The Ball Girl: What about Dan Haren?
Skylar Walker
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Sports
Joe Morgan, of Sunday Night Baseball, recently said John Lackey of the LA Angels should be considered a front-runner for the American League Cy Young Award. The Cy Young is given to the best pitcher in each league at the conclusion of every season. Morgan's reasoning for Lackey being one of the best at this time was "his team is playing well and he's the man."
Wins have become the yardstick used to measure the relative worth of starting pitchers, despite the fact that a pitcher in this league has no control over his run support.
There are other statistics generally used to better evaluate a pitcher's abilities. A common one is earned run average, or ERA. The man who leads the AL in ERA is Dan Haren of the Oakland Athletics with 2.87. Lackey's ERA stands at 3.26. Haren has more strikeouts and a higher winning percentage and leads Lackey in on-base against and opponent's batting average as well.
What could Dan Haren do to improve his odds of winning the award?
He could pitch every day to prevent a lesser man from losing games. By the same token, he could pitch complete games to avoid leaving decisions up to the injury-laden bullpen.
Haren could also bat for himself, surrendering the right to a designated hitter. Who knows, he might be the next Barry Bonds.
If Haren plays gratis for the notably frugal Oakland Athletics, $12.65 million dollars could be spent on better pitching or hitting. I'm sure the addition of Tim Hudson would boost the pitching staff. Alex Rodriguez could be the DH if the infield joined Haren in playing gratis.
Last but not least, Haren could add a D to his name and 25 to his number in order to shock batters, umpires and radar guns into recognizing the resurrection of Rich Harden's fastball in the body of a Californian four inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than the Canadian, supplementing enough height and weight to add three miles per hour to the four-seam thereby topping it out at 103 mph, challenging Joel Zumaya for the crown of Scariest Fastball Ever. Maybe that would catch the attention of Joe Morgan more than wins.
Or perhaps Morgan could reconsider his methods of evaluation by referring to statistics that accurately quantify a pitcher's abilities and not his team's winning percentage.
Wins have become the yardstick used to measure the relative worth of starting pitchers, despite the fact that a pitcher in this league has no control over his run support.
There are other statistics generally used to better evaluate a pitcher's abilities. A common one is earned run average, or ERA. The man who leads the AL in ERA is Dan Haren of the Oakland Athletics with 2.87. Lackey's ERA stands at 3.26. Haren has more strikeouts and a higher winning percentage and leads Lackey in on-base against and opponent's batting average as well.
What could Dan Haren do to improve his odds of winning the award?
He could pitch every day to prevent a lesser man from losing games. By the same token, he could pitch complete games to avoid leaving decisions up to the injury-laden bullpen.
Haren could also bat for himself, surrendering the right to a designated hitter. Who knows, he might be the next Barry Bonds.
If Haren plays gratis for the notably frugal Oakland Athletics, $12.65 million dollars could be spent on better pitching or hitting. I'm sure the addition of Tim Hudson would boost the pitching staff. Alex Rodriguez could be the DH if the infield joined Haren in playing gratis.
Last but not least, Haren could add a D to his name and 25 to his number in order to shock batters, umpires and radar guns into recognizing the resurrection of Rich Harden's fastball in the body of a Californian four inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than the Canadian, supplementing enough height and weight to add three miles per hour to the four-seam thereby topping it out at 103 mph, challenging Joel Zumaya for the crown of Scariest Fastball Ever. Maybe that would catch the attention of Joe Morgan more than wins.
Or perhaps Morgan could reconsider his methods of evaluation by referring to statistics that accurately quantify a pitcher's abilities and not his team's winning percentage.
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