Blackley Waived

As the season draws near, the final cuts are beginning to come.  Left-handed pitcher, Travis Blackley was one who didn't make it.  This comes as a bit of a surprise.  Blackley was a Rule 5 pick, therefore he must be offered back to the Giants, and while he did have his struggles, he's a left-handed pitcher, who could be more useful then the likes of JD Durbin (it puzzles me how he's still on the roster), or Clay Condrey.

In all fairness, Blackley was given plenty of opportunity to claim a spot on the Phillies pitching staff (he even was considered to be the #5 starters), and he floundered.  He showed some glimpses of some dominating breaking pitches, but was unable to control them.  In his final appearance, one of his breaking pitches broke too much, and broke the hand of Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson.

There's still a chance Blackley will stick with the Phillies.  In Randy Miller's blog, he breaks down the process:

If the player clears outright waivers, he then is given a contemplated outright to both the Lehigh Valley and Fresno Triple A clubs. This form gives the player two choices:

1) Accept the assignoment
2) Reject the assignment and become a free agent.

The player must choose for both organizations what he wants to do. (If he chooses to become a free agent then he relinquishes any salary he might have had if he were assigned to the minors).

Once the player has chosen, then he is offered back to the original club. That club has 24 hours to decide whether or not to take the player back. (The risk for that club is that the player (without their knowledge) may have chosen free agency and thus that club would have to pay $25,000 back to the drafting club and could still lose the player to free agency).

Once the club decides whether or not to accept him back, then everyone will know where the player will end up.

While complicated, Blackley may very well start the season as Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

As the roster stands, there's only one left-handed pitcher in the bullpen (JC Romero), and The Real Deal, could very well go to Philadphia (given the fact Brad Lidgeis on the disabled list).  This tells me that Pat Gillick has something in the works.  Whether it be via trade (Steve Kline, Royce Ring), or recent cut (Aaron Fultz), I have to believe Gillick has something up his sleeve.