Joe Blanton

Joe Blanton is dangerously close to going into the new year without a new team, but it appears his market is heating up. 

Continue for updates.

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced they have signed veteran pitcher Joe Blanton to a one-year contract. According to Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan, the one-year deal is worth $4 million. 

The Oakland Athletics announced on Monday that they signed former Angels pitcher Joe Blanton to a minor league deal, assigning him to Triple-A Sacramento. For Blanton, who was originally drafted by the Athletics, the signing results in a homecoming as well as an opportunity to bounce back from a forgettable year with the Angels.

After starting out 2012 sluggishly, the Philadelphia Phillies have put the pedal to the medal over the last week, winning six straight games and seven out of eight against San Diego, Houston, Chicago, and now Boston.

With the lackluster offensive performance out of the Phillies' bats this season, fans are starting to question where is the strength in this World Series-hopeful team.

With RBI machine Ryan Howard out for what seems like a significant time, and an unknown return time for Chase Utley, Philadelphia needs to look toward the team's pitchers for a boost of motivation. 

Why not the pitching staff?

The Philadelphia Phillies continue to lead the NL East and sit at an impressive 15-6 in the early-going. It seems highly unlikely that this team will finish the season without at least 100 wins. They have struggled to hit and yet they continue to win. They lead the NL East in runs scored with 88 and are second in BA at .265. They have shown that their lineup can play a little small-ball by being in the top five in MLB in singles since Opening Day.

In a December to remember, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired the most coveted MLB free agency gem in Cliff Lee.

The Phillies' rotation now includes Roy Halladay, Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton.

Lee gave the Phillies their fourth legitimate ace, and the group was christened R2C2.  This group has the potential to be historically good, which has gotten a lot of people to thinking: Why do they even need a fifth starter?

Earlier in the offseason, rumors arose that the Philadelphia Phillies would sign free agent starting pitcher John Maine.

At age 29, Maine was non-tendered by the New York Mets after spending the last four seasons there; however, he pitched in only 24 games in the last two seasons due to shoulder surgeries and issues resulting from them.

With all of the hype about the Phillies starting rotation, we all want to know how they are going to fair together.  This collective unit has been deemed the best in baseball, and with that title, they will need to live up to the hype.  Anything short of magnificent will be a let down for baseball fans.

One of the things I absolutely love about being a Philadelphia sports fan is all the nit-picking we do. It’s highly irritating and annoying to outsiders looking in, but for us, it’s almost  another sport in in of itself. We just love analyzing something until it doesn’t even make sense to us.

It’s just what we do.