On November 25, 2013 the Dodgers signed Dan Haren as a free agent. He has been acquired to be an end of rotation pitcher. ThinkBlueLA.com forum members are well aware that I have not always been in favor of the moves made by the Dodgers in the past few years. I wailed against the acquisitions of Jason Schmidt, Manny Ramirez, George Sherrill, Ted Lilly, Aaron Harang, Chris Capuano, Ted Lilly, Matt Guerrier, and Juan Uribe. My reason always has been that the Dodgers were not building for the future but rather going with the finger in the dyke approach to try to stop the flood that was washing over them by MLB teams built to win in the longer term. It was more of a survival plan rather than a plan to allow the team to grow into a consistently competitive team.

For years Haren has been a nemesis for the Dodgers, now they will no longer have to face him. (Photo credit – John McDonnell)

Back to Dan Haren who was a second round selection by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2001 amateur draft. He was drafted 72nd overall, four spots after the Dodgers drafted Brian Pilkington. The Dodgers had no first round selection in 2001 and a quick check of their draft picks reveals Edwin Jackson – sixth round – is the only Dodger draftee from that year to ever play at the MLB level. Dan Haren may be one that got away but has now been hooked. Haren debuted with the Cardinals in 2003 but was subsequently traded to the Athletics (2004) in the Mark Mulder deal and from there later traded to the Diamondbacks (2007). A man on the move, Haren was again traded, this time to the Angels (2010). In 2012 he joined the Nationals, signed as a free agent, and after the 2013 season filed again for free agency.

During his best years, Dan Haren was a top of rotation pitcher. However with time he has settled into an end of rotation guy with his ERA and hits per nine innings on the increase. As a fly ball pitcher he has always been bitten by the home run ball having twice served up 31 and 28 in each of the last two seasons in fewer innings pitched. Nonetheless I am comfortable with Haren, 33, as a number 4/5 pitcher.

My satisfaction comes from having had a glimpse of Stan Kasten’s Phase II. That is, his development plan for the Dodgers for the next few years. Haren was offered a one year contract, not the typical Ned Colletti three-year contract. The vesting option provides the team with an out if Haren does have injury issues. And though $10M is still a lot of money, it is $3M less than he earned in 2013. The contract does not have the potential to be an albatross around the Dodgers’ neck – in other words, it is highly unlikely that they will end up paying him to play elsewhere.

Secondly, this free agent signing may well preclude a trade for David Price that would conceivably clean the Dodgers out of blue chip prospects. I am all for having Price – drafted first by the Dodgers in 2004 but not signed – as a member of the starting staff, but not at the expense of Corey Seager, Julio Urias, Joc Pederson, Zach Lee and perhaps more. It would seem the Dodgers with the signing of Haren are now able to turn their full attention to Japanese phenom Masahiro Tanaka, an acquisition that would not deplete the minor league system.

I am comfortable that Haren can be a serviceable starter with the occasional exceptional start. He has been relatively healthy during his career never making less than 30 starts in a season. The comfort of living at home in the LA area and pitching in the expanse of Dodger Stadium should make for a happy camper who is a bit less home run prone.

In checking out his statistics there is one stat that stood out. Dan Haren, although not a true strikeout pitcher, is a control pitcher extraordinaire. During his career he has struck out 1,736 hitters in 2,046 innings. At the same time he walked only 426 hitters. His career WHIP is a very respectable 1.186. Because he is always around the plate Haren has consistently given up a hit an inning.

In addition to his pitching, Haren is also handy with the bat – which seems to be a growing (and welcomed) trend for Dodger starters.
(Photo Credit – Otto Greule)

The statistic that jumps out for me is Dan Haren’s K/BB ratio, a career 4.0751. That means he strikes out four hitters for every one he walks resulting in nearly eight strikeouts per nine innings and about two walks per nine innings. With my interest peaked I decided to do a bit of research on the history of K/BB ratios in MLB. I imagined the old timers would have the best ratios. Boy, did I strike out on that one. From 1920 through 1950 the ratio was about 1.00. That means one strikeout for each base on balls. By 2010 the MLB ratio had climbed to 2.00, two strikeouts for each walk.

It seems Dan Haren has defied the odds with his K/BB ratio of just over 4.00. I then checked to see who had the best career K/BB ratios. There have been exceptional years for individual pitchers such as Bret Saberhagen in 1994 (11.00) and Cliff Lee in 2010 (10.28). During his career Saberhagen posted a 3.64 K/BB ratio while Lee’s continues to go up but stands at 3.88.

I tried to guess who might be in the top ten with the best K/BB ratios in baseball history. I did guess Pedro Martinez but other than Pedro I struck out again. Tommy Bond who pitched from 1874 until 1884 is the career leader with a 5.0363 K/BB ratio. To my disbelief, Dan Haren ranks fifth all time and fourth in the modern era and only a fraction behind future first ballot Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. The top ten as provided by Baseball Reference.com are as follows:

Player (yerrs played) – R/L

1. Tommy Bond (10) 5.0363 – R
2. Curt Schilling (20)   4.3826 – R
3. Pedro Martinez (18) 4.1500 – R
4. Mariano Rivera (19) 4.1014 – R
5. Dan Haren (11) 4.0751 – R
6. Cliff Lee (12) 3.8761 – L
7. Cole Hamels (8) – 3.8299 – L
8. Jim Whitney (10) 3.8224 – R
9. Trevor Hoffman (18) 3.6906 – R
10. Doug Jones (16) 3.6802 – R

Needless to say I am looking forward to Dan Haren maintaining his career K/BB ratio in 2014.