Joe Blanton claimed off waivers, traded to Dodgers

About ten minutes after I emailed my producer for 97.3 ESPN Radio saying “Slow news day, not much to talk about,” word comes down: Joe Blanton was claimed off of waivers and then subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later.

Kyle Kendrick will be making a spot start in place of Blanton, who was to be starting tonight against the Diamondbacks. BJ Rosenberg has been recalled from Lehigh Valley and added to the 25-man roster.

Wow. This comes after the Phillies were unable to make a deal with the Orioles to send Blanton to Baltimore because, apparently, the two teams couldn’t come to terms with just who was going to pick up the tab on the final $2.9 million owed to Joe. Unless this move puts the Phillies comfortably below the salary cap, it feels like a missed opportunity to me.

And so it ends: yet another member of the 2008 World Champions departs Philadelphia.