Dan Haren the ace Arizone was hoping for?

[Providence A's]

Haren was hot for the month of April going 4 - 1 with an ERA of 3.13. But he has cooled off a little in May by going 1 - 3 with an ERA of 4.45. His peripherals are about the same, but he gave up more earned runs in less innings pitched. He is on pace to give up less homers than he did last year, which was a prime reason for why he got in trouble at times. It would mark the 3rd consecutive year that he's lowered his homer totals (31 to 24 to being on pace for about 21).

I'm surprised to see his ERA higher at this point than his total from last season. I fully expect it to be less than it was last season by the time this season is over. I'd be shocked if it were higher given that the NL doesn't have the DH and tends to have weaker lineups compared to the AL. Though it doesn't appear that he'll be a Cy Young candidate unless he gets hot for a while.

[ljshorty89]

The key thing to remember is that the NL has had better offensive numbers than the AL thus far this year. The D-Backs are a very good team, and Haren is a key to their success. They will be fine, as will he. It's just about getting him consistent.

[Providence A's]

Yea, I think as long as he keeps his homers and walks down, he'll be fine.

Can someone fix my typo in the subject? Ugh

[Doppelgänger]

Its a bit of a wash in my opinion. The N.L. does have a DHless lineup, but he also pitches in a less pitcher friendly park. By the end of the year I would expect his numbers to come back down to about 3.50. Not the top of the league but a strong starter none the less which is what the Dbacks need.

[ljshorty89]

The interesting thing is that if you look at both Johan Santana and Dan Haren have had their struggles so far this year. However, one if more likely to rebound (statistically, at least) than the other.

Dan Haren:
G GS GF W L S CG SHO IP ERA H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP
+-+------------+----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+------+------+----+----+----+---+----+---+----+---+
1st Half 72 72 0 28 24 0 3 0 465.1 3.58 424 211 185 50 113 10 358 18
2nd Half 69 60 2 26 24 0 2 0 385.2 4.11 418 189 176 51 90 5 308 9



Johan Santana:
G GS GF W L S CG SHO IP ERA H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP
+-+------------+----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+------+------+----+----+----+---+----+---+----+---+
1st Half 154 102 19 49 30 0 5 3 776.1 3.57 675 322 308 96 215 4 804 19
2nd Half 108 83 4 50 17 1 1 1 606.1 2.79 465 208 188 60 166 0 642 9


Johan has been significantly better over the course of his career in the second half of the year, while Haren has actually had WORSE numbers in the second half. I think both will be fine, and both will probably compete for the Cy Young come the end of the year, but I think that they need to see what is causing them trouble, and fix it soon. If they can manage to keep the ball in the park, and keep the walk totals down, both will excel.