Breaking news: Out of the blue, Blanton goes on DL

The Phillies have reportedly placed tomorrow's starter Joe Blanton on the disabled list with a right medial impingement of his pitching elbow. Right-hander Vance Worley has been recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Blanton, 30, is 0-1 with a 5.92 ERA. He pitched consecutive seven-inning quality starts following a pair of duds to open the season. There had been no reports that he had been pitching through pain until now. Worley, 23, started two games for the Phillies at the end of 2010. He was 2-2 with a 2.78 ERA and 25/6 K/BB ratio in 22 2-3 innings with the IronPigs. The move means that Kyle Kendrick, who pitched Tuesday, will remain in the bullpen for the time being.

Beerleaguer: We have to wait and see the severity of this. Obviously, going from Blanton to Worley is a downgrade, but as a fifth starter surrounded with great pitchers, the Phils can get away with it in the short term. If Blanton's recovery takes longer, it could get a little hairy if Worley can't hold up. The Phillies probably like what Kendrick is giving them in the bullpen, too. I like Worley, however, and think he could develop into a decent back-end starter. Time to find out, beginning tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, no word yet on Carlos Ruiz's back injury.

Comments

[GTown_Dave]

Jim Salisbury (via Twitter): "Indications are Ruiz will not go on DL but will take it easy a few days."

Typical Phillies. Waste time essentially a man down before eventually sending someone to the DL anyway.

David Murphy (via Twitter): "Blanton's injury now means Phillies (16-8) have more '11 salary (about $39 mil) on DL than Royals have on active roster."

Yikes.

[HammRadio]

@bap -- Since 2007, Joe Blanton has started 130 games. Only 17 other major league pitchers have started as many games. Three of those guys are named Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels.

56 percent of those games were quality starts.

If you look at the numbers Blanton brings every much the value that they expected.

[MG]

Prediction:

KK back in the rotation by Memorial Day with huge amount of collective groaning in Philly as a result.

[jay]

oh boy!!!!!!-Doing some research... impingements can be anywhere from one start to 53 days (Colon in 2007) or an entire season (Carpenter, 2007).

[GTown_Dave]

HammRadio: It was nice of you to include '07, when Blanton made a career high 34 starts, all for the Oakland A's. But how does JoeBla stack up since 22 July '08, the date on which he made his first appearance for the Phillies?

[MG]

CJ - "Salisbury tweets indications are that Ruiz will not go on DL, but will take it easy"

So instead of letting him getting 100% healthy they will let him be 'day-to-day' where he won't play for at least 2-3 games and only PH for 1-2 games after that.

Phils' choice to play short-handed for at least 4-5 games because a player is 'day-to-day' is perplexing to me. Especially this early in the season with a player who isn't hitting a lick and potential adequate backups.

Even more foolish though is playing with basically one catcher especially an older catcher who is somewhat injury-prone himself (Schneider). What happens if Schneider gets hurt on Fri/Sat?

Don't understand the logic behind this potential move of leaving Ruiz on the roster as 'day-to-day' one bit.

[Scotch Man]

Call Pedro!

[Old Phan]

MG, maybe because whatever problem Chooch has isn't serious?

[muchacho peligro]

Can't one surmise that if Chooch is day-to-day, then the injury is less than what was initially thought. And if Schnieder were to get hurt, then Chooch plays. The more concerning thing to this BL'er is just the bad injury mojo seems contagious. We should have a 'death pool-' style competition to guess who's next....

Ya heard.

[jay]

Not to mention teams will steal bases at will with schneider catching......UGH!!!

[GTown_Dave]

Chooch hasn't exactly been setting the league on fire w/ his arm this season. Bases were already being stolen at will.

[SLO Phan]

Well..if I had to choose one starter to get injured, it would be Blanton, obviously. I think there were some on this blog that were questioning Blanton's ability. Now's our chance to see what his replacement can do. Maybe this can turn into a good thing?

