Dodgers First Half Awards

Best Offseason Move- Signing Joe Blanton

If I had the technology/desire, I would have made a word cloud of words used in comments/on twitter by Dodger fans when Joe Blanton was signed. The word cloud would contain many bad words and probably have to be censored on this site.

The Dodgers signed Blanton to a one year, $4 million deal as a reliever after a good year of relief pitching in Kansas City and Pittsburgh last season. Many Dodger fans remembered the failed deadline acquisition of Blanton in 2012, but reliever Blanton has been a huge reason the Dodger bullpen has been as good as they’ve been.

He was originally signed as a long reliever and had a rough start to the season. He threw a scoreless inning in San Diego in his first Dodger relief appearance, but the Dodgers literally didn’t allow a run in those three games. His second appearance came in San Francisco in a tumultuous game. Fans were already livid at Dave Roberts‘ decision to pull Ross Stripling after 7.1 innings of no-hit ball. The anger intensified when Chris Hatcher gave up the Dodgers’ 1-0 lead five pitches later. The Dodgers rallied to tie it and bring it to extras, where Blanton gave up a walk off homer on his second pitch.

Since then, Blanton has essentially been money. He’s allowed three runs in two different outings, both in games the Dodgers lost 5-2. Blanton has appeared in 43 games and has allowed the opposing team to score in six games. He’s inherited 14 runners, and four have scored.

Blanton has been the eighth inning guy we’ve all wanted, but his 3.47 FIP and .160 BABIP suggests a lot of luck. It’s a lot easier to be lucky for an inning than it is to be luck as a starter, so those numbers could hold up. Blanton has undoubtably been great, but it would still feel a lot better if the Dodgers had another eighth inning guy.

Honorable Mentions- Kenta Maeda, Chase Utley, Trayce Thompson

Next: Worst Offseason Move