It's not so much that he's the "No. 5 starter". To me, in my opinion, we're giving $10MM to a guy when we could just call up Zach Lee to pitch the same, if not better. I don't really blame Ned because 1-year, $10MM isn't a bad deal for an innings eater, but Haren has definitely underperformed.
Haren is not a ten million dollar pitcher...well, he is, because Ned gave it to him. But I don't know if he's going to wind up with being worth that. But from what I've seen, Zach Lee is pretty average. I mean , he just looks like he throws the same pitch (and not too quickly either), over and over again. I'm not saying it's between Haren and Lee, but I don't think Lee's all that. Personally I wouldn't care if they give Haren twenty million, as long as he pitches like he's worth it. Slightly above mediocrity at this point in time is a bit of a ten million dollar stretch, IMO. Now Dee Gordon, at $ 515, 000, that's being overpaid.
I didn't know a 5th starter could underperform. If all your crying about is the $ then what's the point? We giving 10 mill to a guy who can't carry the 3 spot- we're also giving 21 mill to a guy to play CF who can't play CF.
haren is pitching pretty near his career numbers we knew what we were getting when we signed him and my problem isn't the $10MM for this season -- it's what the market was bearing at the time my problem is with the additional $10MM and additional year that vests if he pitches 180 innings -- which he's currently on schedule to break
When your FIP is 4.5 and getting higher and you're striking out about 5.85 per 9 IP, I'd say you're underperforming. It's not a huge deal, I'm just saying that I don't agree that Haren is "doing his job". The whole slotting of pitchers is silly IMO also. Not to get technical, because slotting a pitcher through numbers 1-5 doesn't really matter until October, but at the time of the signing he was supposed to be the "4" starter.
