The Daily Philadelphian

Ruben Amaro had to know Joe Blanton and his salary would be brought up at some point when he decided to ship Cliff Lee to Seattle and bring in Roy Halladay.

Blanton, who filed for arbitration, is requesting $10.25 million for the upcoming season. The Phillies are offering $7.5 million. Blanton earned $5.475 million in 2009. In arbitration, the judge rules for one side or the other, so the Phillies could very well pay the innings-eating, strikeout pitcher more than $10 million.

Even if the two sides reach an agreement before going to arbitration, which they usually do, you have to figure they’ll meet in the middle at around $9 million this year. That’s exactly the pricetag for Cliff Lee this year.

Joe Blanton raises his hand when asked, "Who is worth more than Cliff Lee?"

When Amaro dealt Lee, he cited payroll and a lack of prospects in the Phillies farm system as reasons for not keeping last year’s postseason ace around as part of a rotation with Halladay and Cole Hamels.

In addition, Amaro worried about losing Lee without getting anything in return — a fair concern for a general manager who is trying to remain competitive for the next five years as opposed to making a one-year run.

Your DailyPhiladelphian completely understood why the Phillies moved Lee. However, Blanton should have been the one moved and now we’re about to find out why.

Blanton will be a free agent after this season and the Phillies likely will watch him walk next February. We don’t see them matching what he will get on the open market.

That raises the question of why the Phillies didn’t either move Blanton in a trade or let him walk now and keep Lee around for a run at another World Series title, especially when you’re going to pay Blanton at least as much as Lee will make.

Would Blanton have brought you as much as Lee? No. However, we’d rather have Lee in the rotation and the drp in prospects — or even no prospects — is a price would would have paid.

Obviously, you would also need to take into account that the Phillies would have had a rotation with four potential lefties had they moved Blanton — Lee, Hamels, JA Happ and Jamie Moyer. Having said that, great pitchers overcome bad matchups and a rotation with Halladay, Lee, Hamels and two kids off of the grammar school playground would have gotten to the playoffs and beyond in 2010.

When Blanton’s salary is agreed upon, Amaro has some ’splainin’ to do. The Cliff Lee debate will rear its head at the GM’s doorstep yet again.