[CJ]

MG: Yes... I would assume the worst with Ruiz. It's not possible that his injury requires a few days off instead of 15 days on the DL and therefore, not putting him on the DL is the best choice. I think we should all assume the worst, considering we're not the doctors evaluating him.

[GTown_Dave]

... bad injury mojo seems contagious. We should have a 'death pool-' style competition to guess who's next ...

I don't know who's next, but I'm absolutely certain who will be last: Raul Ibañez. And somehow he'll find his way into every damn game in the meantime.

[Old Phan]

Are we now comparing Schneider to Chooch? People really are in a bad mood, I guess.

[MG]

Dave: Blanton's numbers in a Phils' uniform

75 G, 466 IP, 25-15, 4.46 ERA, 1.38 WHIP,
6.2 IP/G, 7.0 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 2.6 K/BB, 1.3 HR/9

He's been solid since he has been here although he gives up his share of HRs (is among the league leaders every year).

[GTown_Dave]

Old Phan: I love Chooch, but his defense has been way off. Honestly, playing a healthy Schneider right now is no downgrade from playing an injured Ruiz (which is what the Phillies might have been doing).

[MG]

CJ - Assume the worst? No. Far from it. The Phils' are notorious the past few years though for letting a key player stay on the roster who is 'day-to-day' who is only availabl to PH. In a couple of those cases including last year with JRoll, the player goes on the DL in short order anyways.

[MG]

Dave - He's a 39-year old Iron Man.

[CJ]

MG: I'm curious. How notorious are they for doing that? I believe it happened with JRoll, but I can't remember any other cases.

Besides... how often does Charlie pinch-hit with his catcher?

[clout]

To follow up on the comments from the prior thread, I agree with GTownDave that sportswriters have no place moralizing to the fans.

Fans pay good money and can feel and say anything they like. During a game thread no one makes more moronic comments than GTown Dave. I believe he has every right to do that, just as awh has a right to point out how moronic GTownDave's comments are.

I also agree with Jack that neither the Phillies nor Oswalt have any obligation to reveal why he left the team and have every right to protect his privacy.

Where I part company with Jack is on this: "and sportswriters and fans should both respect that."

Actually, no, Jack. Sportwriters and fans have every right to speculate about what happened and why and try to find out the truth.

[MG]

The difference I have in arguing about Blanton is the people who try to tell me he has been a good pitcher during his career in a Phils' uniform. 4.46 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP for an NL pitcher isn't a 'good pitcher' It is more towards 'middle-of-the-road'

[GTown_Dave]

MG: I might be wrong, but I believe that's still a number of IP that comes out to below league average for the given time span, & which will only drop further now that Blanton is on the DL again. I've seen no evidence of the "innings eater" Pat Gillick promised us.

[clout]

MG: Blanton is a middle-of-rotation pitcher. I don't recall him being billed as anything more than that.

Posters here tend to be down on guys on who aren't stars and who don't project as stars, just because they aren't stars. It really makes no sense.

[MG]

CJ - Cholly doesn't nor does almost any manager in MLB. That's just a common sense move.

Going on the DL part eventually? No.
Playing short-handed for at least 4-5 days with a dinged up player? Yeah.

[MG]

Dave - 6.2 IP/GS is solid enough.

Clout - Usually the Saber crowd who pushes his xFIP which is more favorable since it negates Blanton's annual high HR/9 rate which is always among the league leaders.

[CJ]

Joe Blanton has had an ERA+ of 93 in his Phillies career with just over 6 IP per start and about 30 starts per season.

That makes him a good 5th starter... but not necessarily a good starter. I'd call him solid on the whole, but often inconsistent.

[CJ]

MG: But if the backup catcher doesn't play anyway... how are we short-handed? The only problem comes in, perhaps, extra-inning affairs or if Schneider gets hurt.

[Andy]

"Obviously, going from Blanton to Worley is a downgrade,"

Not so obvious to me. "Probably" I could live with. But Worley has shown some abilities. Blanton has shown some weaknesses. It might not be a downgrade.

