Somebody call the police and send them to Tony Reagins’ house and have him arrested for grand theft starting pitcher because he just robbed the Arizona Diamondbacks of Dan Haren.
If you see this pitcher, please contact the local authorities.
In case you are like me and were out and about this fine Sunday and thus late to hearing the news, the Angels shocked the MLB world by swooping in out of nowhere to land ace pitcher Dan Haren for the bargain basement price of Joe Saunders (overrated), Rafael Rodriguez (low ceiling), Patrick Corbin (nice, but not a top prospect) and the infamous Player to be Named Later (reportedly Tyler Skaggs, more on that in a second).
This deal is an absolute coup for the Halos and does wonders for the team both now and in the future. Haren may be having a bit of a down season, but he is an ace in his prime who is still under team control through 2013 at generally reasonable prices. Someone like him should have cost the Angels half their farm system, but they somehow emerged from the swap only a little worse for the wear.
What is so amazing about this trade is that the Diamondbacks had been in talks with other contenders, seemingly primed to get a mega-package in return. Just the other day they said they would hold onto Haren unless they got an A+ package in return. Unless the PTBNL turns out to be Mike Trout (which it won’t), what the Angels game up is a far cry from an A+ package. In fact, it may not even be a C+ package. Yet somehow the meager return was good enough for the Angels to win the Haren sweepstakes even though they weren’t even known to be entrants to the Haren market until the trade was announced. All I know is that Yankees and Phillies fans are going to be pretty pissed about this one.
The last thing I will say for now is about the PTBNL (check back in tomorrow for my full reaction and analysis of the trade). The current reports, though still unconfirmed, are that the PTBNL is a top prospect and likely a starting pitcher. Supposedly that player is Tyler Skaggs. I really, really, really hope that is true. Skaggs is a good prospect, but he is years from being in the majors and thus far from a sure thing.
However, I’m not sold Skaggs is the PTBNL. I just don’t understand why he needs to be named later. As far as I know he is healthy, so there is nothing holding up the deal here. Why not just name him now? I have the distinct feeling we could be hit with a curveball here in a week or two when the PTBNL is revealed. Let’s not forget that when the Kazmir trade was announced last year, the PTBNL was thought to be another prospect too only to have it wind up being Sean Rodriguez.
This all makes me mildly concerned that the real PTBNL is currently injured Hank Conger. Please note that this is TOTAL SPECULATION and I hope that I am wrong. I just don’t get why Skaggs can’t be named now. If there is a guy who can’t be named now it is Conger. If it is, I still like the deal for the Angels and they still got Haren for a good price, it just isn’t as much of a heist as we first thought… just like the Kazmir trade.