What To Do With Hanrahan?

As a Nationals fan, here is my rant (reposted from another blog's comments):

I know Hanrahan has killed the Nats this year, but anyone who wants to DFA him is out of their mind. He is exactly the pitcher you want on a team like this-who cares if he blows games? This team is obviously not winning the World Series this year. I'm getting sick of people trying to run him out of town-dude's got a 3.55 FIP! This team sucks and if they want to have any chance of being good in the future, they HAVE to continue to give guys with unlucky performance but good rate stats second chances rather than crappy never-was'es like Tavarez and Wells.

His rate stats are a million times better than his performance-K/9 numbers are consistent with 2008 while BB/9 and HR/9 numbers are way down. Problem is a .435 BABIP and 65.7% strand rate, both way off of his career numbers, even when he sucked as a starter (.343 career BABIP, 71.7% career strand rate). Hanrahan WILL improve, that's one thing I will swear by. Tavarez should be sent away before they even spend a second thinking about DFAing Hanrahan.

the hoagster07 you are completely correct here its not going to hurt him if they blow games because there not in a pennant race the only thing he needs is more save opps and a better besides you dont give up on a guy with this kind of potential

Totally agree with hoagster here.

Keep Hanrahan. He's an above average reliever, but bad luck and bad defense behind him are screwing him over.

Considering that Jordan Zimmermann, Ross Detwiler, and Craig Stammen (although not as much as the other two), have been WAY better than their ERAs this season, the defense is scary bad.

Although, Lannan has been insanely lucky for some odd reason. His ERA is 1.65 runs lower than his FIP, and it was the same way last year. Possible sell high here?

Somewhat agree with hoag. I'm another Nats fan who has watched Hanrahan dial it up to 97 mph, however it some games he does seem to just lose it. The defense behind him is a killer, as mentioned.

He's the type of talent that if he can hit his spots, he's a potential top closer in the NL. I say hold him and try to fix him.

Angels pitching prospect? He was drafted by the Dodgers...

I've never thought Hanrahan was anything particularly special but the Nats D is terrible, and you can't argue with his FIP, he's an above average bullpen arm. But he is 27 and only has 2-3 years left of arb (no?), so if the Nats can get a substantive offer for him now I say trade him. Otherwise, run him out there and let him either become a better trade chip for next year or a crucial piece for a team that can compete.

He would be a fine acquisition for the Phillies in my mind. They need to get more guys that can dial it up to the high 90's. If I were Ruben I'd be calling the Nats and offering a low level minor leaguer with some upside. Nats should be gearing up for 3-4 years down the road anyway.