Yankees 2010 Trade Target: Dan Haren

Dan Haren, RHP Arizona Diamondbacks
2010 season: 16 GS, 7-6, 4.65 ERA, 108.1 IP, 1.31 WHIP

Just recently, Dan Haren proved he belonged in the discussion when talking about elite pitchers in Major League Baseball. A 3-time All-Star, Haren has been the ace of the Arizona Diamonbacks for the past three seasons, as well as the ace of the Oakland Athletics in 2007.

After a strong junior season at Pepperdine University in California, where he posted a 2.22 ERA in 17 starts, Haren was a second round draft pick, 72nd overall, in the 2001 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. It wouldn't be long however, before Haren would make it to the show. In 2002, his first year of pro ball, he made twenty-eight starts in 2002 in A-ball Peoria and Potomac. He finished his first season in 2002 with a 2.74 ERA. Regarded as one of the Cardinals' top prospects, he started the 2003 season in Double-AA Tennessee. Haren flashed dominance, making only just eight starts with a 6-0 record and a 0.82 ERA, before being promoted to Triple-AAA Memphis and eventually making it to the Major Leagues. At just 22, Haren made his major league debut in a start against then Giants' starter Jason Schmidt. He made 14 starts in 2003, going 3-7 with a 5.08 ERA. Prior to the start of 2004, Haren was assigned to Triple-AAA, making 21 starts and going 11-4 with a 4.15 ERA before being called up in September. Haren made the playoff roster for the Cardinals that year and pitched in the World Series twice against the Boston Red Sox, throwing 4.2 scoreless IP. The Cardinals were eventually swept, and it would be the last time Dan Haren would wear a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.

Before 2005, the Cardinals were made an offer they could never refuse. The Oakland Athletics were making LHP Mark Mulder, who was 17-8 with a 4.43 ERA in 2004 and had four straight seasons of 15 or more wins, available for trade. The Cardinals pounced, and acquired Mulder for Haren, RHP Kiko Calero and the Cardinals top hitting prospect, 1B Daric Barton. The trade looked like a steal at first, especially when in 2005, Haren's first full season in Oakland, when he went 14-12 with a 3.73 ERA meanwhile Mulder was 16-8 with a 3.64 ERA. However, in 2006 Mulder missed most of the season finishing at 6-7 with a 7.14 ERA and had to have Tommy John Surgery. He would never be the same pitcher again, making just six more win-less starts in his career before retiring in 2010. Meanwhile Haren looked like he was about to emerge, as he finished 2006 with 14 wins again, going 14-13 with a 4.12 ERA. 2007 however, was when Haren put himself in the discussion for elite pitchers. In 2007, Haren finished with a record of 15-9 with a 3.07 ERA in 222.2 IP with 192 (!!!) strikeouts. He was an AL All-Star for the first time, and was selected to start the All-Star Game in San Francisco that year. At the end of the season, with Oakland finishing in third place in AL West, there was speculation that the A's might trade Haren, who had raised his stock, in order to rebuild the team.

On December 14, 2007 Haren and RHP Connor Robertson, brother of current Yankees RHP David Robertson, were traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for six top prospects: Carlos Gonzalez, Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunningham, Greg Smith, Dana Eveland and Chris Carter. All players, except for Carter who is now the A's top prospect, have made it to the major leagues. Gonzalez and Smith (Gonzalez is a budding superstar right now) were traded after their first years in Oakland to the Colorado Rockies for Matt Holliday. Eveland was designated for assignment following the 2009 season, but pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010. Cunningham was traded to the San Diego Padres. Only Anderson, who is now the ace of the A's, and Carter remain. Seeing as how all players have panned out to be very good big leaguers, and Haren has still been an ace, the trade was deemed equal for both sides. In his first year in Arizona in 2008, Haren posted a 16-8 record with a 3.33 ERA and struck out 206 (!!!) while making the NL All-Star team. He was rewarded with a contract extension, a four-year, $44.75 million contract with a team option for the 2013 season.

