SATURDAY, 9:18pm: MLB.com's Corey Brock tweets that Harang's deal is for one year and about $3MM.
FRIDAY, 6:34pm: Harang and the Padres have agreed to terms and the contract will be official if Harang passes a physical, reports the Friarhood, a Padres fan/news site.
3:45pm: The Padres are interested in San Diego native Aaron Harang and may be close to a deal with him, according to Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune. MLB.com's Corey Brock reported yesterday that the Padres are one of several teams that have expressed interest in Harang. The right-hander told Brock that he'd like to play in his hometown, especially since Petco Park is pitcher friendly.
The 32-year-old made 20 starts in 2010, pitching to a 5.32 ERA in 111 2/3 innings. His 2.2 K/BB ratio is solid, but not as impressive as it was from 2005-09 when Harang struck out 3.5 times as many hitters as he walked. A fly ball pitcher, Harang would likely fit well in San Diego's spacious outfield.
The Padres are looking for starters after losing Jon Garland, Kevin Correia and Chris Young to free agency.
This post was originally published on November 3rd.
Not a bad pickup I suppose, as long as the price is right
He has tailed off recently but the Padres could use a vet SP who provides lots of innings.
He’ll have to take a pretty serious pay cut. The back spasms that kept him out last year don’t help his case much either. That being said…local guy, HR-prone, looking to rebuild his reputation…looks like a prime candidate for SD rotation.
Could have been my exact comments. It seems like he crashed ever since the day a few seasons ago when Dusty Baker used him out of the pen for no obvious reason. He never seemed to recover from the overuse.
It’s a nice signing in principle. Even better if the contract details are reasonable. Harang has a nice track record, and Petco should only help him…if he can make his 15 starts or so there.
Going from pitching in Great American Ball Park to Petco Park. Big difference in how those ball parks play.
Should be a good signing for the Pads as long as he isn’t hurt and takes a bit of a pay cut. PETCO will help him like it helped garland
He could limit HR’s, and succeed without the “ace” pressure, like he was labeled as in Cincinnati. I could see this deal really working out, something like Jon Garland in ’10.
When he’s on he is way better than Jon Garland because Harang also has pretty strikeout numbers and alot of those homeruns will die down there in petco, if he can recover from his injuries he will be a great addition to there roation.Good Luck Harang i hope you can restablish his value i always liked him
This will be a good signing. Reasonable cost and the Padres have the depth to replace him with guys like Leblanc and Luebke if Harang goes on the DL any part of the season. Harang will not only benefit from the larger park but also working the Balsley and Black. I could see Harang bouncing back with 170 IP and a 2.8 k/bb with an era aound 3.50
$4M 1-year sounds about right. He would be my second choice to Kevin Millwood.
I hope the Padres can afford Millwood too.
I am with you!
Got to be tough to be a Padres fan when you’re hoping for Kevin Millwood to bolster your pitching staff.
Not really. At Petco, the padres just need an innings eater. If millwood goes 6 or 7 innings giving up 2-4 runs, this keeps the padres in most games with their bullpen and defense. Millwood may struggle on the road but would benefit from petco park, just get us to the bullpen was there mantra all season.
be careful what you wish for
Sign Millwood. Leblanc and Luebke create depth at the back end of the rotation if any of the vets go on the DL.
remember how amazing this guy was a few years back… SD is the perfect place to re-establish himself
He’s been my pick for SD’s free agent SP signing this offseason all along. I think it makes a lot of sense for both sides.
As a Reds fan I have been a huge Harrang supporter since he came to the Reds. Last year was very sad considering all the trouble he had.. I think a change of scenery and a big ballpark could help him out a lot. Someone above said 4 million on a 1 year deal that would be fair considering his stats the past 2 seasons have drastically gotten worse. I hope for the best for him though. Great guy too and helps around the community too.
