<TABLE width="100%" align=center><TBODY><TR><TD class=vaLabel vAlign=top rowSpan=5 width=100 align=middle>
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=subHead vAlign=top colSpan=3>Phillies lock up Blanton for three years </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=vaLabel colSpan=3>Joe Blanton - S - PHI - Jan. 21 </B> </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Phillies signed RHP Joe Blanton to a three-year, $24 million contract extension.
He will earn $7 million in 2010, $8.5 million in 2011 and $8.5 million in 2012, buying out his final year of arbitration and his first two years of free agency. Blanton, who turned 29 last month, has proved himself as a durable middle-of-the-rotation type, logging at least 194 1/3 innings in each of the last five seasons. He was 12-8 with a 4.05 ERA and 1.32 WHIP with the Phillies last season, averaging a career-high 7.15 K/9. It's likely that his 2007 season is an outlier, but he should continue to be a reliable horse through the length of the contract.
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He will earn $7 million in 2010, $8.5 million in 2011 and $8.5 million in 2012, buying out his final year of arbitration and his first two years of free agency. Blanton, who turned 29 last month, has proved himself as a durable middle-of-the-rotation type, logging at least 194 1/3 innings in each of the last five seasons. He was 12-8 with a 4.05 ERA and 1.32 WHIP with the Phillies last season, averaging a career-high 7.15 K/9. It's likely that his 2007 season is an outlier, but he should continue to be a reliable horse through the length of the contract.
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