In 2009, Haren went 14-10, a sure drop-off in wins, but his ERA was lowered to 3.14 and his strikeout total increased from 206 to 223 (!!!). Haren was proving why he was making $8,250,000 million per season, as he made the NL All-Star Team for the second time. 2010 has not been as kind to Haren. He's currently 7-6 with a 4.65 ERA with an OBA of .280, his highest since his .293 mark his rookie season, but has 109 strikeouts pitching on a last place Arizona team. Recently the Diamondbacks have said they are not open to trade but many speculate that that will change soon, especially since they already traded Connor Jackson. Analysts have speculated that outside of OF Justin Upton and RHP Ian Kennedy, just about every D-back is available for trade, meaning Haren would be quite the commodity.

Haren throws a 91–94 mph fastball that has great movement. He also has a dirty, sharp split fastball. His splitter is his plus pitch and his main strikeout pitch. He also throws an occasional curveball and changeup, as well as a slider. In 2010, Haren has developed an 86-90 mph cut fastball that he credits for his success. Haren has excellent control of his pitches, resulting in one of the best K/BB ratios in the league. Haren's only flaw is that he is prone to giving up home runs. Haren's great ability to change speeds and throw any pitch on any count goes against scouting reports, making it incredibly hard to hit him.

I also gathered all information on Haren from MLBTradeRumors' posts on Haren.

- The Yankees, Twins, Nationals, Cardinals, and Tigers had scouts watching Dan Haren's most recent start.
- Arizona will probably not want to keep both Dan Haren and Edwin Jackson since they combine to make over $20MM next year, but Haren's value isn't what it once was. One baseball person told Rosenthal that "[Haren]'s not at the top of anyone's list, he's just another name.
- Dealing Dan Haren could help replenish Arizona's thin farm system, writes MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.
- Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times thinks Dan Haren would be a "perfect fit" for the Angels.
- Presumably, the D'Backs would have to be blown away by a package of multiple young arms to consider trading Dan Haren.
- The Diamondbacks have been meeting about making major changes because of their slow start, and one such move could involve trading ace Dan Haren for a boatload of prospects.
- Upton and Kennedy will not be dealt, and Mark Reynolds is likely to stay, but the D’Backs would consider moving others. They would listen on Dan Haren, though the club might prefer to keep him if they believe they can contend in the near future.

From MLBTradeRumors.
- On trading his players, from D-backs' GM Josh Byrnes: "We'll explore a lot of possibilities and see where we end up," said Byrnes. "I do think a lot of our players are guys we value and want to keep and I think if we're going to make trades, we'll have to get the type of things - particularly young pitching depth - that would make sense to us."
- On trading star players:"There's a good chance, yeah," Byrnes said. "We aren't where we need to be in the standings and as far as sort of the things we'd like to do to adjust the roster, there's also payroll considerations as we try to sort of get ready for next year."

Today, in Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe's: latest article, he listed that Haren has been made basically available and that teams have sent scouts to watch Haren pitch. Among the interested teams: The New York Yankees.

From Cafardo's article:
"1. Dan Haren, RHP, Diamondbacks — Scouts from the Yankees, Twins, Nationals, Cardinals, and Tigers all came out to watch his last start, a 9-3 loss to the Yankees in which he went seven innings and allowed six hits and three runs. It will be interesting to see whether the Diamondbacks wind up dealing their best starter and whether anyone will break the bank to get him."

Mike Silva of New York Baseball Digest responded to Cafardo's article:
"The Yankees are “in” the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, but only if the price drops to an acceptable level. If they offered a couple of second tier prospects to Arizona for Haren would they bite? Would Burnett’s struggles amp up their interest in aggressively pursuing a starter?"

So, it appears, despite the D-backs denying it, that Arizona is ready to trade their stars. And, not surprisingly, the Yankees are interested in Dan Haren. Haren, 29, would most likely be the No. 2 starter on the Yankees behind CC Sabathia. Due to A.J. Burnett's recent struggles, the Yankees may be willing to trade for Haren. Recently, until today's interest in Haren, the Yankees were connected to the Seattle Mariners' LHP Cliff Lee, seen as the best pitcher on the trading block who sports a 6-3 record with a 2.39 ERA (in the AL by the way) and has an OBA of .227! There's one obstacle with Lee however: he's set to be a free-agent at the end of the season and is interested in exploring the free-agent market, making it possible that if traded to New York that he could leave, although it's unlikely if that were to happen since the Yankees have the most money.

