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Dan Haren drops second straight

Still not sold on Dan Haren

Haren has made a point of publicly noting his lack of concern with his declining fastball velocity, claiming that overthrowing was the cause of his early seasons struggles. And while that may be the case, I also cannot endorse Haren as a reliable Fantasy option if he is just pitching to contact. This is still a guy who struggles to keep the ball in the yard, thanks to a subpar 34.9 groundball percentage.

If Haren isn’t missing bats or keeping the ball on the ground, his pinpoint accuracy will only take him so far. Eventually, all of those balls in the zone are going to turn into hits and home runs, and Haren is going to look a lot less impressive than his 3.00 ERA over the last four starts might indicate.

I can buy Haren as a useful Fantasy option somewhere near the back of your rotation. But I definitely am not on board with his apparent return to relevance as anything resembling a must-start option. 

Dan Haren's win streak snapped

Dan Haren wins third straight start

Haren held the Tigers to just one run in his first five innings of work, and the Nationals jumped out to a 5-1 lead after two. He hit a rough spot in the sixth inning, allowing two runners with two outs and pinch hitter Matt Tuiasosopo's three-run home run, which cut the lead to 5-4. However, the bullpen held on to give him his fourth win of the season.

Haren allowed four runs on nine hits and a walk in six innings, with three strikeouts. His ERA rose to 5.17 while his record improved to 4-3.

Haren will make his next start Tuesday against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. 

Dan Haren not relying on his fastball

Haren's fastball usage has jumped 7 percent this season. Pitching coach Steve McCatty admitted this was an intentional strategy the Nationals pushed on Haren, but "he didn't feel comfortable with it."

Over his past three games, Haren's fastball usage has fluctuated. April 22, he only threw his four-seam fastball three times. That jumped to 17 during his next start, but dropped down to eight during his most recent game. 

Haren has talked about mixing in more cutters and sinkers. Haren said he tried to throw harder earlier in the year, and it led to decreased movement on his cutter. He's focusing less on velocity now, and said that's helped him regain some effectiveness with his pitches.

Rainout forces Dan Haren to move back a day

Haren is coming off his best start of the season Thursday against the Braves, having allowed one run in eight innings. Haren hasn't had great success when he's received six days' rest between starts. Given that situation, Haren is 7-12 with a 5.09 ERA in 28 starts. He's 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA this season.

Dan Haren's true-to-himself approach for the best

One way aging pitchers compensate for a drop in velocity is to lean more on their secondary pitches, and Haren did that in his last start Thursday against the Braves. Reverting to an approach that served him well in 2011, when he first experienced dimished velocity, he threw his cutter more often than his fastball, and the results speak for themselves.

The 2011 season was hardly Haren's best, particularly in terms of strikeout rate, but he won 16 games with a 3.17 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. If he's serious about this change becoming a long-term thing, you might want to check and see if someone else in your league pulled the plug on him too soon.

Dan Haren not concerned with speed

"I'm not going to care about velocity anymore," he said after Thursday's win over the Braves. "I'm sick of that. It just gives me problems. I'm just going to be myself out there. Whether it's 88 or 85 (mph), I don't really care. I know I can get people out."

Haren shook off his 7.31 career ERA in three career starts at Turner Field to pitch well in consecutive outings for the first time since signing as a free agent with the Nationals last winter. The right-hander has yielded three runs over his past two outings (14 innings) to cut his ERA to 5.01.

"I'm pitching more like myself," Haren said. "That's what it came down to. I told you guys I was overdoing it with fastballs. I just went back to like I pitched in 2011, changing speeds on my cutter, throwing more splits and showing people fastballs here and there."

Dan Haren shows glimpses of peak form

Haren held the Braves to just four hits with a solo home run by Dan Uggla proving to be the only blemish on his line. He struck out four batters and walked just one, while needing just 90 pitches to finish his eight innings of work.

Haren earned the win, his second in a row, as well as his second quality start in a row. He lowered his ERA to 5.01. He has 24 srikeouts and just five walks in 32 1/3 innings. Haren will try to stay on this nice little run when he takes the mound next Wednesday against the Tigers at home. 

Dan Haren shows signs of promise

The main concern surrounding Haren has been the health of his back, but he appeared to be in fine form Saturday. Haren averaged 90.2 miles per hour with his fastball according to PITCHf/x data, his highest mark of the season. Haren entered the start averaging 89.4 miles per hour on the fastball. The rest of his pitches were also thrown harder, ranging from 1.2 miles per hour on his curveball to 0.9 on his cutter and splitter. 

His velocity appeared to take a dip as the start went on, as Haren topped 90 milers per hour just four times in his final 30 pitches. He struck out five and walked none, though just one of his final six outs came via the punchout.   

