Harang: A Tale of 3 Metrics

Hawk said:
That sentiment seems in part an overvaluation of Harang and an undervaluation of the Braves awesome ability to trawl for cheap, bottom of the barrel, pitching solutions. I'm a huge proponent of depth, and was one of the ones that was screaming for an additional veteran arm even before Medlen and Beachy went down -- but I don't know if I'm ready to buy in on Harang for an entire season yet. If we can sell high on him, so be it ... if not, no love lost.
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I wouldn't mind selling high on him. The question I have is whether anyone will offer anything of value. After all, Freddy Garcia is out there. How much do you offer for Harang when you can have Garcia as a free agent. There is also a steady supply of guys like Blanton, Hanson, Dontrelle Willis, Jurrjens, etc. floating out there.
 
nsacpi said:
I wouldn't mind selling high on him. The question I have is whether anyone will offer anything of value. After all, Freddy Garcia is out there. How much do you offer for Harang when you can have Garcia as a free agent. There is also a steady supply of guys like Blanton, Hanson, Dontrelle Willis, Jurrjens, etc. floating out there.
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It could be the return is simply cash -- enough to contribute to our (now) non-existent midseason stash to grab a nice piece at the deadline.

I like it when the Braves pull complete surprises out of the hat (Ben Sheets, Julio Franco, Jay Powell, Chris Hammond, etc.) They could have their eyes on a couple of non-traditional options already.

Harang's value is: A) he's ready right now B) he's pitching well against good teams C) he's not officially as washed up (yet) as Blanton/Hanson/Jurrjens.

Also, randomly, I think Hanson could be a dominant setup man.
 
If the intention is to trade him, better start considering bc with his flyball rate and the weather heating up, the balls gonna be flying out of the yard.

He's been worth the pickup, but can't get too attached to him.
 
gilesfan said:
He's been worth the pickup, but can't get too attached to him.
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Who could resist growing attached to a serene visage like that?

i
 
I say hang on to Harang (hey, campaign slogan) until we can lure his 'wife', Jennifer, into a public setting where she can be photographed/filmed.
 
gilesfan said:
Havent been around. Thethe call him a cy young contender yet?
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He's been remarkably restrained. He did call him "the final band aid" in the second post of this thread.

That's what the Gnats are lacking. The band aid to end all band aids.
 
nsacpi said:
He's been remarkably restrained. He did call him "the final band aid" in the second post of this thread.

That's what the Gnats are lacking. The band aid to end all band aids.
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So how many cy young contenders to go with the 4 MVPs in the everyday lineup?
 
I distinctly remember one of the announcers saying that Garcia had said that he would not go down to TripleA whereas Harang said he would and that was one of the reasons we let Garcia go. Minor replaces Hale and then when Floyd gets ready I'd send Harang to Gwinnett to keep him stretched out and ready.
 
I think the issues of Avilan so far make it far more likely that Wood will go to the bullpen...

Note - I'm not advocating for this...
 
We have no choice. No lefties in the bullpen except Thomas with Avilan's struggles Wood makes sense until Venters come back. Even then Venters is no guarantee to pitch like he did '10-'12.

I think we really underestimate how great the O'Flaherty-Venters-Kimbrel combination was. That was as close to shutdown as you could get, with each guy having an ERA under 1.5 at one point.
 
I'm not going to sound the alarm on Avilan yet. He could end up being find after this outing. Only in a crisis situation am I taking Wood out of the rotation other than to control his innings with rest.
 
Alex Wood is not coming out of the rotation.

What they should and probably will do is reverse Thomas and Avilan's roles until Luis gets straightened out.

Hope Venters looks good when he gets back. On a related note, I saw where Andrews didn't do Gearrin's, either.
 
I think Wood would be a wonderful add to our bullpen, which looks pretty bad right now. He'd be your 8th inning man right off the bat. We can cover the rotation without him when Minor and Floyd are ready. Maybe back to the rotation when Harang turns into, well, Harang again.

Carpenter and Avilan are regressing. This is probably not a one month thing, better to have another good arm for those late innings.
 
With the 7 no hit innings his ERA drops to 0.70. But due to the six walks, his FIP and xFIP rise to 2.76 and 4.45.

His BABIP stands at .143, strand rate at 90.5%. Ground ball percentage is at a career low of 25.4%. Fly ball percentage at an extremely high 54.2%. Yet zero home runs so far.

Folks it is all pixie dust.

His line drive rate is 20.3%. This does not represent any sort of improvement. It has been at 18.5%, 20.5%, and 19.7% in the past three years. It is not as if he is suddenly inducing more weak contact.

Walk rate is 4.2%, which is on the high end of where he has been in recent years.

If you look at line drive rate, walk rate, strikeout rate, you would see essentially the same mediocre pitcher. I'm really happy to have gotten these 4 starts from Harang. But let's be realistic about the huge amount of good luck involved here. And let's not turn a blind eye to the underlying indications that he is the same mediocre pitcher.
 
nsacpi said:
With the 7 no hit innings his ERA drops to 0.70. But due to the six walks, his FIP and xFIP rise to 2.76 and 4.45.

His BABIP stands at .143, strand rate at 90.5%. Ground ball percentage is at a career low of 25.4%. Fly ball percentage at an extremely high 54.2%. Yet zero home runs so far.

Folks it is all pixie dust.

His line drive rate is 20.3%. This does not represent any sort of improvement. It has been at 18.5%, 20.5%, and 19.7% in the past three years. It is not as if he is suddenly inducing more weak contact.

Walk rate is 4.2%, which is on the high end of where he has been in recent years.

If you look at line drive rate, walk rate, strikeout rate, you would see essentially the same mediocre pitcher. I'm really happy to have gotten these 4 starts from Harang. But let's be realistic about the huge amount of good luck involved here. And let's not turn a blind eye to the underlying indications that he is the same mediocre pitcher.
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I think most people see that. It has to be one of the luckiest runs to start a season for a pitcher. That said this team was due some luck to the rotation after losing Medlen and Beachy for the year and Minor being going for a month.
 
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