Dan Haren: Is it time?

[strong]

Yeah, someone just dropped him in my league and I'm crossing my fingers since I'm 11th on the waiver order... I think he's a great option for a fifth starter and even better if you have the luxury of spot starting him...

[pedrosanpedro]

And just a little side note about his past few starts... Tampa has the 3rd highest team batting avg. in the AL, and is 6th in total runs scored... they're no pushovers offensively...

[d18Mike]

I second what West said -- don't underestimate the fact that the Haren-Kendall combo is regarded as possibly the worst duo in MLB at holding runners. I've seen him implode is 2 games this year where teams essentially ran at will. He's a fine pitcher -- no question. But his WHIP is actually more critical a stat than it is for many other pitchers as with Haren/Kendall a heck of a lot of BBs and singles are turned into doubles. No question this has effected his ERA. I'd say by at least .25 this year, perhaps much more.

[AKhomebrewer]

... his WHIP is actually more critical a stat than it is for many other pitchers as with Haren/Kendall a heck of a lot of BBs and singles are turned into doubles.

A good observation. People have noticed opponents' ability to run on Haren; what's noteworthy about his success the past month is a 29/7 K/BB and a 0.95 WHIP. Keeping the walks down will be a key to his value going forward, because he's the anti-Kenny Rogers from the stretch.