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But right after turning 30 in 2008, Harang appeared in an extra-innings game on May 25, pitching innings 13-16 against the Padres. This came three days after his most recent start and he would be asked to start again four days later. In the start prior to the relief appearance, Harang had pitched 5 1/3 innings, coughing up five runs in what was one of his worst starts of the season. However, he only saw his ERA increase to 3.50 off the 103-pitch outing.
He didn’t give up any runs in the relief outing over 63 pitches and was brilliant, striking out nine in the process, but coughed up six runs in four innings against the Pirates in his next start, tossing 73 pitches. That’s 239 pitches over an eight-day span, by the way.
It would only get worse from there. In the 18 starts Harang made after the relief outing, his ERA was a sky-high 5.88 and he was never the same, spending a month on the disabled list for a forearm strain. He made just 26 starts in 2009 and 20 in 2010, combining for a 4.66 ERA over these 46 starts with 274 innings pitched. To compare, Harang made 35 starts in 2006, pitching 234 1/3 innings. That’s a difference of 11 starts and just 39 2/3 innings.
And now, Harang finally admits that relief outing is what derailed his career. Now a Padre, Harang is attempting to recapture the magic of days old, but Dusty Baker’s bizarre pitching decisions may have claimed another victim.
“What it did,” Harang said of the relief appearance to the San Diego Union-Tribune, “is fatigue me beyond the point of recovery. I started to change my arm angle to compensate for the fatigue and that’s when my forearm started to bother me.
“I feel like I’ve never been able to get back to the consistent, repetitive mechanics that I had,” he continued. “The last couple of years have been, ‘Try this, try that. Move your arm angle out a little.’ I’ve had a couple of my old coaches call me, asking, ‘What are you doing? You had so much success before doing the same thing. Now, all of a sudden, you’re turning your back on that?’
Frankly, the whole “Dusty Baker ruins arms” meme is way overplayed. I’m not a fully-paid member of the Dusty Fan Club, but this is one area where he gets a bad rap, in my opinion.
The Harang situation, however, raised eyebrows from the very first moment. It was a dumb decision by Baker, and it isn’t a stretch to say that Baker bears some responsibility for the downturn of Harang’s career. Was it the sole reason? Probably not, and no one will ever know. Harang himself — and Aaron Harang is a stand-up guy if ever there were one — says his problems originated there, and I’m surprised to read those quotes. Who knows?
There is one thing I do know: Dusty should get credit for only using Josh Fogg for one inning (the 10th) of that game, thereby preserving Fogg’s golden arm. Why don’t we ever hear praise for that decision?
Well, Dusty Baker was an absolute idiot on this one, throwing Harang 4 innings on a team that was 23-28, going nowhere.
That said, why didn’t Harang say he needed some rest? Harang has to bear a little responsibility too. Not as much as Baker, but some. Sure, I know, they would have “Jay Cutlered” Harang had he said he needed extra rest, but still….
Baker has yet to show he has been able to manage a “long relief” guy during his tenure as Reds manager. This was one prime example.
We all knew this affected him in a negative way and cost him the past year and a half. However, I do agree with Dave, at some point you have to say this hurt my arm and either not pitch anymore this game or go on the DL after the game. The next day, Harang should have been on the 15 day DL and skipped a couple of turns. That is on Baker, Harang, and Upper Management collectively.
I have no faith in management’s decisions on if they are going put someone on the DL. They drag their feet for too long and leave the team shorthanded. With the depth this organization has, there is absolutely no reason to do that.
@Dave Lowenthal:
That seems kind of unfair. I mean, maybe they should, but how many professional athletes are going to say they’re too tired to compete? If he does bear any blame, it’s a fraction of a fraction of what should be laid on Baker since, you know, it’s part of Dusty’s job.
And really, this was one of those inexplicably dumb decisions Baker makes that no one else does. What other manager would go get a starter who’s on 3 days rest to pitch a more or less meaningless single game in the first half of the season? Anyone else pulls out an expendable position player or two and has them throw up some grapefruits and hope for the best.
