Joe Blanton: How does this happen?

[Docwaukee]

So it was pretty much a consensus from the word go that the Blanton signing was ill-advised.  Yet I don't think anyone would have expected the catastrophic disaster he has been. 

 

Granted, he's never really had good stuff and was generally mediocre at best, but how does he absolutely explode like this?

 

His velocity and movement haven't changed much.  His mix of pitches seems pretty similar.  He actually was pitching in more of a hitter's park in philly prior to coming here and wasn't nearly as bad.  He had a short stint with the Dogs where he looked pretty bad though. 

 

Are all of his struggles attributable to league change? 

 

Any thoughts?

[nate]

So it was pretty much a consensus from the word go that the Blanton signing was ill-advised.  Yet I don't think anyone would have expected the catastrophic disaster he has been. 

 

Granted, he's never really had good stuff and was generally mediocre at best, but how does he absolutely explode like this?

 

His velocity and movement haven't changed much.  His mix of pitches seems pretty similar.  He actually was pitching in more of a hitter's park in philly prior to coming here and wasn't nearly as bad.  He had a short stint with the Dogs where he looked pretty bad though. 

 

Are all of his struggles attributable to league change? 

 

Any thoughts?

 

He was absolutely awful with the Dodgers.  He doesn't have any deception, below average off speed, and he doesn't throw hard enough to miss bats.  The only thing he has done is stay healthy and throw a lot of innings.  I couldn't believe it when he was signed, this was entirely predictable.  If you are a high 4/low 5 ERA pitcher in the NL, you will be a mid 5 ERA pitcher in the AL.

[Bruce Nye]

I watched his first innings today and was consistently missing Conger's target.  Awful outing.

[HaloNation]

blanton made $57000 per INNING last year. 

$267000 per game

 

 

 

sum ting wong

[Homebrewer]

He hit the lottery right before he completely imploded.

We should all be so lucky.

[Docwaukee]

He was absolutely awful with the Dodgers.  He doesn't have any deception, below average off speed, and he doesn't throw hard enough to miss bats.  The only thing he has done is stay healthy and throw a lot of innings.  I couldn't believe it when he was signed, this was entirely predictable.  If you are a high 4/low 5 ERA pitcher in the NL, you will be a mid 5 ERA pitcher in the AL.

While I am not defending him or the signing, he had never had an era of 5 or above over a full season.  Recently he was mid to high 4's mostly in a hitters park.  Also, there is about a .2 era difference between the AL and NL and he went to a pitchers park.  There is no way you predicted he'd have an era of 6.  If you had told me low 5's then I would buy it.  But overall, it's way to big of a jump to be reconciled by a league switch. 

[markb]

I feel like Blanton has always been a guy who just scraped by.  Even in 2007, one of his two best seasons, he led the league in hits surrendered.  The difference in his early years is that he didn't give up a lot of HRs, which no doubt playing in Oakland contributed to.  He's also maintained a pretty low walk rate to help offset all those hits.  

 

Now as an aging guy whose stuff has slipped, an already hittable pitcher has turned into batting practice.  I really think he's hopeless at this point and it's time to just cut ties and end the drama.  I can't imagine there's a team out there even remotely interested in his services.  

[gotbeer]

When you look at his WHIP, he would show occassional flashes of average.  But in the most part, would be over a 1.4 which isn't good at all.  But a 1.6 last season?  I was hoping that maybe this spring he figured it out with a 1.2ish WHIP prior to todays game, but got lit up.  

 

The problem is no one else besides Santiago has risen up to the challenge.  So you are seeing more and more chances for Blanton.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

"Occasional flashes of average". The best we can hope for if Blanton sticks.

[nate]

While I am not defending him or the signing, he had never had an era of 5 or above over a full season.  Recently he was mid to high 4's mostly in a hitters park.  Also, there is about a .2 era difference between the AL and NL and he went to a pitchers park.  There is no way you predicted he'd have an era of 6.  If you had told me low 5's then I would buy it.  But overall, it's way to big of a jump to be reconciled by a league switch. 

 

4.99 ERA with the Dodgers before he came here.  I count that as a 5 ERA.  It was also a pitchers park.  I know it isn't a full season but 4.6 with the Phils is bad too.

[Erstad Grit]

He was horrible in the NL. Those guys usually don't move to the AL too well. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Now as an aging guy whose stuff has slipped, an already hittable pitcher has turned into batting practice.

 

About as succinctly put as it could be. Blanton has pitched his whole career barely hanging on, and age has caught up with him.

