Chasing the Triple Crown

Larry Brown Sports tweeted out last night that Miguel Cabrera wasn't the only one chasing the elusive Triple Crown.  Joe Blanton has somehow been allowed to stay on the pitching staff with an astonishing ERA of 6.12, nearly half point higher than the next worse pitcher.  He's only one back in home runs allowed with 29 dingers served up.  Blanton has been relegated to the bullpen after his initial 10 losses as a starter.  So instead of just being cut at the All Star break, he's accounted for 4 losses in relief as well. 

So for the third piece of this disastrous quest, Blanton's currently tied with Lucas Harrell of the Astros at 14 losses.  I'm putting his season over/under total at 15.5 losses.  I just don't think he'll get that many more opportunities.  The golden sombrero of this god-awful season has been his also league-worst -2 WAR (Wins Above Replacement).  This means Blanton has been two games worse than the standard minor league pitcher replacement.  That begs the question, "Why the fuck are they still putting the ball in his hand?"  It's a good thing he's only going to collect an additional $7.5mil next season to round out this $15mil mistake.

Mike Trout is making $510,000.