If Haren is throwing harder, that should indicate that his back is starting to loosen up. We will keep an eye on his velocity, to see if Haren can turn back into a solid Fantasy option. 

Dan Haren finally has quality showing

Entering the game, the veteran right-hander had not completed more than five innings in his first four starts as his effectiveness was under scrutiny. He permitted a solo homer to Shin-Soo Choo to lead off the sixth and also yielded a single during the inning, but escaped further damage by inducing a double play.

"That was more like him. He's still throwing with velocity, but he just changes speeds, moves the ball around, pitches," manager Davey Johnson said.

Haren will look to sustain his success during Thursday's matchup at Atlanta. He is 0-2 with a 9.72 ERA in two road games this season.

Dan Haren: 'I gotta be better'

Haren (1-3) completed five innings -- matching a season high -- and permitted just six hits, his lowest total in four starts. Still, his ERA remained unsightly at 7.36.

"I felt really good," he told The Washington Post. "I’ve compared this year to last year and the year past. Stuff-wise was either the same or better. ... I gotta be better. No one is more frustrated than I am. I gotta give us a better chance to win. I’ve got to simplify things and just go out there ... and try and have a little bit of fun rather than stress so much. My stuff is good enough right now. If I was throwing 85 (mph), like I was at the end of last year, I'd be more concerned."

Dan Haren takes third loss

Dan Haren cut(ter)s to the chase

"I think I’ve gotten away from (pitching more like myself)," Haren told The Washington Post. "I was never really too much of a fastball thrower, but maybe I’m overdoing it a little bit on fastballs."

In three starts this season, Haren has thrown 50 percent fastballs. In 2011, he threw 35 percent fastballs and last season he was at 40 percent. Haren has had a lot of success throwing a cutter, which he introduced to his repertoire in 2009. He threw the cutter 48 percent of the time in 2011, but he threw it 36 percent last season and 35 percent this season.

"Maybe backing off a little bit just to get more separation between the fastball and cutter," he said. "It may be too close because I noticed, not like on charts or anything, but from looking up sometimes it’s too similar to my fastball. It’s maybe too short and I need it a little bit bigger."

Dan Haren still stuck in the dumps

As previously noted, Haren's velocity is roughly the same as last season, and his results have mostly been in line, as well. Unfortunately for Haren, he is coming off his worst season in years before signing with the Nationals his season. We thought he might be able to turn things around and get back to his former All-Star form in a return to the National League, but that has not been the case.

Through three starts, Haren has allowed 12 runs in 13 1/3 innings, with five home runs. He walked his first batter of the season Tuesday, and that might be the issue. With how hard Haren has been getting hit this season, he might be leaving the ball in too many hittable places in an attempt to avoid walks. Haren has always had fine control and solid strikeout-to-walk ratios, but he has been unable to turn that into results so far.

Should you release Haren? Maybe not, yet. It is still early in the season, and he could easily turn things around in his next few starts. That being said, it is clear Haren is no longer a must-start or even high-end Fantasy option. Hopes of a return to glory are fading fast. 

Marlins pound Dan Haren

"I'm searching for answers," Haren said after the game. "I gotta do better."

Haren has an 8.10 ERA and a 2.03 WHIP. He will try to get back on track Monday at home against the Cardinals. He has not faced the Cardinals since 2010 but is 4-0 with a 3.65 ERA in five career starts.

Dan Haren's velocity up slightly

After averaging 89.9 mph with his fastball in 2012, the pitch is back up to 90.00 mph this year, according to BrooksBaseball.net. That's still a decline from his career averages, but a decent upgrade over where he was last season. Haren has surrendered 19 hits in two starts this season, but has also continued to strike out batters at a decent clip. If Haren gets knocked around by the Marlins this week, it might be time for Fantasy owners to worry.

For starters, Nats manager careful with workload

"They're going to go deeper as the season goes on, but by and large, I'm real pleased with what I've been getting out of the starters," Johnson told MLB.com Saturday. "The effort goes up along with the pitch count, so you want to build that good base without overdoing it, and also have some guidelines if a guy has a positive outing. I don't want to put him in situation where it can turn into a negative outing."

So far, Dan Haren looks no different

Through two starts, his average fastball velocity is 88.8 miles per hour. Last year, it was 88.5. He also seems to be leaning more on his mid-80s cutter, which would seem to suggest a lack of confidence in his fastball.

Granted, PitchFX data is sometimes misleading this time of year, but so far, I'm not seeing signs of a rebound. Not that I expected to. If the back issues are chronic, why wouldn't the effects be?

Dan Haren shows improvement in win

The veteran right-hander also struck out five batters and walked none to improve his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 10-to-0 over nine innings. Haren is slated to face Miami on the road during his next projected start Tuesday.

