Tanner Talk: The Dan Haren Trade-A Year Later

Hello, this is my third segment of Tanner Talk. I will be writing this segment every Friday, giving my opinions not only from around the baseball world, but from a specific point of view; I’ll be focusing on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I will refrain from using the whole name for obvious reasons and I will stick with calling them the Halos or just the Angels. This week I'm revisiting the Dan Haren trade a year ago.

On July 25, 2010 the Angels traded Joe Saunders, Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez, and a PTBNL for Dan Haren. The PTBNL turned out to be Tyler Skaggs, Skaggs was the Halos' supplemental first-round selection (40th overall) in 2009. At first glance this trade looks like a steal for the Angels, they give up 3 prospects, and a SP that was never really that good. But hey, let’s look at it, in-depth.

Joe Saunders- Signed thru 2011, 1 yr/$5.5M Arb-eligible and a Free Agent in2013.

9-11 3.82 ERA 172 innings 91 K’s 59 BB’s 1.326 WHIP 8.8 H/9 1.2 HR/9 3.1 BB/9 4.8K/9 1.8 WAR

Patrick Corbin- #9 prospect in Diamondbacks Organization (According to Baseball America)
9-7 3.91 ERA 156.1 innings 139 K’s 38 BB’s 1.286 WHIP 9.4 H/9 .7 HR/9 2.2 BB/9 8.0 K/9

Tyler Skaggs-#82 prospect (according to Baseball America)
9-6 2.86 ERA 154.1 innings 191 K’s 46 BB’s 1.069 WHIP 6.9 H/9 .6 HR/9 2.7 BB/9 11.1 K/9

Rafael Rodriguez- Pre Arb-Eligible Free Agent in 2016
03 9.88 ERA 4 SV 37.1 innings 18 K’s 21 BB’s 2.170 WHIP 14.5 H/9 1.9 HR/9 5.1 BB/9 4.3 K/9

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Dan Haren- Under contract for 2011 and 2012 at $12.75MM per season with a club option for 2013 of $15.5MM ($3.5MM buyout).
13-7 3.19 ERA 194.2 innings 159 K’s 27 BB’s 1.022 WHIP 8 H/9 .7 HR/9 1.2 BB/9 7.4 K/9 3.5 WAR

I took the liberty to bold the better stat of Haren vs. Saunders . . . It wasn’t too hard.

Now, how does Saunders hold up against the Angels’ 5^th starter in Piniero (not including Kazmir, Williams or Richards because lack of innings pitched and won’t include Chatwood because I believe he’s our 4^th starter). Well, out of the stats listed above, Saunders beats out Piniero 7-3.

But what we lost in Saunders as our 5^th starter we gained a lot more from our #2 starter. Though I do miss having Skaggs. . .

Weaver, Santana, Kazmir, Piniero, Saunders
A year later I see this trade as Haren for Corbin and Skaggs, the Angels wanted to win now, so they traded their two top pitching prospects in order to do so. The Angels might be able to extend Haren (if they pick up his option in 2013) to a below-market extension (hometown discount). So they might be able to have Weaver AND Haren for more another 5+ years.

So after first glance it looks like a steal, after an id-depth look? I think it’s not exactly a steal but it’s very close to it (especially if he signs an extension). This deal would only look bad if we hadn’t extended Weaver.