Four More Years of Harang
By
Amanda
Posted at 2:09 pm
Yippee! The Reds avoided arbitration with their only remaining arbitration-eligible player when they signed Aaron Harang to a four-year, $36.5 million contract through the 2010 season with a club option for 2011. Here's some stuff from the story on Reds.com:
Coming off his best season, Harang went 16-11 with a 3.76 ERA in 36 games, including 35 starts, in 2006.
Part of a solid 1-2 rotation combo with Bronson Arroyo, the 28-year-old Harang offered the club consistency by pitching 234 1/3 innings and led the National League with 216 strikeouts and six complete games and was also tied for the league lead in victories.
Before Harang, the last Reds pitcher to lead the NL in strikeouts was Jose Rijo in 1993. No Reds pitcher had led the league in complete games since Danny Jackson in 1988.
Let's get something from C. Trent in here too:
The deal, including the fifth-year buyout, is worth $36.5 million, which when Gil Meche is getting five years for $55 million is a bargain. The press conference will be live on WLW and Reds.com
Tune in to the press conference and let me know what they say. I'm in a meeting at 2, and besides, WLW couldn't make it all the way here through this blizzard anyway.
Needless to say that was an outstanding move by the Reds, and it is really good to know that harang is one of the good guys who is willig to stick with his team instead of exploit the open market.
Also, I checked the 2007 giveaways and this one on April 20 looks particularly interesting:
Ryan Freel Dirty Shirt Night presented by Widmer’s
T-shirt giveaway
10,000 adults
June 13 is Aaron Harang bobblehead night.
Thank you, Wayne Krivsky. Excellent move!
The money ends up being quite a bit more than the $5.5 million that Harang would have been seeking for this season in arbitration, but the Reds have locked up one of the better pitchers in the league for basically the next five years.
So much for the theories that this team refuses to spend money on talent.
There’s also an article on the Enquirer’s website that says the Reds are looking at Dustin Hermanson as a possible solution to the closer issue. If Hermanson’s healthy, that’s an interesting idea. He saved 30+ games with the White Sox in 2005, and in 2001 was a servicable (though not spectacular) starter with the Cardinals. Only problem is he had a bad back last year and pitched less than ten innings all season.
Still…at least they’re open to the idea of bringing in someone to help, if only until Eddie Guardado comes back – they’re not hell-bent on splitting the job between Stanton and Weathers and hoping they can stay in the race long enough for Guardado to be able to make a difference when he returns.
Oh…one more thing: Jerry Narron’s brother Johnny has been hired by the Reds. He’s now their video/administrative coach, and will assist in video operations and coaching administrative duties for the big-league club. He’s been a minor league manager and hitting coach for the last four years, in the Brewers’ organization. So we’ve ended up getting a coach from the Brew Crew after all, it just wasn’t Butch Wynegar.
HMZ
Yay! Did anyone watch the press conference?
I saw that about Narron’s brother in the Reds press release last week. Is that the same brother who coached Josh Hamilton?
And Arroyo…
Wow, Arroyo gets a 2 year extension with a club option for 2011. That’s a real shocker. A lot of people assumed he was gonna ditch Cincinnati at the earliest opportunity… I believe Red-Hot-Mama herself insinuated he was itching to re-join his Boston homies.
Details forthcoming.
That’s great news. If only because it means the Reds are serious about winning.
[url=http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6455716?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49]Fox Sports[/url] has some numbers. $25 million, 2-year extension through 2010.
Dunno if Arroyo really wanted to go back to Boston, but I don’t think there’s much room for him there. They’ve got their new Japanese ace, Matsuzaka, plus a lot of young (cheap) talent.
Well alot can change in 2 years when he was scheduled to be a free agent. Just watched the press conference. Apparently Kriv-dawg has been working on this deal for several weeks, and told his agent several months ago that an offer would be coming in the off season. Apparently none of this was leaked to the media, because no one mentioned the possibility of an extension for Arroyo.
Arroyo looked very happy at the press conference, made the conference despite having family plans this evening, and said he was excited about the way the Reds and Krivsky did everything they could to try and make the playoffs last year. He was impressed that they brought in so many arms in midseason to try and fix the bullpen. He thinks they can make the playoffs. He also mentions that security was a big thing, who knows what might happen in the next couple of years so signing long term is desirable… and he said he likes Cincinnati, has been treated good etc.
So we are set as far as the top of the rotation for the next 5 years! We know Homer Bailey isn’t far away, so some exciting days may be in store for us in the near future. I’d like to see them get a taste of the playoffs this year, whether as a wild card or divisio leader, and while I don’t expect a world championship you never know what might happen once you make the post season… but more importantly I just want them to get that experience so it becomes an annual tradition!