"I think I took a few steps forward," Haren said after the game. "I think I threw the ball better than maybe the line score would dictate. The conditions weren't great out there. Most important thing is we won the game. Obviously, it went a little better than last time, but I still haven't been at my best yet."

Pitching coach confident in Dan Haren

"One thing I knew going in -- he had nine days off (since his previous start)," McCatty told MASNsports.com. "So he was going to be strong and command was going to struggle. He didn't get balls to the place that he wanted to, and in that ballpark (that's trouble). First time out, nine days off, you're trying to do what the other (starters) did. He might've been pushing himself a little more to do more than he was capable of doing at that time.""

Haren will be pitching on five days' rest heading into Thursday's outing, but once he starts getting into a routine pitching on regular rest, McCatty feels Haren will settle into a groove.

"I think he's going to be fine," McCatty said. "It's just trusting himself. He's a proven, veteran big league pitcher, so just getting out there and getting accustomed to the situation, not worried about doing more than he's capable of doing -- which is pretty good. And just kind of relax a little bit."

Give Dan Haren a couple of weeks

In his first start with the Nationals, Haren was plagued yet again by decreased velocity and home runs -- four in all. Granted, the Reds have hit seven homers in their five other games, all of which were at Great American Ball Park, but Haren's increasing tendency to allow the long ball is a troublesome trend.

With a home start against the White Sox Thursday, Haren can show us what he can do in a more neutral environment. Even if all does not go well, he is slated to face the Marlins in Miami in Fantasy Week 3 (April 15-22). He is worth keeping active at least through that start, but owners should watch closely for signs of improvement or be prepared to bench him thereafter.

Dan Haren falls apart quickly in debut

The Reds teed off on Haren beginning in the second inning, as he allowed back-to-back, solo home runs in the second inning, followed by a three-run homer in the third and another solo shot in the fourth. Haren lasted just four innings in the game, allowing six earned runs on nine hits with no walks. He struck out five batters with 52 strikes on 78 pitches in a 15-0 loss.

According to BrooksBaseball.net's PitchFX data, Haren's average fastball speed was 88.9 miles per hour, right in line with his velocity last season.

Home runs were Haren's bugaboo last season, as he surrendered 28 of them in 176 2/3 innings. He will try to get things straightened out in his next start, Thursday against the White Sox. Haren had success against the White Sox a year ago, posting a 1-0 record and 2.25 ERA in 12 innings over two starts. 

Dan Haren an iffy Week 1 start

Haren (started in 74 percent of leagues) had a pretty ugly spring, going 0-4 with a 6.39 ERA in six starts. But the worst stat of all was allowing seven home runs in 25 1/3 innings. Allowing a lot of home runs is nothing new for Haren and a bad spring doesn't mean I no longer believe Haren will have a bounce-back season.

I'm just saying his first start of the season comes Thursday at Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark, which is known to be hitter-friendly and has seen its fair share of home runs throughout the years, so his season might get off to a rough start.

Dan Haren serves up four home runs

Haren, who is expected to pitch fourth in the Nationals' rotation to start the season, raised his spring ERA to 6.39 after allowing five earned runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out three. 

Haren allowed four home runs in the outing, including two to Giancarlo Stanton. He has given up seven homers over 25 1/3 spring innings with 18 runs allowed and 18 Ks. 

Haren was 12-13 with a 4.33 ERA over 30 starts for the Angels last year. He was a 16-game winner for the Angels in 2011. 

Dan Haren stays optimistic despite rough outing

"Just getting bad swings from hitters, it just kind of tells me that my stuff is better," Haren said. "Last time it was like I needed an L screen out there. It was scary. This time I was getting way better swings and you could tell a lot by the reaction of hitters. There was more broken bats and stuff like that. That’s my game."

Homers burn Dan Haren in loss

Haren allowed two homers in a four-run first inning -- his first longballs of the spring -- as his ERA swelled to 5.79 after four starts.

After the game, the veteran right-hander dismissed concerns about his velocity as his fastball only hovered around 90 mph.

"That was just one of those days," Haren said. "I felt like I was throwing a weighted ball out there. It was just bad all the way around. As I went along it was a little bit better, but my first couple starts were far and away better than this. I don't know if it's dead arm or I don't even know what that is, I just didn't feel great."

More velocity issues for Dan Haren

So far, what I've seen from Haren this spring is more discouraging than encouraging. If the high point for his fastball is 90, then I'm not confident he's going to average more than the 88.5 mph he did last year. He wouldn't be the first player whose prime was cut short by back issues. Look for him in my upcoming busts column.

Haren stretches to four innings

Haren's velocity up

Haren's velocity up

Haren lasts two in debut

Haren vows he's '100 percent'