WHY RICH HARDEN'S A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

With Gio Gonzalez, John Danks, CJ Wilson, and Mark Buehrle all off the list of starting pitchers the Yankees could've acquired, to go along with the ridiculous trade prices of Mat Latos--who went to Cincinnati--and Matt Garza, we now have to avert to the next tier of starting pitchers. We know of Roy Oswalt and Hiroki Kuroda, but Brian Cashman hasn't been too keen of either one, or at least to the public. Like it or not, the Yankees may actually have a tight budget this winter. With that in mind, I looked through the Free Agent list, which you can read HERE, for some cheap alternative options, and I think I've found a guy that could be a fit. That guy is Rich Harden.

Before we go through the negatives with Harden, I want to look at the positives. Harden is a guy who misses bats (career 9.2 K/9), doesn't allow many hits (career 7.5 H/9), and limits runs (career 3.76 ERA).

Unfortunately, that's where the positives end. On the negative side, he walks too many batters (career 4.1 BB/9), allows a few too many homers (career 1.02 HR/9), and gets injured...A LOT. Harden has been on the disabled list nine times since 2005, with five of those DL stints being due to shoulder injuries. Check out Harden's injury history right HERE. It's not pretty, to say the least.
Not to mention, Harden hasn't been that great at all the last two years. Take a look...

2010-2011:

35 games, 33 starts, 9-9, 5.36 ERA, 174.2 innings, 1.52 WHIP, 8.6 K/9, 4.8 BB/9, 1.8 HR/9

Now, after going through all the negatives I bet you're asking why he would be a good fit. First, his stock is basically rock bottom at this point, thus it will probably only take a one year deal worth around $2-3 million, could be less, who knows. The Yankees have a tight budget, but I don't think it's that tight, so money shouldn't be a problem here.
I'd give him a shot in Spring Training, and if he produces good results, while out-pitching other guys like AJ Burnett, Phil Hughes, etc, I bring him to the Bronx and have him in the starting rotation. If he craps out, so what? It's a low risk, high reward type of move for a guy with a lot of upside. Remember, it's just a one year deal, so they can DFA him and go a different route if he struggles. If it works out, great, Cashman will look like a genius, again.



--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer



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