RedHopeful wrote:Blanton on the move to the LAD and supposedly someone claimed Cliff Lee.
SI just posted an article about Blanton.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Right-hander Joe Blanton has been traded to the Dodgers after Los Angeles claimed him on waivers.
Blanton will join outfielder Shane Victorino, who was sent from the Phillies to Los Angeles on Tuesday. Philadelphia also dealt outfielder Hunter Pence to San Francisco earlier this week.
The 31-year-old Blanton is 8-9 with a 4.59 ERA in 20 starts and one relief appearance. He is making $8.5 million and, like Victorino, can become a free agent after the season.
Philadelphia will receive a player to be named or cash as part of Friday's trade. To fill the roster spot, the Phillies recalled right-hander B.J. Rosenberg from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Where'd you hear that (about Lee)? This is the last thing I saw re:Cliff Lee on MLBTR...
Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee has been claimed on waivers, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). The Phillies can now pull Lee back off of waivers, assign his contract to the team that won the claim, or work a trade out with the claiming team. Lee can block trades and claims to 21 teams, which could limit the Phillies' flexibility, depending on the identity of the claiming team.
The team(s) that claimed Lee showed a willingness to take on approximately $95MM in future commitments. Lee earns $21.5MM in 2012 and $25MM per season through 2015. His contract includes a $27.5MM vesting option for 2016 with a $12.5MM buyout. If the Phillies can assign Lee to the claiming team without his permission, they will now have to decide whether they value Lee's performance more than the flexibility they'd obtain by letting him go. If multiple teams claimed Lee, National League teams have priority over American League teams.
Lee, who turns 34 this month, has a 3.73 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 125 1/3 innings so far this year. He has averaged seven innings per start and contributed 2.7 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs.
It would not be a surprise to see somebody claim Cliff Lee. Probably a lot of teams did (although only one team gets negotiating rights). It wasn't that long ago that we were speculating what they could get in a trade for him... of course somebody is willing to take on his salary. The question is, do the Phillies want to flat-out let him go for nothing? My guess is that no, no they don't. It'll be interesting to see who put the claim in, and whether or not they have any interest in trading for him.
"Dodgers Awarded Claiming Rights On Cliff Lee By Ben Nicholson-Smith [August 3, 2012 at 5:16pm CST]
5:16pm: The Dodgers were awarded Lee's claiming rights, tweets Jon Morosi of FOX Sports. This means that all NL teams with a record worse than the Dodgers' 56-50 mark (every NL team except the Reds, Nationals, Pirates, Braves, Giants and Cardinals) first passed on Lee."
Amaro says it's irrelevant who put in a claim on Lee, because he isn't going anwhere.
In other news, Derek Lowe has been DFA'd by the Cleveland Indians, a team that would rather take their chances trotting Corey Kluber out there every 5 days. I know what you're thinking, and yes... the Cubs are interested. They want are "looking into what it would take to acquire" him, to which I assume the answer is simply the willingness to forego any chance at winning baseball games. Seems like a match.
Cafe Home
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Hockey
by RedHopeful » Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:01 pm 
