The market for Blanton

Monday, February 11, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

Dan Haren probably had the most trade value of any pitcher as the offseason began, and he went first, to Arizona. The Johan Santana domino fell, and then the long-discussed Erik Bedard deal went down.

And now Oakland's Joe Blanton is the best pitcher available, an innings-eating plow horse who, at 27 years old, has demonstrated that he can throw in the middle of any rotation. Blanton has made 98 starts and thrown 625.2 innings the past three seasons, compiling a 3.95 ERA in 2007. With the Athletics in long-term rebuilding mode, it makes sense for them to deal him now while he starts to make his climb up the arbitration-fueled part of the salary ladder.  
 

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider
  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

Links

Subscribe

RSS RSS Feed

Recent Updates

Archive

More