They fear the vest!
December 7, 2007A Heartfelt Thanks
December 10, 2007Yeah, it’s a rumor, and not really a solid one, but hey…I can dream too!
Buster Olney reported today that there may be a surprise team in the Dan Haren lottery. Oh please, let it be true.
But there is an interesting sleeper in the Dan Haren sweepstakes: the Cleveland Indians, who clearly would have the prospects and the motive to finish a deal.
Cleveland is loaded with young starting pitchers who it could put in the deal, from Jeremy Sowers to Adam Miller to Aaron Laffey. And if the Indians become convinced that they are not going to be able to re-sign C.C. Sabathia, who is eligible for free agency after next season, they may view Haren as a low-cost replacement for Sabathia for 2009 and 2010 near the front of their rotation.
And with Haren in 2008, the Indians would field arguably the best rotation in the majors, assuming that Johan Santana doesn’t land with the Red Sox.
So how would that rotation look? How about the #2, #3 and #5 ranked pitchers in era in the American League? How about 3 guys who finished with better than 215 innings pitched? Sabathia, Haren, Carmona, and Westbrook would be as impressive a foursome as any in baseball. Even if the Red Sox land Santana.
So should the Indians make this move? I say absolutely. For precisely the reason Olney mentioned. This is C.C. insurance, and it allows them to compete with Detroit, Boston, and New York. Personally, I would sell out for this trade. Give them Cliff Lee and their choice of 2 players between Sowers, Laffey and Miller. Or see if they are interested in one of the spare outfielders. Why not? Let’s make a run at this thing!!!
7 Comments
For now, I can’t get my hopes up…
…but it would be pretty awesome
From what I have gleaned from the New York press reports, the Yankees turned their sights on Haren after finding the Twins’ asking price for Santana “too high.” However, it appears Billy Beane is asking for almost as much to move Haren, so even though the A’s have a rep for shoving high priced talent out the door Haren might very well not be going anywhere anytime soon. If I were the Indians I would probably look real hard at pulling the trigger on this, but Haren did start to “decay” a bit in the second half of last year and I’m not sure if anyone knows why.
Would you rather go after Haren? Or go and find a LF that can hit with some power? I’m kind of on the fence on this one and am not sure which way I’d like to see ’em go. They have to do something though.
Hey Jeremy…good to see you here. I think this is the move that makes the most sense. Let the kids compete for the LF job (or maybe a midseason trade) and go get Haren. Do you really think the Tribe is going to put up the bucks to keep Sabathia? I don’t. This is one way to ensure that you are competitive after he bolts, and gives us a season with the best staff to try and win it all. Sizemore will have a better season, and hopefully Hafner too. Pitching and defense, pitching and defense.
Actually, I do think they are gonna pony up and pay CC. They have to. They’ve let so many superstars walk when they didn’t have to. Thome, Manny, Joey Belle even. It’s time to pay someone that has been here all along their due. I think they can afford $16-$19 mil/year for him. If not, than it’s time for Dolan to sell. But that’s a pretty good rotation with Haren in there. One I’d like to see.
I pretty much agree with what was said at The DiaTribe….As long as Asdrubal is not involved, you have to make this deal. If Oakland asks for Asdrubal, you have to politely say no thanks.
major confession here, i can’t stand chief wahoo. i refuse to buy anything with his unapologetically offensive face on it. they don’t need to disown it, i think it’s time the indians move on to something new.
also, when i was like 10 i wore a white sox hat to an indians game at municipal stadium b/c frank thomas was the only player i knew. now i can’t stand anything chicago-sports related. bah!