Diamondback Jay
Psalms 23:1
Angels fleeced D’backs in Haren deal
By*Jeff Passan,*Yahoo! SportsMonday, Jul 26, 2010
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-tendegrees072510
The*Los Angeles Angels*skulk about without the flashiness and bombast of their region, happy to play the big-market team with small-market sensibilities. It’s disarming, and it lays the foundation for the sort of skullduggery they unleashed Sunday.The Angels depantsed the*Arizona Diamondbacks. They stole*Dan Haren(notes)in a trade and left the directionless D’backs naked and with nowhere to hide. First, Arizona panicked by firing general manager Josh Byrnes earlier this season. Now, with suitors from coast to coast putting together packages for Haren, they jumped at one centering around*Joe Saunders(notes).Again, just for giggles: Twenty-nine year-old Dan Haren, one of the 10 best pitchers in baseball entering this season, and still an ace, for Joe Saunders.OK, so there are a few kids involved, too: Twenty-one year-old left-hander Pat Corbin, 26-year-old reliever Rafael Rodriguez(notes)*and a player to be named later who could be 19-year-old lefty Tyler Skaggs. No can’t miss prospects. No top-of-the-line major league players. Just Saunders, his miserable strikeout rate and a lot of dreaming.Never mind the haul the Diamondbacks gave up for Haren less than three years ago when they bore the look of a longtime contender: two future stars in*Brett Anderson(notes)*and*Carlos Gonzalez(notes),*first baseman*Chris Carter(with 23 home runs at Triple-A) and outfielder*Aaron Cunningham(notes)(playing well for San Diego), among others. Unless Skaggs and Corbin grow into good major leaguers – and the saying there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect is a modern chestnut – the Angels won in a Tyson knockout.Perhaps more interesting are the wildly differing values of similar commodities: No.*1 starters. Two months of*Cliff Lee(notes)*and two late-first-round draft picks (if/when he leaves via free agency) brought a significantly better package than two-plus years of Haren and his under-market contract that includes a reasonable option for 2013. Seattle’s haul for Lee, in fact, was better than the previous two packages for him as well as Cleveland’s for*CC Sabathia(notes)*two years ago and San Diego’s forJake Peavy(notes)*last year.Even though Haren’s raw numbers don’t resemble ace quality, they come with caveats: balls in play against him are falling at a disproportionately high rate, fly balls are going over the fence similarly and his 141 strikeouts and 29 walks in 141 innings connote dominance.
By*Jeff Passan,*Yahoo! SportsMonday, Jul 26, 2010
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-tendegrees072510
The*Los Angeles Angels*skulk about without the flashiness and bombast of their region, happy to play the big-market team with small-market sensibilities. It’s disarming, and it lays the foundation for the sort of skullduggery they unleashed Sunday.The Angels depantsed the*Arizona Diamondbacks. They stole*Dan Haren(notes)in a trade and left the directionless D’backs naked and with nowhere to hide. First, Arizona panicked by firing general manager Josh Byrnes earlier this season. Now, with suitors from coast to coast putting together packages for Haren, they jumped at one centering around*Joe Saunders(notes).Again, just for giggles: Twenty-nine year-old Dan Haren, one of the 10 best pitchers in baseball entering this season, and still an ace, for Joe Saunders.OK, so there are a few kids involved, too: Twenty-one year-old left-hander Pat Corbin, 26-year-old reliever Rafael Rodriguez(notes)*and a player to be named later who could be 19-year-old lefty Tyler Skaggs. No can’t miss prospects. No top-of-the-line major league players. Just Saunders, his miserable strikeout rate and a lot of dreaming.Never mind the haul the Diamondbacks gave up for Haren less than three years ago when they bore the look of a longtime contender: two future stars in*Brett Anderson(notes)*and*Carlos Gonzalez(notes),*first baseman*Chris Carter(with 23 home runs at Triple-A) and outfielder*Aaron Cunningham(notes)(playing well for San Diego), among others. Unless Skaggs and Corbin grow into good major leaguers – and the saying there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect is a modern chestnut – the Angels won in a Tyson knockout.Perhaps more interesting are the wildly differing values of similar commodities: No.*1 starters. Two months of*Cliff Lee(notes)*and two late-first-round draft picks (if/when he leaves via free agency) brought a significantly better package than two-plus years of Haren and his under-market contract that includes a reasonable option for 2013. Seattle’s haul for Lee, in fact, was better than the previous two packages for him as well as Cleveland’s for*CC Sabathia(notes)*two years ago and San Diego’s forJake Peavy(notes)*last year.Even though Haren’s raw numbers don’t resemble ace quality, they come with caveats: balls in play against him are falling at a disproportionately high rate, fly balls are going over the fence similarly and his 141 strikeouts and 29 walks in 141 innings connote dominance.