[Andy]

I hope whoever's keeping track has added these two to the ARI list.

[clout]

FWIW, I agree with Andy on Worley. I liked what I saw last season. But he is a command guy and he has to be consistent. There is little margin for error with him.

[Zudok]

Check out the winning pitcher for the Giants today.

[Oremor]

Would it make sense for the Phils to put Oswalt on the bereavement list or whatever they call it (would keep him off the roster a minimum of three days and a max of seven) and call up Kratz as insurance for the weekend?

[Mike]

Since there was no death or serious illness in his family, I doubt that Oswalt would qualify for the bereavement list, but I'm no expert.

[CJ]

Oremor: There are specific qualifications for things like the bereavement list. I don't think he qualifies.

[jr]

Who is the emergency catcher?

[Mike]

Pete Orr

[basil fomeen]

Let's go Flyers.

[awh]

""Obviously, going from Blanton to Worley is a downgrade,"

Not so obvious to me. "Probably" I could live with. But Worley has shown some abilities. Blanton has shown some weaknesses. It might not be a downgrade."

As clout pointed out, Joe Blanton is a middle of the rotation pitcher: a #3 on most teams, and a #4 on a few....and a #5 on the Phillies.

If Worley has the talent to be a true back-end starter, then the downgrade is going from a #3/4, Blanton, to a #5, Worley.

So, tomorrow night a true #5 will face the Mets.

[GTown_Dave]

Worley hasn't had enough MLB experience to be slotted accurately. He may or may not be an upgrade from Blanton. That's what we're gonna find out.

[awh]

Zudock, that is truly a surprise.

[GTown_Dave]

Threshers (via Twitter): "Domonic Brown is definitely okay. Just hit a three-run shot to right-center that took one hop and cleared the stadium. 5-2 Clearwater."

[bay_area_phan]

Hamm: Note the words in my post "since he signed his contract." No question, he was a durable inning-eater before that.

[Mego]

Very encouraging about brown, hopefully won't have his power sapped by the injury as predicted.

[Chris in VT]

Worley's not such an "obvious" downgrade from Blanton. Kentucky Joe is a solid league-average SP, but WR really have no idea if Worley can be an above-average SP or not. Now we get to find out.

[bay_area_phan]

"[W]e really have no idea if Worley can be an above-average SP or not."

I suppose hope springs eternal but there isn't a whole lot about Worley's stuff, or minor league performance, which suggests even the remotest likelihood that he can step in & immediately perform like a league average starter. But perhaps he'll benefit from the first-time-around-the-league phenomenon.

[Will Schweitzer]

BAP- it's basically the same position that Kendrick and Happ were in prior to their initial callup.

[GTown_Dave]

I think I'm ready to trade the despair of knowing exactly when a guy is going to unravel for the anticipatory excitement of knowing it's coming, but not when.

[NEPP]

Bad news on Blanton as he's been very effective his last couple starts. Its also bad news on Chooch if he tries to tough it out. We're getting to that critical mass point where we have too many guys injured for the training staff to keep doing preventative work on the healthy guys. These things tend to snowball after a certain point.

[Fatalotti]

BAP, to be fair, he already stepped in twice and immediately performed like a league average starter. He twice went 5 innings last year, giving up 2 runs in one starts and 0 in the other. Overall last year, he posted 12 SOs to 4 BBs over 13 IP.

Small sample size, but he'd be a good 5th starter on most teams based on his MiLB numbers.

[bay_area_phan]

I would say that Happ's minor league body of work was substantially better than Worley's. In fairness, Worley has pitched well in the minors over the last year or so & he pitched pretty well when he got his shot last year. And, while Blanton is an average major league pitcher overall, the guy Worley's replacing is first-half Joe Blanton, who is a decidedly below average pitcher.

