7:41am: Haren insisted to reporters last night, including Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times (Twitter link), that he wouldn’t make a decision on whether or not to exercise his option until after the Dodgers’ season is over.
10:48pm: Dodgers starter Dan Haren now holds a $10MM player option for next season after notching his 180th inning on the year. By reaching that mark, he also triggered a $500K bonus (on top of $1.5MM in innings-pitched and games-started bonuses already met).
Haren, who just turned 34, joined the Dodgers on a one-year, $10MM deal that was filled with a variety of incentives. He has now achieved most of them, including the most valuable: the $10MM player option for next year. At one point, 180 innings seemed like a long shot, but Haren fought through a mid-season swoon and re-emerged as a much-needed piece of an injury-riddled rotation. Barring a decision to retire, Haren would seem to be fairly likely to take the option to continue throwing in his native California.
Of course, Haren could in theory still be tempted to test the open market. He has had an up-and-down year, but entered the day with a 4.14 ERA on the back of 6.9 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9. That strikeout total would be his lowest since he became a full-time big league starter back in 2005.
But Haren remains a solid innings-eater (at worst) with plenty of value. Though his days of logging well over 200 frames a year in the low-to-mid 3.00 ERA range are probably over, he has still managed to make 30 starts a year going all the way back to that ’05 campaign. And ERA estimators believe Haren to be as good or better than his earned run totals would suggest: this year, he owns a 4.19 FIP, 3.74 xFIP, and 3.80 SIERA.
It boggles my mind to look back on all the careers of the top pitchers from that Moneyball Beane As team, Hudson, Zito, Mulder, and Haren. At the time they looked like what the Rays seemed to have a few years ago, and you envisioned a new 90s Braves. And just like the Rays, it’s all been up and down roller coasters, and evaporated.
Yeah but the Braves had 3 HOFer’s for 6+ years together. Beane and the Rays have had good rotations, but come on Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz.. (Yes I’m assuming Smoltz will make it)
That’s a pretty safe assumption… Atlanta even complemented them with Avery and, later, Neagle and Millwood, and even later Hudson himself..
Why does it boggle? Hudson’s had a phenomenal career, Haren has had a very good career, and Zito rapidly declined while Mulder had injury cut short his career. One of each scenario. That seems normal; what you’d expect, an outlier who has a borderline HoF career, a normal path guy, a rapid decliner, and an injury bust. Tampa has that, somewhat, too; Kazmir the injury guy (though he’s rebounded) with Shields as Haren and potentially Price as Hudson.
My only point was that these guys all came up at the same time, in a single organization. That alone i a huge deal when we think about what a crap short prospects can be, let alone pitching prospects.
That said, some of these guys may have righted themselves, and have career stats that look good today, but the caliber of pitching they were doing in Oakland was a world apart. Of the bunch Zito was the Golden arm. But at least two of them looked like future Hall of Fame certainties, health willing. Hudson has had the best career overall of the bunch, but he had a 3-4 year blip mid-augghties that was a tick or two below his normal levels. He was an elite arm, but suddenly an average one, until he found himself again in Atlanta.
Not a lot of flash, but good results. The Dodgers will be happy to hang onto him.
Dan Haren has his good days and a few bad days where he blows up. He’d be good for the Dodgers in 2015 and if they want to, they could always trade him midseason when if they find a younger replacement for him.
Haren would be smart to accept the option. He pitches in a pitcher-friendly park, in a division that doesn’t exactly score a lot of runs. Take it, and be happy. Just my opinion.
I’m curious to what you mean b a division that doesn’t score a lot of runs. As of right now the NL west leads the NL in runs scored, and has only three runs less then the AL East
I’m not very high on Haren going into next season. I would like to see LA sign two starters this off-season and use Haren as a swingman. SP depth is a luxury the Dodgers need to build. It seems like every year 2 or 3 back of the rotation and AAA starters have Tommy John surgery. If the team wants to keep Julio Urias on a strict pitch and innings limit while he’s a teenager, I wouldn’t expect much SP help coming out of the system next season. They didn’t get an inspiring season from any starting pitcher above single A ball.
You’re right, beyond Single A, the Dodgers far arms have been poor. Thankfully, the team is moving away from that pitcher-killer park in Albuquerque, but..that will only go so far.
Zach Lee disappointed. My initial off-season favorite to be up in the bigs this year (and many other’s favorite), Ross Stripling, went down early. Urias provided hope. But there’s not much else to speak of.
The Dodgers aren’t going to have many options but to hunt in the free agent starting pitcher market this winter. The problem that won’t go away in 2015 is the lack of promotable minor league starters and continued lack of luck with the pitchers under contract (so many injuries). Ironic that the team’s options are so limited even though the Dodgers have always emphasized pitching in the draft.