Angels Acquire Dan Haren From Diamondbacks

By: Tyler Ward

In a deal on Sunday, the Arizona Diamondbacks traded pitcher Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels for pitchers Joe Saunders, Rafael Rodriguez, and Patrick Corbin. Another player from the Angels is expected to be added to the five player swap.

Haren had drawn interest from the New York Yankees and now with him off the market, the Yankees are going to have to go elsewhere to acquire a starting pitcher. There have been rumors involving Joba Chamberlain, who has dropped out of Yankees fans' favor this season. Supposedly, the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers had been interested in Haren, but it is unclear what they would offer for Haren.

Haren has had an up-and-down season for Arizona, having a record of 7-8 with a 4.60 ERA. Not only is he tied for the National League in strikeouts with 141, he is also leading the NL in hits allowed with 161. Haren adds value to a pitching staff that already includes Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana, Scott Kazmir, and Joel Pineiro. The starters have pitched six innings or more in ten consecutive games. 

Los Angeles lost first baseman Kendry Morales was lost for the season after tearing his ACL jumping on home plate after hitting a walk-off home run. They are in desperate need of a first baseman, with natural second baseman Howie Kendrick having to replace Morales in the lineup. Their reserves have hit a total of ten home runs this season. If the Angels want to catch the Texas Rangers in the division, they will have to trade for a replacement and pencil Kendrick back at his natural position. It is unknown if the Angels will acquire a first baseman at the trade deadline, but getting Dan Haren is not a bad deal.

Since coming to the Majors in 2003, Haren has played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, and now, the Los Angeles Angels. In 2004, Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton were traded to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Mulder. In three seasons with the A's, Haren had a record 43-34. He also placed in the top 10 in strikeouts all three seasons in Oakland. Rumors swirled in 2008 involving Haren, and he was traded to Arizona in a massive eight player deal. As of Sunday, he had posted a 37-26 record with the Diamondbacks, but did not lead them to the postseason. In a little over eight seasons, he is 86-70 with a 3.71 ERA.

He is in the second year of a 4-year/$44.75 million contract that he signed with Arizona and is supposed to make approximately $12.75 million the next two seasons. There is a club option for the fifth year.

The main player, other than Haren, in the deal was pitcher Joe Saunders. He has had a rather lackluster 2010 campaign thus far, posting a 6-10 record with a 4.62 ERA. He and Scott Kazmir are the only starting pitchers for the Angels under .500 (Kazmir is 7-9). However, Saunders has had great back-to-back seasons, whie helping lead the Angels to division crowns in both seasons. He is a combined 33-14 with two complete games in those two seasons. Although he hasn't had a great season, Saunders will add a valuable left arm to the Diamondbacks pitching staff, which has been anything but phenomenal this season.

Rafael Rodriguez has spent most of his career in the minors and has only pitched two innings this year and has given up one run. He played in 18 games last season, posting an 0-1 record with a 5.58 ERA. Patrick Corbin, a 2009 2nd round draft pick, was in Class A and is expected to be fill the same position with the Angels' Class A team. So far this season, Corbin is 13-3 with a 3.87 ERA with Cedar Rapids and Rancho Cucamonga.

The Angels had expressed in hitters like Prince Fielder and Adam Dunn, but decided to go with a pitcher in the end. This is the second acquisition the Angels have made the last few days, after acquiring infielder Alberto Callaspo.

Arizona is currently the second worst team in the National League with a 37-62 record (the Pittsburgh Pirates are last at 34-64). The Angels are hoping that Haren can lead them to the top division, standing at a 52-49 record. They are seven games back of the Texas Rangers for the AL West lead and nine games behind Tampa Bay for the Wild Card.

Arizona's Kelly Johnson Hits For Cycle Against San Francisco

By: Tyler Ward


There's yet another cycle to add to the history books and this time, it is a player no one expected. Enter Kelly Johnson. Arizona's second baseman hit the third cycle in baseball this season, but the Diamondbacks still came up short in the game, 7-4 - Texas' Bengie Molina and Milwaukee's Jody Gerut have also hit for the cycle this season.