I do think it's sort of funny, though, how fans always reflexively believe that the unknown entity behind Door No. 1 is better than the average, but mildly disappointing, player who is currently on their roster.

[Cyclic]

Always take the mystery box.

[NEPP]

Replacing Blanton with Worley is a step down. Its not as bad as it could be but its still a drop off. Blanton is a 2 Win pitcher when its all said and done. Worley probably isnt that guy right now.

[Iceman]

I have to say, it is stunning to see MG stick up for Blanton in any capacity based on his past comments. It's like listening to a guy rip on his girlfriend for years, then when she dumps him he turns into a basket case.

Assuming this isn't going to be a real serious injury, I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing what Worley can do. It's not like it's enjoyable watching Blanton pitch. Losing him for a significant amount of time and seeing 15-20 starts Worley/Kendrick would be a different story.

[Dukes]

I can't believe what I'm hearing, all the moaning about how Joe Blanton is on here and now it's a huge blow. Let's count our blessings that it wasn't one of the big 4. Blanton vs. Worley - who cares? Both are a crap chute at this point.

[Cyclic]

Phillies will sweep the Mets.

[GTown_Dave]

Blanton vs. Worley - Who cares? Both are a crap chute at this point.

Unintentionally hilarious, & likely true.

[Old Phan]

GTown, either way it's a mute point.

[Cyclic]

I can't even hear it it's so mute.

[MG]

Iceman - The only time I really dumped on Blanton this year was when he gave up the 7-0 lead at home in his debut and was so damn lasdiascial about it in his body language & comments after the game.

- Do I like watching Blanton pitch especially when I am at the ballpark? Absolutely not.

- Would I have minded if the Phils had moved Blanton this offseason to free up move to sign a bullpen arm and a backup OF? Maybe free up a significant amount for a move later this summer at the trading deadline? Not at all.

- Do I think Worley is a clear downgrade from Blanton at this point? Yes. Blanton has gotten out to some really crummy starters here but he also has some really strong stretches too. Overall, he's a solid enough starter who you can count on to win 11-12 games, give you 6+ IP, and give you a chance to win most games.

[Heather]

"I do think it's sort of funny, though, how fans always reflexively believe that the unknown entity behind Door No. 1 is better than the average, but mildly disappointing, player who is currently on their roster."

Isn't that what the show "Let's make a Deal" was all about?

[bay_area_phan]

Heather: Hence, my "Door No. 1" metaphor. That's where it came from.

Dukes: I wouldn't call it a "huge blow" at this point, but it's certainly not the ho-hum non-event that some are painting it to be. Not to mention that it eliminates our margin for error & puts us exactly one injury away from a "huge blow."

[Heather]

I hate watching Blanton pitch. I'm not gonna rip the guy's effectiveness. I understand, based on results, he's more or less average.

But man, it's like watching a root canal when he's out on the mound. Just very tedious and boring.

I'm not sure if Vance Worley will be a better pitcher. But at least he should be more watchable.

[MG]

Dukes - Blanton is a guy who is easy to dump on at times because of some of the issues he has had in the past here (e.g., coming into camp fat and out of shape in '09 & getting out a terrible start), some of his noted struggles (e.g., constant 1st inning struggles and his propensity to run into struggle like clockwork at about ~65 pitches), and comments/actions from both the coaching staff & management at times that noted less than 100% approval of their players. Dubee has criticized Blanton publicly and that's really rare for him. Just not something him and this current coaching staff does.

Losing Blanton is clearly not the same as the Big 4 but he's a solid starter over the course of the season. With all of the other issues they have had, it is definitely one more thing they have to contend with.

[Heather]

"Heather: Hence, my "Door No. 1" metaphor. That's where it came from"

Gotcha. I thought you were postulating it was some oddity only Phillies fans participate in.

[MG]

Blanton is interesting to watch when he has his curveball/changeup going but for a guy who was supposed to have a good curveball it's been pretty rare Blanton really flashes it through an entire game.

