The Dodgers signed Dan Haren to a 1 year $10 M contract. Haren was once considered one of the best young pitchers in baseball, but his stock has dropped over the last 3-4 years. Last year, he pitched better than his ERA and W-L record would indicate. Let's just say he has been and continues to be somewhat of an enigma.
The Giants had been rumored to be interested in signing Haren. Whether there was something about him that made them back off, or if he just preferred playing for LA or if the Dodgers outbid the Giants, we may never know. Dan Haren on a 1 year/$10 M deal seems to be a reasonable risk to me. He may continue to be inconsistent but he also seems to be reasonable bet to put up a big season, which if it happens will make the Dodgers very tough to beat.
There may be some good news here from a Giants fan perspective. Although it remains to be seen, I believe this signals that the diabolical plot to acquire both David Price and Tanaka-san is now inoperative, it if ever existed in the first place. I think even the Dodgers have their limits and they know they have a gigantic bill coming due in the person of Clayton Kershaw. I think we may have just seen them blink with the Haren signing.
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Good point.
ReplyDeleteStill, Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, Haren and Becket will be tough to beat, unless we counter with Bum, Cain, Tanaka, Hudson and Lincecum.
Don't know if we have the money. But that will be something to see.
Once again, when Sabes says he's moved on from Tanaka, you best believe him.
DeleteMaybe Bum, Cain, Miller, Hudson and Lincecum.
DeleteI haven't heard anything on the Miller front outside of some Giant-fan speculation on Craw/Miller. Has there been ANYTHING outside of that?
DeleteShelby Miller? Come on, man!
DeleteYeah, Shelby Miller is not coming here. Even if the Cards were interested in Crawford, which they obviously are not now if they ever were, they would not trade Shelby Miller for him.
DeleteThere are some good options on the market still. Scott Kazmir, Jason Hammel for hard throwers, Phil Hughes as a change of scenery, Paul Maholm as the soft tossing lefty. I don't want Arroyo on a 2 or 3 year deal, but he looks like he has a lot of demand. All these pitchers have warts of one kind or the other. Haren looks like a relative bargain but he has velocity issues of his own. And there's always the trade route as well.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Dodgers will be backing off of David Price, they don't want to gut their farm. But what if the Yanks back off of Cano? I don't think LA is done until they're paying the luxury tax for 5 years straight and not winning. Let's help them along that path.
I could see maybe Hammel but, honestly, I don't think the Giants want to take a risk with the "5th" starter..They are already doing that with Lincecum and Hudson's ankle...And why I don't think Vogey will be a consideration...as well as the others mentioned above...And the one guy that screams low-risk and dependable despite his age is ARROYO..I still think he will be the Giants man unless they expand the years for somebody like Nolasco/Garza...which may be possible since Lince and Hudson are on two year contracts..
DeleteSteveVA
I would not write off Arroyo yet either. I think if they can get him on a reasonable 3 year deal, the Giants just might go for it. I don't think they will go 4 and Arroyo probably doesn't need to accept 2.
DeleteI just don't see Nolasco/Garza and Hammel/et al as different in any significant way. The tiers are pretty set: You have Tanaka, then you have the draft pick guys Santana and Jiminez (Kuroda too but he's short timing). Only 4 guys over 600 IP in the past 3 years (Kuroda, Ervin Santana, Arroyo and Timmy), only 9 more throwing 500 or more (Nolasco, Haren, Burnett, Joe Saunders, Vargas, Jiminez, Hudson, Colon and Paul Maholm).
DeleteI really don't see a lot of difference between most these guys and Maholm actually. Unless you want to go K/9 or hard throwing. Arroyo has that annoying straight leg kick, gives up too many HRs and as OGC revealed today to me doesn't get swinging strikes at a good rate at all. Add in the 2-3 years and somewhere between Huddy and Timmy money and I say no thanks, big time.
But the key to Vogey getting declined might be his miserable swinging k% this past year. Just not fooling many hitters at all. And why did Timmy get rewarded? Still one of the best, despite the down for him numbers.
I really think Sabes can now do something he has never liked to do which is wait for the market to come to him. Sign the guy who is left standing in the rain as the Hot Stove goes cold.
DeleteSabes when he's patient gets some good stuff as well. The Riot from last year. Hey, remember all the rage about The Hobbit getting cut? Remember the other shoe falling, the part where no other team jumped at him, he nosed around with Philly for half a sec and is now out of baseball? The Giants are good at evaluatin' b-ball. Much better than interwebz jockeys with spreadsheet skillz.
DeleteThere is a lot of supply on the market, and everybody has warts. I think that's why the Gints jumped at Tim Hudson: if you actually look at 3 year leaderboards, he gave up 36 HRs in 525 IP. He blows everybody out of the water in that regards. 8th in WAR, 1st in HR/9 ratio as well as the crazy IP and actual results, 11th in IP despite the freak ankle injury, 15th in starts.
That's why the Gints struck quick. I bet it has a lot to do with HRs, but he's also 6th in ERA, yes that decrepit old stat. But if you crunch IP#s, he's 3rd behind Kuroda and Colon if you put a high standard on it.
Basically, you start playing sort the stats, Hudson is going to be there in some good ones.
And you know who is close in a lot of these? Maholm. He's a good pitcher, and he won't break the bank at all. They'd do a lot worse just waiting it out. I don't think the money move is spending big. Johnson/Haren signed the best deal they could get early because they have a reclamation plan. Those both look like good risk/reward for team and player. I think the Gints can match it pretty well by waiting.
I don't like Arroyo though, for the record. In case that wasn't obvious already.