A's trade Blanton to Phillies
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - July 17, 2008 A's general manager Billy Beane swapped Blanton a week after
sending Rich Harden to the Chicago Cubs - and that's with his team
very much in contention in the AL West, six games behind the
first-place Los Angeles Angels.
"Philadelphia was aggressive," Oakland assistant GM David
Forst said. "They made it clear they needed a starting pitcher to
help out and we were able to get the deal done."
The minor leaguers involved are left-hander Josh Outman, who was
in Double-A, and second baseman Adrian Cardenas and outfielder Matt
Spencer, both players in Single-A.
The 27-year-old Blanton, a 14-game winner last season, was 5-12
with a 4.96 ERA in 20 starts for Oakland. He has underachieved in
2008 in his fifth big league season after being the opening day
starter in March against the Boston Red Sox in Tokyo.
"We've been attempting to upgrade our rotation and we feel like
we've done that," Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle
said. "We think Joe is a very strong, competitive pitcher that has
the mental makeup to pitch productively in a pennant race. He
pitches a lot of innings and takes some burden off the bullpen."
Blanton - who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds - had been
scheduled to pitch Friday night against New York at Yankee Stadium
in Oakland's first game after the All-Star break. Forst said he had
yet to discuss with manager Bob Geren who would fill Blanton's spot
in the rotation. Gio Gonzalez, a candidate to be promoted, has been
pitching well for Triple-A Sacramento.
Both Blanton and Harden had been rumored to be on the trading
block over the past year.
Last December, Beane dealt ace Dan Haren to the Arizona
Diamondbacks. And he traded aces Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder in a
three-day span in December 2004.
Beane and Forst said last offseason they are focusing their
efforts on improving the club's farm system from the bottom up, and
trading Harden and Blanton further backs that they mean it.
"We started this process last November or December and we said
that we wanted to build a foundation and put together a group of
players who were going to be here for a long time and sort of
recreate what we did here at the beginning of the decade," Forst
said. "We've made no secret that we're trying to build a longtime
winner. We're trying to build something that's going to last. We
want to be the ones who are being chased. We don't want to be doing
the chasing."
Forst added that this doesn't mean the A's are writing off 2008,
saying: "'08 still has a chance to be a good year. Beyond that is
what we've done all this for."
All three players acquired by the A's will remain in the minors
for now.
Cardenas batted .309 with six triples and 16 stolen bases in 67
games for Single-A Clearwater and ranked seventh in the Florida
State League in batting average. Spencer hit .249 with six home
runs and 41 RBIs in 84 games with Clearwater in his first full
professional season.
Outman was 5-4 with a 3.20 ERA and one save in 33 games,
including five starts, for Double-A Reading.