[goody]

Good thing about being a Road Warrior is you don't have to rent an apartment for the season.

I expect a catcher to replace Martinez, otherwise Brian will have to catch fri. nite and sat. afternoon at 1:10.

[MG]

The one thing I didn't understand this offseason though was the huge divide in trading Blanton. There seemed to be one contingent of Phils' fans that were the average joes that wanted to just trade him regardless of what they got especially after Game 4 of the NLCS. At the other end there was saber-crowd guys who stressed his xFIP, ~2 WAR, etc and stated he was actually undervalued.

Both were largely miscast. Blanton at $8.5M over the next 2 years is a tough commodity to trade especially back to the AL. I didn't want the Phils to trade him largely because teams wanted them to eat a portion of his contract but I didn't understand who a pitcher with was likely to give you a ~4.50 ERA making $8.5M & coming off a so-so, injury-ridden year is exactly 'undervalued' either.

[rauls grandpa]

I equate this Blanton move with that "caulking gun" analogy JW was making.

By the way, Vance Worley..."Worley, Worley, Why did he think, this was white boy day? It ain't white boy day."

[MG]

Listening to the radio: Ruiz and Oswalt situations will be addressed tomorrow (I presume before the Mets' game).

[Cipper]

Awesome, I'm going to the game tomorrow... I'll now have been to Kendricks MLB debut, Happs 2009 debut, and now Worleys debut as a starter (he's never started right?)..

Problem is the date I'm bringing... is a Mets fan... my nightmare is coming true...

[GBrettfan]

Are you allowed to be a Phillies fan and date a Mets fan, Cipper? ;)

[GTown_Dave]

Michael LoRe (via Twitter): "Iron Pigs manager Ryne Sandberg confirmed C Dane Sardinha will join Phillies on Friday morning."

Which means Chooch will be going on the DL after all.

Cipper: Worley has 2 previous MLB starts.

[bay_area_phan]

She'd better be REALLY hot, because that's a pretty serious character flaw that you're being asked to overlook.

[bay_area_phan]

Sardinha over Kratz? That makes very little sense.

[pb]

I don't think calling Sardinha means that Chooch is going on the DL for sure... I think they will just need a backup for the next couple of days in case of an emergency. So maybe they'll just us and option on Mikey Z or Herdon or maybe even Mayberry if the still has one remaining for a week.

[AFish]

The Phillies are going to have to drop either Orr or Martinez to take a 3d catcher. I'd guess that Martinez is gone.

[The Truth Injection]

Iceman - The only time I really dumped on Blanton this year was when he gave up the 7-0 lead at home in his debut and was so damn lasdiascial about it in his body language & comments after the game.

Yeah but you've averaged dumping on him 413 times per season since he got here.

[pb]

according to the phuturephillies both mayberry and chooch have 1 option remaining, would make sense to me just to use Chooch's final option

[bay_area_phan]

Chooch has an option? Is there no statute of limitations on how many years you can wait before exercising a player's option?

[krukker]

Can you option a starting player right after missing time due to injury? Seems like even if Chooch himself wouldn't lose pay that the players association might have a problem with that. It could set a nasty precedent and other players in a similar situation potentially could lose money.

[PhilliesDude]

Some thoughts on Joe Blanton:
First of all, I'm sorry to hear of Blanton's arm injury. Never like to hear any player getting injured. It's funny that I actually told a friend after Blanton's second 7 inning start in a row when he did it against the Padres that his arm will probably falloff as for Blanton 7 innings is like a 9 or 10 inning game for another pitcher. I was only joking and had no idea of any arm problems. I have sometimes wondered if he were in the best of conditioning as he tired so often after 5 innings.

If Worley can give them 5 innings with just a couple of runs allowed, it won't be very much of a drop-off. If not, I hope Kyle Kendrick is extended enough to log some real innings in relief of Worley.

This unfortunate injury probably cements Blanton from being tradeable. The Phillies are not going to be able to free up funds if they were ever desiring of moving Joe to add a different piece to their team component.