“There is one thing I do know: Dusty should get credit for only using Josh Fogg for one inning (the 10th) of that game, thereby preserving Fogg’s golden arm. Why don’t we ever hear praise for that decision? ”
BWAAHAAHAAA!! Brilliant, Chad!
Sorry, Aaron (as well as all the other pro athletes who think they’re helping a team by playing when they’re appreciably unhealthy)—-you don’t get to have it both ways. If you’re gonna be the tough guy who sucks it up for the team, you don’t get to assert the manager fatigued you beyond recovery. You took the ball when you knew you didn’t have it. At some point, you gotta put the team ahead of your pride (or is it insecurity?) and shut it down, even if it’s just for a start or two. Just bad recognition by him and the coaching staff. FAIL.
An every-fourth-day-starter could get very near or exceed that 239 pitches in 8 days bit.
And I agree that Harang had a responsibilty to the team after that outing to stand up and say he needed to skip a turn.
I am in agreement with most of the sentiments above. Most of the quotes I recall reading and hearing from pitching types around the team who were not coaches or pitchers (i.e. Welch, Brantley, and whoever the beat guys may have spoken with from other teams) was that it was not the 4 innings in SanDiego that caused the damage, it was Harang coming back on his regular turn after that. As I recall there was an off day or something that would have made it very easy for them to sit him out for a whole turn of the rotation but they didn’t.
Blame Dusty some; blame the pitching coach some. Either could have sat Harang down for a turn; but most of all I think you have to place a lot of blame on the player himself. He was a vet whose character and willingness to take the ball had never been questioned. If he mans up and says I need a pass; nothing would have been made of it beyond that he needed the extra time to get whole again.
But Harang’s downfall probably means very in the grand scheme of things. A healthy Harang wouldn’t have gotten the Reds into the playoffs in 2008 or 09. although it might have gotten them a .500+ season or two. And in 2010, I doubt he would have beaten Halliday in game 1 of the Divisonal Series. Now had Dusty had a healthy Harang and pulled a Sparky and held him for game 2 of the playoffs, then maybe we would have had something to chew on till spring training gets into full swing….
I’m not buying the line that Harang has to take so much responsibility. Players are always going to say they want to get on the field. If they don’t, all you hear are sportswriters and (especially) fans denouncing them for not being “team players”.
Look at it this way—-Baker created the situation. Of the 10 pitchers used in that game, 3 of them pitched less than 1 inning. In particular, Jerrod Burton was pitching effectively in the 7th inning when he was taken out for Jeremy Affeldt to face a left-hand hitter. Had Burton been allowed to finish the inning, Baker could have saved Affeldt for later in the game. Fogg was in a similar situation, getting taken out for Bray with just one out to go (however we must all acknowledge that with Fogg, it might be better to use him less). In fact, thruout the game, Baker made pitching changes the inning before the pitchers were due up. If he was going to do that, why didn’t he double switch? He could have gotten another inning out of Lincoln. An inning here, an inning there and Harang would have only been needed for one inning late in the game, rather than having to carry the team for 4 innings.
Here’s the game log from Retrosheet:
PADRES 5TH: Hairston grounded out (second to first); Iguchi
doubled to left; Giles walked; A. Gonzalez doubled [Iguchi
scored, Giles to third]; LINCOLN REPLACED BELISLE (PITCHING);
Kouzmanoff lined to third; Greene struck out; 1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2
LOB. Reds 4, Padres 5.
REDS 6TH: Encarnacion popped to second; Ross walked; HATTEBERG
BATTED FOR LINCOLN; COREY REPLACED MADDUX (PITCHING); Hatteberg
popped to catcher; Patterson struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.
Reds 4, Padres 5.
Why didn’t Baker double switch here? He could have put Hatteberg in at 1B in place of Valentin and have him hit ninth and have Lincoln hit in Valentin’s place. That way Lincoln could have pitched the next inning before having to be replaced by a pinch hitter.