Johnson hit a solo home run in the first inning and then doubled in the fifth inning. He drove in two runs in the sixth inning after hitting a triple. Johnson led off the eighth inning with the easiest hit of all, a single off of San Francisco's Sergio Romo. He finished the night 4-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBI.


Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after the game, "He was hitting everything. To win a game when you've got somebody on the other side hit for the cycle, that's a good thing."


It was a unique pitching matchup on Friday because San Francisco's Jonathan Sanchez and Arizona's Edwin Jackson have both thrown no-hitters in their careers, with Jackson's coming this year against the Tampa Bay Rays.


So, with no-hitters under their belts, many people expected a great pitching matchup and it was going to be one, right? Wrong. Both pitchers were mediocre at best. Jackson (6-9) took the loss while pitching six innings and giving up four earned runs (six total) with eight hits. Sanchez (7-6) did not factor into the decision while pitching fairly decent, pitching five innings and surrendering one earned run with four hits.


The Giants started off on the right foot in the first inning, with left fielder Aubrey Huff hitting a solo shot into right center. Huff would only be heating up at this point after putting the Giants out front with a 1-0 lead. Their lead did not last long, as Friday's headliner Kelly Johnson also hit a solo shot in the bottom of the first. Like Huff, Johnson was just getting started on a night that would be considered rather odd.

The pitchers would calm down and another run would not come until the fourth inning when San Francisco's Edgar Renteria singled to center, scoring Travis Ishikawa. Renteria, who has only played 47 games this season, got his 15th RBI of the season in the inning.


San Francisco's Sanchez left after the fifth inning, after pitching quality innings. The Giants had a 2-1 lead when he left the game, but Aubrey Huff hit his second solo shot of the night in the sixth inning, putting the Giants even further ahead, 3-1. The lead would not last long, however.


Santiago Casilla replaced Sanchez on the mound, but then proceeded to give up a two-run triple to Kelly Johnson, who then embarked on a mission to achieve the first cycle of his career. Casilla wasn't done, especially when he gave up a single to Andy LaRoche, scoring Johnson to finally give the Diamondbacks a 4-3 lead. Casilla's night was over after pitching 0.2 innings and giving up three earned runs on two hits. He also received a blown save in the game.


The seventh inning is where it got interesting. With Nate Schierholtz already on first, Eli Whiteside put down a sacrifice bunt, hoping to get Schierholtz to advance to second. It worked out even better for the Giants as Jackson's throw was a little too high, with first baseman Adam LaRoche having to jump slightly to avoid the ball from rolling down the field. LaRoche and Whiteside got to first base at the same time, and the latter was instantly called safe.

Eugenio Velez also attempted a sacrifice bunt, and Jackson again threw wildly, as the ball sailed over LaRoche and another run was scored for the Giants. The next batter, Andres Torres, hit a triple over the head of center fielder Chris Young, scoring two more runs to put the Giants up 6-4. Jackson walked the next batter, Freddy Sanchez, and Jackson was subsequently done for the game.

Aubrey Huff would single in the ninth, scoring Torres and that would be it as San Francisco won the game, 7-4. Kelly Johnson's cycle came in a losing effort, as this was the first time since 2008 that someone hit for the cycle in a loss (Atlanta's Mark Kotsay vs. Cubs). He also achieved the fourth cycle in Diamondbacks history, joining Stephen Drew, Greg Colbrunn, and Luis Gonzalez.

Giants catcher Buster Posey extended his hitting streak to 16 games and now has 21 RBI in the month of July.

Chris Ray (1-0) got the win, but only pitched a third of an inning. Arizona's Jackson has had four mediocre outings since throwing a no-hitter against the Rays on June 25th - he has given up 17 earned runs on 30 hits in those games.

