The others clubs have found a potential achilles heel ... his slow delivery combined with Kendall's slow release means that opposing squads can almost run at will. The two combined apparently have MLBs slowest time from stretch to delivery to second. Saw him pitch against LAA a few weeks ago. It was horror story. They were absolutely helpless top stop the running game. Bartolo Colon could have stolen a base.
Sure this is not 100% of the reason behind his problems of late -- I dumped him after the LAA debacle and haven't paid attention -- but the strong likelihood that every single or walk can be converted into a double is certainly likely to add a few points to the ol' ERA.
Last edited by d18Mike on Sun May 08, 2005 12:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
I haven't been able to follow him as much as I would have liked, but he is only 24, and this is his first full season starting in the majors, so bumps in the road are inevitable and should be expected. I do agree with Mike though, his slow delivery is something that he definitely needs to work on, but I don't think that's as much his problem right now as much as his age. He's definitely got the tools, just needs to learn how to pitch. I wouldn't be counting on him heavily in any fantasy league for this year much other than an occasional spot start in good matchups.
Like many have said, including myself, Haren along with Blanton and other young starters are just that, young starters. There will be patches when they are inconsistent and get hit hard. I'm willing to bet Haren will have 3-4 dominant starts at some point this season, but overall his numbers will be about average. Just realize that with any young guy the good will most certainly be mixed in the with bad.
...Boston papers now and then suffer a sharp flurry of arithmetic on this score; indeed, for Williams to have distributed all his hits so they did nobody else any good would constitute a feat of placement unparalleled in the annals of selfishness. -Updike
RAmst23 wrote:Like many have said, including myself, Haren along with Blanton and other young starters are just that, young starters. There will be patches when they are inconsistent and get hit hard. I'm willing to bet Haren will have 3-4 dominant starts at some point this season, but overall his numbers will be about average. Just realize that with any young guy the good will most certainly be mixed in the with bad.
Yeah, ERA's can really be a little deceiving this early in the season. The 5.50 isnt looking too flattering right now. But he has pitched pretty well if you disregard the two starts that he got roughed up in against Texas and Anaheim (both above average offenses). This was the same as his ERA last year, break it down and he had a very good year disregarding the occasional implosion.
Using the DIPS spreadsheet (courtesy of Pedantic), it indicates his DIPS ERA is around 4.37. So not great, but is around average.
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by B.O.S. Owner » Sat May 07, 2005 10:32 pm 
I wouldn't be counting on him heavily in any fantasy league for this year much other than an occasional spot start in good matchups.
