & Reyes and while Delgado's probably a lock for another decent thumping season you'd love to have got an actual rightfielder rather then a right fielder of 4 seasons ago.

Edgy DC Jan 02 2007 07:33 AM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I'd prolly like a Blanton to take El Duque's spot and not Mystery Youngun #1. I think our those of our Mystery Younguns who don't blossom into a #1 have a damn good chance to be the Blanton to take El Duque's spot when he falters. Soler, for instance. I'll make up some numbers here. Maybe Blanton has a 75% chance of being more or less average, a 20% chance of being above average and a 5% chance of being below. Can we not pencil in Soler for 60% average, 20% above and 20% below? That's all fudge work of the highest order, but I means to say that difference between Blanton and the characters we've got isn't worth Milledge to me.

Willets Point Jan 02 2007 07:57 AM

...a man devoid of honor?

Johnny Dickshot Jan 02 2007 09:54 AM

]. I think it'd only be prudent to anticipate SOME kinda back slide from Beltran & Reyes ... Not to mention Valentin, Lo Duca and Chavez... I wouldn't be surprised to see Soler get dealt to the Orioles for Rodrigo Lopez. You know Duke likes him, plus now that the O's have overtaken Norfolk, it'd be normal for him.

Johnny Dickshot Jan 02 2007 10:10 AM

Willets Point wrote: ...a man devoid of honor? That'd be Sgt. Robert Piampiano.

Willets Point Jan 02 2007 10:36 AM

You're right.

TheOldMole Jan 02 2007 10:52 AM

Edgy's fudged numbers make a lot of sense to me.

Edgy DC Jan 02 2007 11:34 AM

Got some time to kill? Google "Robert Piampiano." This guy is still carrying on up and down the internet.

duan Jan 02 2007 01:57 PM

"Rubin also did little to disguise the fact that he thinks Milledge can be a real ass at times. Often crude, and with an ability to rub folks the wrong way both in the minors & during his time with the big club, he's a tough guy to like. Not sure how team mgmt feels about it all or whether that affects the odds of him being dealt" Y'know I'd give anyone a degree of a pass on this at age 21. I'm not saying that he's got the chance to develop into an upstanding individual; but i know a lot of guys who are pretty immature @ 21 that do grow up (a fair share who don't as well) to be a lot better, more rounded people at 24/25 then they were then. I do think there's room for Willie & Carlos Delgado to sit down with him and say "this is what you can be", "this is how we expect you to behave" , "we've seen a lot of flashy prospects, with more talent then you, blow it" and "this is the line, don't cross it". Now, maybe they already have, but the "know your place Rook" thing would indicate to me that the treatment has been more along the lines of frat boy hazings.