Diamondbacks Designate Dontrelle Willis For Assignment

By: Tyler Ward

The D-Train has probably made his last stop in Arizona. As reported on Sunday, the Arizona Diamondbacks have officially designated pitcher, Dontrelle Willis, for assignment. This means Arizona has 10 days to either trade, release, or send him to one of their minor league affiliates.

The Diamondbacks acquired Willis in a trade with the Tigers on June 1. Many thought that he would resurrect his career, but he would not do so in Arizona. Willis went 1-1 with a 5.91 ERA with the Diamondbacks. He got assigned bullpen duty a few days ago, only to surrender three earned runs in one inning of work. This more than likely prompted Arizona to make the decision they did today.

It appears that Willis has lost his confidence on the mound, as he has surrendered more and more walks as the season has gone along. He has been anything, but spectacular this year in his stints with Detroit and Arizona. With his stats combined, Willis is a lowly 2-3 with a 5.62 ERA. He has given up 56 walks in a little over 65 innings of work this year.

Willis was expected to be one of the best pitchers in baseball after he won the National League Rookie of the Year with the Florida Marlins in 2003. In 2005, he won a league leading 22 games and had a superb 2.63 ERA. But, since then, it has all gone hill for the D-Train. On December 7, 2007, Willis was traded to the Detroit Tigers. Soon after, he was signed to a 3-year/$29 million extension. Since being traded over two and a half years ago, he has won a total of three games.

It is unclear if Willis has any possible suitors right now and this could possibly be the end of a rather short career. I hope to see Willis and his unorthodox release in baseball again, but this could have been D-Train's last stop.

Diamondbacks Fire GM & Manager

By: Tyler Ward

The Diamondbacks announced tonight that they have reportedly fired Manager A.J. Hinch and General Manager Josh Byrnes. Jerry Dipoto was named the interim GM and Kirk Gibson as the interim Manager. Arizona has the third worst record in the MLB, at 31-48.

Josh Byrnes was hired as the GM in 2005, with his contract expiring in 2015. Hinch was hired as the manager before the 2009 season and he had two years left on his current contract. Hinch had no prior managerial experience, so it was immediately a questionable hiring.

Arizona's managing general partner, Ken Kendrick, commented tonight saying, "I appreciate the commitment and dedication that Josh and A.J. demonstrated during their tenures. Their dismissal is a significant decision, but one that we find necessary in order to achieve a direction of winning consistently on the field again."

This season gets even worse for the Diamondbacks as they are almost certainly a lock to miss the playoffs once again this year. They started playing in the MLB in 1998, facing the Colorado Rockies in their first game. They won the NL West three times in their first five years of existence (1999, 2001, 2002). 2001 was the best season ever for the Diamondbacks, as they defeated the almighty New York Yankees in the World Series, which many consider one of the biggest World Series upsets in recent memory. The Diamondbacks won the series in seven games to become the youngest expansion franchise to win the championship. They have failed to appear in the biggest stage in baseball since that year.

It is now Kirk Gibson's chance to show off his managerial skills. He is perhaps best known for one of the best plays in MLB history, usually ranking in the Top 5 on most people's lists. He played for the Dodgers in 1988, and they advanced to World Series to face off against the Oakland Athletics. With leg injuries and a virus, he was not expected to play at all in the championship series. In Game 1, the Dodgers were trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th. Tommy Lasorda, the manager, inserted Gibson as a pinch hitter in the bottom half of the inning. On a 3-2 pitch, Gibson hammered the pitch over the right field fence and won the game with a walkoff. He hobbled around the bases and his teammates greeted him at home plate, recognizing what had just happened. It could very well be the most important moment in Dodgers history.

Gibson has had no prior managerial experience, but he has been noted to be an up-and-coming coach. The Diamondbacks can't go anywhere, but up and hopefully Gibson can lead them. It is not known who is in the running to take over for the replacements. I wouldn't necessarily say it was a good decision to fire both people, but it was expected. The Diamondbacks' next game is at home against one of Gibson's former teams, the Dodgers.