Certainly increased his fantasy value. Could be a solid late round or $1 pickup.
hopefully they sign him and millwood
Get Millwood too and then focus on the 2B/SS spots. I want Jerry H. back as an authentic Utility player. And bring in some relievers to replace Webb/Mujica.
I think between Gomes, Scribner, Russell, and others they have enough in house options to fill in for Webb/Mujica. Heck they have enough insurance in house they could take a chance on a rule 5 arm like Pelzer (who I think will make an excellent reliever).
Harang seems like a natural fit for San Diego. I figured Harang and Garland would end up in L.A. and S.D. this offseason, just wasn’t sure which one where.
So the rotation is
Latos
Harang
Richard
Stauffer
Luebke/?
I would think so. Though LeBlanc might be given a chance to compete with Luebke for that last spot in spring.
So the rotation is
Latos
Harang
Richard
Stauffer
Luebke/?
Good spot for Harang… especially for a hometown boy.
But seriously, who would NOT want to *pitch* for San Diego, the city and that park are awesome.
And with frickin’ awesome Gregerson, Adams, and maybe even Bell (at least for awhile) backing you up.
Harang has dealt with some injuries and with just plain old starting the year of bad and being unable to turn it around. That happens to the best of them some years.
He’s a good guy, and he has been a good pitcher, sometimes a great pitcher, in the past. The Padres only need him to be good and that will be enough. I like this signing. He was in a park that was poorly suited to his skill set; now he won’t be.
Pitching in Petco could return him to his 05-07 form. Hopefully it does. Getting out of Great American Ballpark will help him because he isnt really a strikeout guy, in his best years he only had just over 8 Ks/9 and career is only a mid 7 K/9 guy. He is a guy that gets hitters to get themselves out and he is a flyball pitcher. Unfortunatly the combo of being a pitch to contact guy+flyball guy+G.A. Ballpark= 18-38 the past 3 years. Im not saying that its all the park. Just thinking that a move to a pitchers park is what he needs to jumpstart himself.
On a side note its nice to see some pitchers making smart moves as opposed to maybe taking more money or more years elsewhere. Harang in SD, Vasquez in FLA, the 3 LA guys, Westbrook in STL and De La Rosa in COL.
As a baseball fan heres to hoping Cliff Lee does the same and stays in Texas.
This deal isn’t happening. Watch, later you’ll see “Padres not close to signing Harang”. Seems to be a trend around here.
AKA Rumors
dodgers fan not liking the move?
Haha, i couldn’t care less man.
These are the signings that are really interesting to me. While the Dunns-Crawfords-Lees-Werths are exciting to debate….they are actually a little boring. There’s not too many teams that couldn’t use THEIR services. It’s interesting when someone like Harang signs. Not as much hype…but very fascinating as far as the why and the where of the deal. Same would go for Brandon Webb. The guys that might not contribute so obviously, but the ones that are the majoriy core of most teams.
I agree. It’s usually not much of a surprise where the big guys will sign. All the boring Yankee guys will stay with the team or retire, and the big free agents will take a while to sort things out and usually just go to a big market team while the mid level free agents can be signed by nearly everyone.
Hmm, I guess it will be a major league deal but hopefully it won’t be for much. He’s been a bad pitcher for years now, I guess this will be the test to see if Petco really does that much for pitchers. A flyball guy like him can benefit but he’s been unhealthy and just hasn’t been effective for a while now. They should be spending more of their very limited resources on defense.
Ben, thanks for the love.
Sigh…as a sabermetric fantasy baseball player, Harang and his amazing ground ball ratios, weird BAPIPs, and BB:K ratios lure me in every year. I thought after this disappointing year I could quit him, but alas, the Petco Park allure will likely draw me in for another year.
This is worth the gamble for the Padres. If he’s healthy he could fit in as the 5th starter.
solid 4th or 5th starter. This guy can be a stopper at times and never did to bad in a hitters ball park, now moving to a pitchers ball park should be easy for him to excel.