[Docwaukee]

4.99 ERA with the Dodgers before he came here.  I count that as a 5 ERA.  It was also a pitchers park.  I know it isn't a full season but 4.6 with the Phils is bad too.

but it's not low 5's and it was 57ip.  Agree that 4.6era isn't very good either, but that is a number I could live with from a #5.  He was 30% worse than that with the halos.  Even if the slide started with the Dogs, it's still a full run different. 

[Season Over]

Good god I forgot about that press conference with Blanton, Hanson, Madson, and Burnett.

[gurn67]

I was thinking about this the other day. If you're a die hard fan, when the Angels make a trade or free agent signing, it basically has four outcomes:

:

1. You liked the move and it worked out great. Vlad

2. You liked the move and turned out bad. Moo Vaughn

3. You hated the move and were right. Too many to count

4. You hated the move and were eventually proven wrong. ???

 

How do the Angels' various front offices make so many decisions that even the average fan knew were dumb? Go back over the last 10 years (37 years in my case) or so and it seems like every move has fit into categories 1-3. On the other hand, try to think of ANY moves that fit into category 4. I literally went through roster after roster starting with 2013 and going back a couple of decades and couldn't find a trade or signing that I thought was a bad idea that ended up being a good idea. Not one. Hopefully, Hamilton will be the one to make me look really, really stupid for thinking it was a bad move for a team that needed pitching depth.

 

I finally gave up because I found plenty of stupid moves that proved out to be even worse than expected. GMJ, Wells, Blanton, etc... However, I couldn't find any stupid moves that turned out good.

Finally, I thought of one move. It wasn't a roster move, but a front office move. When the Angels hired Bill Stoneman as GM, I thought it was a bad decision. I wanted one of the high profile names out there like Gillick or Beane but I was definitely proven wrong. In that case as he ended up being the best GM in franchise history.

 

Honestly though, Can anyone here think of a trade or signing that you hated from the very moment you heard about it that you ended up eventually admitting you were wrong?

[Season Over]

Honestly though, Can anyone here think of a trade or signing that you hated from the very moment you heard about it that you ended up eventually admitting you were wrong?

 

Letting Chone Figgins walk was unpopular but was ultimately a great decision.

 

But yeah...not much else I can think of.

[Docwaukee]

I was thinking about this the other day. If you're a die hard fan, when the Angels make a trade or free agent signing, it basically has four outcomes:

:

1. You liked the move and it worked out great. Vlad

2. You liked the move and turned out bad. Moo Vaughn

3. You hated the move and were right. Too many to count

4. You hated the move and were eventually proven wrong. ???

 

How do the Angels' various front offices make so many decisions that even the average fan knew were dumb? Go back over the last 10 years (37 years in my case) or so and it seems like every move has fit into categories 1-3. On the other hand, try to think of ANY moves that fit into category 4. I literally went through roster after roster starting with 2013 and going back a couple of decades and couldn't find a trade or signing that I thought was a bad idea that ended up being a good idea. Not one. Hopefully, Hamilton will be the one to make me look really, really stupid for thinking it was a bad move for a team that needed pitching depth.

 

I finally gave up because I found plenty of stupid moves that proved out to be even worse than expected. GMJ, Wells, Blanton, etc... However, I couldn't find any stupid moves that turned out good.

Finally, I thought of one move. It wasn't a roster move, but a front office move. When the Angels hired Bill Stoneman as GM, I thought it was a bad decision. I wanted one of the high profile names out there like Gillick or Beane but I was definitely proven wrong. In that case as he ended up being the best GM in franchise history.

 

Honestly though, Can anyone here think of a trade or signing that you hated from the very moment you heard about it that you ended up eventually admitting you were wrong?

you have to include some of the non-signings that people thought of as great ideas.  People pine for certain players all the time that don't come here and fail elsewhere.  The halos have chosen to move on from several players that ended up being unpopular but worked out nicely. 

 

I actually didn't think the Hunter signing was going to turn out as well as it did. 

 

Also, try to recall your feelings of what they did in the 2001/02 offseason.  Not a lot of popular moves. 

[Classic Pick^ Line]

I think the OP is making a great observation.  How do you explain his one pretty good start this spring training?  I wonder if he's just a head case, too.