[bay_area_phan]

"This unfortunate injury probably cements Blanton from being tradeable"

Yep. Blanton's main value has been in his durability. You plug him into your rotation knowing that he'll pitch passably & make every start, and you'll never have to worry about filling his spot in the rotation. But, after landing on the DL for the 2nd year in a row, that value is largely up in smoke.

[GTown_Dave]

I'll never understand why r00b extended a guy no one else wanted at the time, let alone for 3 years. Regardless, if Blanton wasn't tradeable before -- & I happen to believe he was not -- he almost certainly isn't after 2 straight injury interrupted seasons.

[Old Phan]

BAP, in other words, Blanton is in fact not durable.

[denny b.]

There is no way Mayberry is going down. Come on folks. He's arguably the best guy we have on the bench most nights.

With an off-day on Monday, and coming off an off-day on Thursday, why not just call up a catcher (why Sardinha???) and send down a reliever (likely Zagurski) for a few days until Chooch is ready.

They can survive with only 6 relievers for 3 days. Especially when Halladay and Lee are pitching 2 of the 3 days.

You can't go into a big league game with only 1 available catcher. Especially when that healthy catcher is 100 years old like Schneider is.

[Luis]

This came out of nowhere. Someone said Blanton is boring to watch. Ummm who cares if he as boring as watching paint dry...Ummm its about who can most likely get us the win....From what i saw of Worley i liked but I cant an who really knows if he is ready yet. Any injury to an already depleted team is of concern. Especially the way they are dropping like flies sniffing turpentine. What if another starter goes down. Then obviously we will need Blanton. Im glad some of the younger guys are getting chances. As most know the Phils organization rarely likes to give their prospects a chance. As least when compared to other teams.

[PhilliesDude]

I think sending down Zags is prob what they will do, Afterall, the Mets top 3 hitters- Wright bats right and Reyes and Beltran are switch hitters so a LOOGY isn't quite as crucial - unless you like the switch-hitters batting right much more than you do from the left side.

[Kirk]

Is Lance Parrish available to sign for some catcher insurance?

[Kirk]

Anyone remember which Phillie hit the first Wrigley Field homerun under the lights that didn't count 'cause the game was rained out? hint: initial are P.B. (no, not Pat Burrell).

[PhilliesDude]

only other PB, I'm able to think of is Paul Byrd and he was a pitcher and way after they prob put lights in Wrigley Field.

[BloodStripes]

Kirk - I'm gonna say.....Paul Busby.

[sherlockjr]

Phil Bradley. Distinctly recall watching that game.

[Edmundo]

"I'll never understand why r00b extended a guy no one else wanted at the time, let alone for 3 years. "
Are you talking about Blanton? You don't think he wouldn't have gotten a multi-year Free Agent contract somewhere else?
Amaro may have overpaid (we'll never know what the market would have been for Blanton) but surely he would have gotten some contract that was worth more than anyone of us will make in our career.

[cut_fastball]

Which one's Joe Blanton? Which one's Kyle Kendrick?

W/L%: .590 | .541
ERA: 4.63 | 4.33
ERA+: 93 | 98
WHIP: 1.418 | 1.348

Why did the pay Kendrick $2.45mm to hang around the bullpen? I just don't get it.

[cut_fastball]

"the" = "they"

[Meyer]

KK's LG% .591

[Iceman]

Derek Lowe arrested for DUI.

[Edmundo]

"Why did they pay Kendrick $2.45mm to hang around the bullpen? I just don't get it."
Combination of insurance and dice rolling. They are trying to win this year; Kendrick gives them a backup of 5th starter "quality" and the chance (granted that it's a moderately low chance) to turn into good Chad Durbin.
A $2.45/1 year contract is, in Lenny Dystra's lingo, ashtray money.

[Bowlcut]

Medial impingement sounds like a pc way to say Kentucky has love handles.