The Orioles Stand Pat At The Trade Deadline

The trade deadline has come and gone, with the Orioles (probably correctly) deciding to stand pat. Some thoughts on the non-trades and other things: Taking Joe Blanton's contract off Philadelphia's hands would have been fine. Having the Phillies pick up most of it and throwing a mediocre prospect their way wouldn't have been the worst either. That they reportedly requested Jon Schoop is, I'm assuming, a joke. Blanton is a decent enough pitcher; he does have excellent control. Since moving to the NL his strike-out rate has gone up (to above average), though he can be prone to the long-ball (some of that is surely his home ballpark). His 3.60 xFIP over the last three years is actually 25th in the Majors (min. 350 IP). Part of that is his 13.6% home run per flyball rate getting regressed though, and his 4.12 FIP is a far less impressive 69th (and his 4.75 ERA is 95th out of 103). Checking in on Blanton is smart, but with him still being owed $3 M for the rest of t...