(I ackowledge that any change in what happened could have also changed the end result. Lincoln could have given up 3 runs that theoretical inning and lost the game. But by that same chance, Hatteberg could have hit a grand slam and won it. The point is, Baker did not manage effectively. He did not prepare for the possibility of an extra-innings game)
“Dusty should get credit for only using Josh Fogg for one inning (the 10th) of that game, thereby preserving Fogg’s golden arm.”
Haha, my favorite line you’ve written
@Python Curtus: As I recall, we came up with a LOT of other options at the time, and there was an off day which could have pushed Aaron back.
If it was anyone else saying it, I might be tempted to call ‘sour grapes’, but Harang has never complained about anything. This must really have been eating at him for a long time. I have to give it some cred.
Also, reading LINCOLN RELIEVES BELISLE makes me truly grateful for our current staff. Throw in the Josh Fogg reference and I’m ready to shout praises from the mountain.
I really like Harang, but the excuses need to stop at some point. For the past two+ seasons, he has made nothing but excuses about his performance, whether it be mechanics or whatever. One extra outing in 2008 may have hurt his season that year, but he has had plenty of time to correct whatever problems he has. He just needs to step up and pitch well.
Until this, I don’t remember Harang making a single excuse ever.
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2010/04/21/harang-blames-luck-baker-avoids-question/
I know this is just one example, but there are more.
Let’s see them. Because this quote, is most certainly not excuse-making:
“It’s bad luck,” Harang said. “This game’s about luck. I’m going through a bad spell right now.”
Bigger picture, Matt B’s comments are EXACTLY why guys pitch through injuries and fatigue. It gets called “excuse-making.”
Not really. Giving up 15 runs in two starts isn’t bad luck; it’s bad pitching. He got hit hard; it’s not like bloopers were falling in. He was throwing his fastball right down the middle, and his breaking pitches were flat.
I also remember him saying blaming his mechanics for his poor performance (though I have no idea when and Fay’s blog is impossible to search), but even when he apparently made adjustments, he still wasn’t very good.
I’m not hating on Harang. I enjoyed watching him pitch, and I know he did a lot for the community.
Harang isn’t the first pitcher to ever pitch in relief during the season…he was fading prior to this appearance anyway…trying to predict what he would or wouldn’t have done had he not pitched is silly…not everything is Dusty Baker’s fault
Harang had gotten beaten up the Thursday night prior to the relief appearance. But on the season before that, he had a 3.12 ERA. 69.1 IP, 63 H, 16 BB, 56 K.
He was not “fading” in any way that was visible.
Do I blame Baker for this? I’d like to. Harang was clearly much worse after the incident (which I define as the Sunday-Thursday combo. But correlation doesn’t equal causation.
And it should also be noted that Baker push Harang’s start back 2 days. After the travel day on Monday, Cueto pitched on 6-days rest on Tuesday (that would’ve been Harang’s 5th day, ordinarily). Then Arroyo pitched Wednesday on 3 days rest (as he likes). Harang came back Thursday.
So, 102 pitches on Thursday (5/22)
Two days rest
63 pitches on Sunday
Three days rest
73 pitches (and a beating) on Thursday (5/29)
Four days rest
113 pitches on 6/3
Four days rest
91 pitches (and a beating) on 6/8
Four days rest
118 pitches
etc. etc. etc.
any reds fan with common sense could tell you that coupled with taking his normal turn in the rotation was the reason,he went from staff ace to please god don’t let him give up 5 runs today! you don’t go from being a good pitcher to sucking overnite and he did. now that he is no longer with the reds he does not have to be the loyal soldier and cover for dusty and company.
If the only quotes the writer got were the ones he includes in the article, then this seems like some shoddy journalism to me. If you read the article, there is no indication that Harang himself only blames Dusty; or that he thinks Dusty “derailed” his career; or that Dusty’s decisions are always “bizarre”. Those are the writer’s characterizations, and whether those are fair or not, I don’t think Harang himself is saying it was solely Dusty’s fault and that he was blameless.