Obviously, Blanton's going to find his way into the Phillies' starting rotation... which begs the question: Who's Out? There are three options for this one (keeping in mind the Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer are, obviously, safe from being 'voted off the island'): Brett Myers, Kyle Kendrick, and Adam Eaton.
Looking at the numbers, Kendrick has been serviceable of late, winning two of his last four before the break. One of those wins was an 8 Inning, 4 Hit shout-out against the Athletics, where Kendrick really showed the Phils what the 23 year-old is capable of when he puts it all together. To me, I can't see the Phillies messing with Kendrick's standing as a starter. He's been improving throughout the course of the season and it would be dumb to mess with his head at such a young age.
Todd Zolecki, of Philly.com, seems to think it's going to be Adam Eaton who gets the boot from the rotation (and the fans seem to agree wholeheartedly). Over Eaton's last five starts, he allowed 6 earned runs twice and 8 earned runs one time... so... I may have to agree with the Phillies' faithful. He's already a useless fantasy pitcher... check that... he's a useless starting pitcher, period. His ERA at home is nearly 7 and this former Mets-killer, is not even useful for that anymore (ERA approaching 8 v. the Amazin's).
The guys at Rotoworld, however, suggest that Brett Myers may be the odd-man-out. At first, I (a Brett Myers owner) nearly vomited on my keyboard. He was so close to coming back and now Pat Gillick had to go and screw it all up! Then, after regaining my composure and taking some Mylanta, I decided to take a look at Adam Eaton and Kyle Kendrick's numbers... in hopes that one of the two were godawful. As you can see, from the above paragraph, Eaton is definitely worse than Myers (even if it is the HR-happy version of Myers) and should be demoted to the 'pen or placed on waivers (which is definitely a possibility).
So, for all Brett Myers owners out there... I hope you see this before you head over to Rotoworld so your body doesn't undergo the physical reaction that mine just did. Brett Myers will be back next Monday to start against the New York Mets. Far from a bold prediction, but I think that now is the time for stating what should be "the obvious."
