Just a short reminder

[CTA513]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Gave him not only a chance, but boatload of money. Guy is not fit for our park, move on an be happy for him and the fact that he didn't take the Reds for any more cash.

Don't worry Arroyo has stepped up to do that this season.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

Probably has something to do with the nearly 2:1 IP ratio...

Nah, I noticed that too....I still wouldn't expect it to be that extreme.

[TRF]

Once he fit fine in Cincinnati. 2007 was a nice year at GABP. 2006 was better on the road. For whatever reason, he started to stink a bit. Now he has success. I think he's a streaky pitcher prone to big games either way... big K games and games where he gives up a lot of runs.

In 2008 his BB rate and his hit rate went up. He's still walking too many hitters though. I wonder if once he's been another year removed from Cincinnati, and relaxes a bit if he can build on it. I also think he's wearing down a bit. 2nd half numbers not nearly as good as the first half.

[WVRedsFan]

Yes. When I asked the question about the Reds giving him a chance, it was not to imply the Reds did anything wrong--we could no longer to give him the kind of money he would have demanded. My purpose was to point out that his great year proves he was not the dud many said he was. Some of the comments really disturbed me. Hope the guy wins 16 this year and 20 next. He deserves it.

[Homer Bailey]

Originally Posted by WVRedsFan

Yes. When I asked the question about the Reds giving him a chance, it was not to imply the Reds did anything wrong--we could no longer to give him the kind of money he would have demanded. My purpose was to point out that his great year proves he was not the dud many said he was. Some of the comments really disturbed me. Hope the guy wins 16 this year and 20 next. He deserves it.

It doesn't prove anything other than that he pitches in a great ball park for fly ball pitchers.

[Hoosier Red]

Originally Posted by Homer Bailey

It doesn't prove anything other than that he pitches in a great ball park for fly ball pitchers.

I've also been of the opinion that Harang needs to be able to be aggressive with his stuff. Certainly it's true of all pitchers, but he just doesn't have the secondary pitches to get away with it if he's not able to get strikeouts.

Because of this, I think it certainly was possible for him to pitch well in Cincinnati, but once things started to go bad, they went downhilll. All of a sudden anytime he'd put something over the plate he was getting it driven for a cheapie home run, and once that started, he'd start nibbling, which meant he threw a ton of pitches and walked guys and eventually had to come back over the plate with something not quite as sharp, and the process repeated itself.

He's in a place now where every ball up isn't going to result in a trip around the bases, which means he can be more aggressive with his slider(because he doesn't have to worry about the side effects if he gets behind and has to throw one over the plate.) This in turn makes him more confident and makes all of his pitches that much better.