So why would trading for Haren make sense for the Yankees, especially when Lee could be traded for or signed in the off-season? Well for starters, Lee is 32 and Haren is 29. Pitchers tend to lose their effectiveness in their mid-30's, and Lee has only been a truly dominating effective pitcher since 2008, while Haren is still young enough to have dominant years left. Also, Haren is still signed through 2013, while Lee is a free-agent curious in exploring the market. Haren's making about $8.2 million per season and Lee, seeing as how dominant he's been recently, would demand at least $20 million per season. Technically, the Yankees could sign Lee as a free-agent, rather than paying the prospects in a trade for him or Haren during the season, which would make more sense for the future. In 2007, prior to the trade of Haren to Arizona, the Yankees were interested and scouted him. They didn't get him, obviously, but it shows that they were and still are, interested in Haren.

However, there is the cost of prospects that Haren could cost. Seeing the amount of talent that Arizona gave up for Haren in 2007, you'd have to imagine that they would demand the same quality prospects, especially from the Yankees. Dealing Haren would definitely help Arizona in attempts to rebuild, as they would get a boatload of prospects. Josh Byrnes said (see above) that the team wants to acquire young pitching depth. Arizona has said that they would have to be "blown away" to deal Haren. The D-backs value Haren very highly, as seen by his contract, which they would most likely be forced to pay in any trade. If the D-backs have to pay Haren's contract, then they would expect greater prospects. If they don't have to pay the contract, they would probably not expect as great prospects. For the Yankees that is a win, because they can afford to pay Haren, however their tight budget may force Arizona to pay the contract and the Yankees would have to pay with the prospects. That means that the Yankees would have to give up at least two top pitching prospects as well as a few position players. A likely trade would involve the Yankees giving up RHP Zach McCallister, RHP Andrew Brackman, C Austin Romine, and an INF such as Ramiro Pena. That's an awful lot to give up, seeing as McCallister, Brackman and Romine take up Nos. 2, 4, and 10 on their top prospects list. But, you have to give to get, and Haren is a once in an era talent. However, Haren is not having a stellar year, so the Yankees could use that to bargain with Arizona in order to lessen the prospects. One obstacle with acquiring Haren would be his desire to remain in Arizona, where he and his family reside all year. However, Haren does not have a no-trade clause in his contract, so Arizona can trade him anywhere without his say in the deal. So it's an obstacle, but a minor one that wouldn't really have any effect.

Haren would fit perfectly behind Sabathia in the Yankees rotation, and since he's signed through 2013, he'd be part of the team for future seasons. His presence would allow the Yankees to skip a few of Phil Hughes' starts this season in order to limit his innings. He's familiar with the American League when he played with Oakland, so he wouldn't be overwhelmed at first by American League hitting. A rotation of Sabathia, Haren, Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Javier Vazquez and Hughes would be the best rotation in baseball. For 2011, the Yankees would have four spots in their rotation settled with Sabathia, Haren, Burnett and Hughes because of Pettitte's free agency and chance of retirement. If Pettitte retires and Lee reaches free agency, and let's say the Yankees sign him, could you imagine that rotation? It's highly unlikely, but it's fun to think about. Haren would be a much cheaper option than Lee, salary wise.

So why would I rather acquire Haren than Lee? He's younger, cheaper, and signed through 2013. Giving up the prospects would hurt, but prospects are just that: prospects. They have projections, but it only matters if the prospect pans out and lives up to expectations (see Ben McDonald), so I'd be fine with giving up the prospects, just as long as Jesus Montero, Slade Heathcott and Manny Banuelos are not involved. Haren is familiar with the AL, so he'd be comfortable. As well, he's average almost 200 strikeouts per season since 2008, that's just dominance. Haren's one of my favorite pitchers and I'd love him to come to the Yankees.

If I'm the Yankees, I'm on the phone with Arizona right now trying to deal for Haren.