Dear Aaron Harang
by justin007000 on Apr 22, 2010 2:02 AM EDT
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PrintI know you are going through one of the toughest times in your professional career. I don't know if this is a bump in the road or if you are washed up. But you will always be one of my favorite Reds.
You have pitched some incredible games for my favorite team. Your first shutout. Both you and Carpenter went the distance, but you didn't give up a run. You threw several gems in 2006. You outduled Carpenter in an early season game. You threw 7 shutout innings, and gave the Reds a huge win over the Cards. Two Starts later you threw a SHO on 3 days rest, when you replaced an injured Eric Milton. You ended 2006 with two complete games. You lead the league in strikeouts and were a workhorse.
You pitched 10 innings in a game in 2007.
The Game that may have caused it to all come crashing down... You did a helluva a job though, you were awesome in those 4 dutiful innings, you struck out 9 batters. But you were never the same again.
You had a few flashes, the shutout you threw in September of that year, and the Easter Shutout you threw last year, but aside from a few flashes, you just haven't been the special pitcher you were prior to that long game in San Diego.
I miss being excited when it is your turn in the rotation, now I feel a certain dread, and it hurts. You are one of my personal favorite players, and it sucks watching you get hit hard in start after start, it is even more difficult seeing you booed off the field. After everything you have done you deserve better than that, you work as hard as anybody, and you just can't get it done right now, there is no dishonor in that.
I hope to see a few more flashes from you, but now I fear that those days are over. I hope I am wrong.
I should add that I want to remember you as the pitcher from 2006 and 2007, not the pitcher who started today. You will always be one of my favorite Reds, I just love watching you work.
Justin
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Good post, Justin.
I remember that San Diego game vividly. It was sad to see him go downhill from there. The 10 inning game was crazy good, too.
Dusty
I will never forgive Dusty for sending Josh Fogg (the only long reliever) out to close the game in the 11th, and only sticking with him for 2/3 of an inning…. If you are going to send your only long guy out in extras to close a game, you better be willing to stick with him.
Poor Aaron...
I just read a story where Dusty referred to Jay Bruce as “Our toughest luck guy here, without a doubt”.
I’d have to say Dusty is dead wrong. Aaron just needs to adjust to life without an appendix and get a bit of run support. I think he’ll find some stability and serve the Reds well enough until Volquez is back.
He's fucking toast.
P-Doc’d.
A Pete Rose by any other name would still smell of cheap hookers and pinetar.
Get a room you two
But seriously, well said Justin!
Bart: "Dad, what's a Muppet?"
Homer: "Well, it's not quite a mop, not quite a puppet, but man... (laughs, then pauses) So, to answer you question, I don't know."
So what to do with Harang?
Give him the Zambrano treatment? Cut him loose? An extended trip to the DL for “arm fatigue,” and then hope to get something/anything for him at the trade deadline.
sad. very sad.
I've wondered the same thing.
While I’m not ready to give up on him as a starter just yet, Harang might make a very effective reliever. There’s no dishonor in that.
The booing gets to me. I remember when it happened to Joe Morgan later in his career and it made me cringe. Players of that ilk deserve better than that.
We Are ... Marshall!
by Thundering Turtle on Apr 22, 2010 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions
Harang has definitely struggled
But he will still be on of my favorite Reds from the current era. Nice writeup, Justin.
My 2010 Sports wishlist.
1. FIRE DUSTY! NOW!
2. Cavaliers Championship
3. Bengals win Super Bowl XLV
by Danimal, Destroyer of Worlds on Apr 22, 2010 11:42 AM EDT reply actions
Justin, you take a lot of shit around here
I think this is my favorite thing that you’ve ever written. Nicely done. We’re all pulling for Harang, and we’re all unsure of just what to do with him.
rec'd
for content AND spelling
It doesn't matter what you think, or what I think. It's what Dusty thinks that matters, and he's a knucklehead.
I have a thing for pitchers
Pete Schoureck will always be my favorite player, and watching him in 1997 was one of the saddest things for me to see, as far as baseball goes.
I even have a soft spot for Paul Wilson, and it sucked in 2005 when it all came crashing down (again). I hoped he would survive one more surgery and I pulled hard for him, but it wasn’t to be.
When you get back home to Syracuse you can rest your weary head, take some pills, sniff some cocaine, and put the baby to bed.
If they only would have listened to me…
When you get back home to Syracuse you can rest your weary head, take some pills, sniff some cocaine, and put the baby to bed.
the average guy off the street could've handled the situation better than Dusty in that game
it was the epitome of what is wrong with Dusty as a strategist and manager of lineups.
I had forgotten CoPat went 0-8 in that game
that’s just epic
see what I did there with uzr? it’s like a LOL cats saber-pun combo.--Verka Serduchka
I won't miss Harang as much as I've been missing Man Mountain
Now there is an RR
Potential doesn't win games.
Sam Bradford is wearing a sharp suit.
"Red Reporter - An elitist clique full of like-minded douchebags." - BK
Agreed
It is sooooo sad to see Aaron these days ever since that damn game in San Diego. I’ve always contended that had we have gotten a closer in 2006, Aaron would have had 20 wins at least, the Cy Young Award, and the Reds would not have had the late West Coast swoon in August, spiraled down in September, and would have made the playoffs. That season really was the end to a lot of things and Aaron deserves much better than this. Pitched brilliantly during seasons where he was making $2million or less. Remember this article? http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070206&content_id=1795460&vkey=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin
Aaron’s contract is “a relative bargain” and 2007 when he was 4th in the Cy Young vote, he was only making $4.25 million. I wish a lot of the Jackass fans would remember how little the Reds paid for his excellent years and quit worrying about this $12 million bull puckey he has for this year.
Wherever you go Aaron, you’ll still have at least one fan.
by Jack Armstrong started an All Star Game on May 2, 2010 3:10 AM EDT reply actions
i'm a fan two
I will be sad the day Harang is traded or his option is declined.
I hate Dusty Baker so goddamn much.
Harang was younger then and he kept up his payments to the pitcher witches
Potential doesn't win games.
Go Harang
I’ll be scoreboard watching, with a Cardinals fan, don’t embarrass me!
I hate Dusty Baker so goddamn much.
Seriously, do the Reds hate Harang?
I mean sure, he usually faces the other team’s best or 2nd best pitcher, but we just cannot score runs for him.
Sad, really
So?
It doesn’t matter if Harang gives up 3 or 4 or 6 runs…if he was matched up against the opposition’s no. 2 or 3 starter we’d still be in trouble.
Potential doesn't win games.
he seemed okay today
6IP 3ER 1BB and 6K, I’ll take it.
He is going to be alright.
I hate Dusty Baker so goddamn much.
Yes in the light of day I do think that he pitched better than I gave him credit for...
Potential doesn't win games.
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