Reds Stuck With Harang

August 14, 2009 · Paul Raymond · Jump to comments

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With each day that passes it looks like the Cincinnati Reds will be stuck with pitcher Aaron Harang. The starter cleared waivers and can now be traded to any team in the league, but they’re receiving no interest. Not too surprising.

Harang’s line for the year is 6-13 (league leader in losses), a 4.43 era 132 strikeouts in 148 innings pitched. Minus the losses those are fairly respectable numbers. What really stands out this year thou is his WHIP of 1.43 and the fact that he’s already given up 174 hits.

Harang has always been a walking time bomb, or actually should I say a hitting time bomb? He’s been known to get in too trouble, lots of it. Hitters, make just way to much contact against him. He’s got the talent to work out of jams but there is always the threat of a team blowing the game open at any moment.

The constant runners on base aren’t keeping him from being dealt thou. What’s keeping him from being dealt are the numbers with the $ in front of them.

Harang is due to make $12.5 million in 2010 a pretty big number for a player with stats like that. Even bigger then that his $12.75 million option will become $14 million, and the buyout raises from $2 to $2.5 million. So even if a team decides to cut him, it will be fairly expensive to do so.

With that salary and the chances of blowout happening, do you really think a playoff contender would take a chance on him? Not at all.

That’s why teams like the New York Yankees are trading for low cost pitchers like Chad Gaudin and Josh Towers. If you’re going to trade for a guy who can unravel from one pitch to the next, you go for the cost effective pitcher.

And that’s something Harang is not, and that’s why the Reds will be stuck with him.

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