[Erstad Grit]

I was thinking about this the other day. If you're a die hard fan, when the Angels make a trade or free agent signing, it basically has four outcomes:

:

1. You liked the move and it worked out great. Vlad

2. You liked the move and turned out bad. Moo Vaughn

3. You hated the move and were right. Too many to count

4. You hated the move and were eventually proven wrong. ???

 

How do the Angels' various front offices make so many decisions that even the average fan knew were dumb? Go back over the last 10 years (37 years in my case) or so and it seems like every move has fit into categories 1-3. On the other hand, try to think of ANY moves that fit into category 4. I literally went through roster after roster starting with 2013 and going back a couple of decades and couldn't find a trade or signing that I thought was a bad idea that ended up being a good idea. Not one. Hopefully, Hamilton will be the one to make me look really, really stupid for thinking it was a bad move for a team that needed pitching depth.

 

I finally gave up because I found plenty of stupid moves that proved out to be even worse than expected. GMJ, Wells, Blanton, etc... However, I couldn't find any stupid moves that turned out good.

Finally, I thought of one move. It wasn't a roster move, but a front office move. When the Angels hired Bill Stoneman as GM, I thought it was a bad decision. I wanted one of the high profile names out there like Gillick or Beane but I was definitely proven wrong. In that case as he ended up being the best GM in franchise history.

 

Honestly though, Can anyone here think of a trade or signing that you hated from the very moment you heard about it that you ended up eventually admitting you were wrong?

 

Kelvim Escobar might be the closest for me 

[Classic Pick^ Line]

Too bad Scioscia effed up Escobar's rehab and blew his arm out.  That one was all on Scioscia.

[ELEVEN]

I was thinking about this the other day. If you're a die hard fan, when the Angels make a trade or free agent signing, it basically has four outcomes:

:

1. You liked the move and it worked out great. Vlad

2. You liked the move and turned out bad. Moo Vaughn

3. You hated the move and were right. Too many to count

4. You hated the move and were eventually proven wrong. ???

 

How do the Angels' various front offices make so many decisions that even the average fan knew were dumb? Go back over the last 10 years (37 years in my case) or so and it seems like every move has fit into categories 1-3. On the other hand, try to think of ANY moves that fit into category 4. I literally went through roster after roster starting with 2013 and going back a couple of decades and couldn't find a trade or signing that I thought was a bad idea that ended up being a good idea. Not one. Hopefully, Hamilton will be the one to make me look really, really stupid for thinking it was a bad move for a team that needed pitching depth.

 

I finally gave up because I found plenty of stupid moves that proved out to be even worse than expected. GMJ, Wells, Blanton, etc... However, I couldn't find any stupid moves that turned out good.

Finally, I thought of one move. It wasn't a roster move, but a front office move. When the Angels hired Bill Stoneman as GM, I thought it was a bad decision. I wanted one of the high profile names out there like Gillick or Beane but I was definitely proven wrong. In that case as he ended up being the best GM in franchise history.

 

Honestly though, Can anyone here think of a trade or signing that you hated from the very moment you heard about it that you ended up eventually admitting you were wrong?

Trading Fregosi for some unknown Mets players. Hated that one, but it worked out ok...

[gurn67]

Hey! I actually thought of one. Of course, I was 10 years old at the time, I was pissed that the Angels traded my favorite Angel at the time, Bobby Bonds, who had just hit 37 HR & drove in 115 RBI's, Thad Bosley & Richard Dotson for three guys I had never heard of: Brian Downing, Dave Frost & Chris Knapp.

Although Dotson became a very solid starter for the Sox, Bond's was still good but on the downside of his career. Bosley, became a really good platoon outfielder and pinch hitter later in his career for the Cubs.

However, Downing became my favorite Angel of the 80's and, in my opinion, had more value to the Angels than all those guys put together for the Sox. Plus, I don't know if the Angels win the 1979 AL West title without Dave Frost's 16 wins or contend in 1978 without Knapp's 14 wins.

Edited March 23, 2014 by gurn67

[Angelsjunky]

Honestly though, Can anyone here think of a trade or signing that you hated from the very moment you heard about it that you ended up eventually admitting you were wrong?

 

Torii Hunter. He didn't out-perform his contract but he did play up to it, which is a lot more than I thought he would do. Plus his overall contribution was just so positive that he endeared himself to me.

[Ohtaniland]

Joe Blanton has to be as regrettable to Jerry Dipoto as Vernon Well was to Tony Reagins. It has to suck to have a player on the roster that you were personally responsible for bringing in and then can't be moved unless you eat most of his contract. I'm sure Jerry is trying to figure out a way how not to pay the full $8.5M owed to Blanton. This guy can't be on the Opening Day roster.   

[The God of Runs]

Blanton is incredible. He did something that few people in the history of civilization can accomplish. He convinced someone to pay him several million dollars, to absolutely suck. The only thing better would be to get paid to start Angelswin threads.