The Phillies have had discussions with John Maine's representation, agent Rex Gary confirmed to Andrew Marchand and Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. The right-hander made just 24 starts in 2009 and 2010 and was non-tendered by the Mets this winter.
Philadelphia already has five starters with Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton. Ideally though, the Phillies would like to move Blanton and the $17MM he is owed over the next two seasons.
Maine, who turns 30 in May, would likely have to accept a minor league deal. The right-hander underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in July and his agent says that he has recovered very well.
Arent we trying to trade Joe Blanton becuz we have enough rotation arms? Take the money and put it towards something we need- bullpen help like Chad durbin
I would imagine it’s as a bullpen arm. Maine is decent but never holds up over a starter’s workload.
Bullpen help and Chad Durbin don’t belong in the same sentence.
Bullpen help and Chad Durbin don’t belong in the same sentence.
This is really, really funny to me. There must be someone, somewhere in the organization that they are trying to keep happy.
Clearly this is BS on the part of Maine’s team
What are the Phils going to do with Worley? After playing so well in limited starts/relief last season, figured he would at least be a bullpen arm…but they’re still looking.
well he still can be a bullpen arm. is never a bad thing to have someone with big league experience stashed in the minors. maine could signed to a minor league deal and than blanton traded. this would be a quality move on the phils part
why not blanton for brett myers?
cause they would be receiving the same player in return
Ed Wade might just be dumb enough to do that.
Too bad Joe Blanton sucks.
Yet he’d be a number 1 in a Mets line-up. If Joe sucks why does he own them?
lol wut? That’s why Niese, Dickey, Johan, Pelfrey all had 100% better years than him? and gave up 5 runs in 5.1 innings in April? Do you think before you type?
I like internet arguing with people that use statements like “100% better”. I’ll get an even bigger kick when Blanton gets traded to the Mets and he’ll be slotted in the 2 spot. Its okay, I’ll still like Blanton even if he gets stuck in Citi Caverns.
Citi would probably be the best thing for him…or Safeco, or Petco, etc. Dude’s HR/9 is outrageous.
-C
Blanton career vs. Mets: 3-1 with a 2.64 ERA in seven starts.
Guy’s got playoff experience, though. Might help your rotation, that, you know, doesn’t know what the playoffs are like.
I would love for the White Sox to sign Maine, and give him a chance to fight for the rotation spot Peavy will not fill, and keep Sale in the bullpen for another year.
This has nothing to do with Joe Blanton. The Phillies starting rotation depth is very thin at the AAA level. As the article says, he’d have to accept a minor league deal, and despite having Worley and Kendrick as suitable replacements, they still need the depth.
I remember when he threw 12 straight balls and another time threw two pitches to start the game and then was done. Good luck with him…lulz
Guy could barely break 80 mph with his fastball.
Please god no “BIG GAME” Maine. Dude is a waste. Minor league deal maybe a spot start late in Sept to rest some starters at the very most. Other then that, let someone like KC sign him.
Seems like another solid move by the Phillies. Maybe he could be another Rodrigo Lopez and win us a few games if one of the four aces goes down.
^Agreed. Funny how good Lopez was during that time and then went to the D-Backs and… I haven’t heard much from him since…
Anyway, the Phillies seem to luck out on these types of players. Except Kris Benson of course, but there have been players like Valdez who stepped up. Too bad the Mets gave him up.
Kris Benson, was that in 2008? I know we signed him but things just never really worked out. Just glad we acquired him through free agency, and not, you know, trading Ryan Howard for him…. ah, Ed Wade.
I see no hurry to unload Blanton. A month or 2 into the season some big name pitcher gets hurt (maybe even one of ours), and his contract becomes much more palatable. His pricetag only goes up if he starts the season well, and if he’s going up against other teams’ 4th and 5th starters, I like his odds. From what I’ve read, the Mets are interested but Rub doesn’t want to trade within the division… could be the Philly press bias through.
Yeah, this is all about clearing out Blanton’s contract and bringing in a cheap arm to compete with Kendrick (and perhaps Worley) for that 5th spot. Read between the lines when Dubee and Manuel talk about Kendrick and it’s pretty clear they have zero confidence in the guy.
sounds like you’re a sore Mets fan
You might want to look at Blanton’s post All-Star break numbers and then get back to me.
Trivia time: Q. How many Rangers starters who aren’t trying to come back from career-threatening shoulder surgery have a better career winning percentage than Joe Blanton? A. One (Tommy Hunter). Q. How many have a better career ERA than Joe Blanton? A. One (C.J. Wilson). Q. How far off was your guess on Blanton’s ERA? A. 1.58 runs. (You could add Blanton’s actual ERA to Cliff Lee’s 2009 post-season ERA and still not come up with as big a number as you guessed.) You might have less “common knowledge” than you think.
I don’t think they’re going to get a trade where the whole salary is accepted, but someone will trade for the guy. He’s far from great, but dependable league-average starters (and that’s probably the biggest asset Blanton brings) do have SOME value.
Backloading the deal was seen by a lot of Phils’ fans as a bad idea at the time, and now we’re seeing why that was true.
Your deductive reasoning skills rock! I would have went for Texas Rangers fan based on his username, but I would be wrong.
Is everything that dislikes the Phillies a sore Mets fan to you guys?
You do realize that all this “potential awesome pitcher” crap is why the Mets had held on to Maine for two years and then let him go? He’s been a reclamation project for the last few years, him going to Philly won’t do much.
Rangers fan and common knowledge in the same sentence induce laughter in all who are rational.
This, my friends, is why Philly fans are the worst fans in baseball. They make Yankee fans look intelligent.
This, my friends, is why Philly fans are the worst fans in baseball. They make Yankee fans look intelligent.
3.48/1.338 and a .277 BAA. 6.41 in the first half too. Woof.
And Derek Lowe’s amazing September makes him totally worth his contract…
/sarcasm
-C
Where the worst because we can stat facts? Interesting. Enjoy the basement Los Mets where you can troll the Phillies message boards all year round!
I wonder what it says about Phillies fans if we insist on using actual numbers to make our case … Joe Blanton is 42nd among active starters in career ERA and 35th in career winning percentage. He’s been a solid big league pitcher over seven seasons in both leagues. Trying to reduce him to his pre- or post-break numbers from last year is, well, retarded. Aaron Cook, Jake Westbrook, Ervin Santana … that’s who Joe Blanton is, and that’s a reasonably valuable commodity in the MLB.
Yeah we’re bad fans. Our rotation is freakin nipples though. Later
I mean, you spell to wrong “We’re” to start off. Everyone knows, Philly is home to the worst fans period. If by facts you mean, “Joe Blanton would be number two on the Mets” even though their three starters out pitched Blanton. Here’s a strong fact: Before the Utley/Hamels days, you “fans” were non-existent.
I put more weight into the all too familiar Met fan anti-Phillies whining than a username.
SP Roy Halladay
SP Cliff Lee
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Cole Hamels
SP Joe Blanton
This way better than with Maine in it. RAJ said they don’t have to clear payroll, only for deadline flexibility
Very nice touch … using an ungrammatical sentence to point out someone else’s ungrammatical sentence. If you’re going to nitpick, you should at lease take the time to proof read.
Might also be worth noting that I sat with about 20,000 other Phillies fans at Citi Field for a Mets/Phillies game last year. It’s not hard to get a ticket in Queens because the Mets fans are pretty scarce themselves these days.
Sadly, equal or better than Pelfrey (3.76/1.30 .263) and Niese’s (4.82/1.57 .296) 2nd halves.
Solid 4/5 guy when healthy, just like the two guys listed above.
Let’s See: Blanton (before this year where he missed the first month) averaged atleast 30 starts and 190 innings in each of his full major league seasons. He’s a durable innings eatting starter that would be a solid #3-4 on any rotation besides in the NL West or Boston.
He also had a sub 3 ERA after the all star break.
Hah! You’ll be surprised how many people hate the Phillies, not just Mets fans. Present company included..