Haren is a good fit for Mets

Tim Marchman at the NY Sun, writes about Dan Haren and how he thinks Haren will do in Shea:

It looks like Omar Minaya may continue the calculating, amoral rampage, as last night, Fox Sports' reliable Ken Rosenthal confirmed rumors the Mets are engaged in trade discussions with the A's that would bring starter Dan Haren to Shea Stadium. This is good news.

Haren is a 26-year-old starter who has, over the past two years, pitched 440 innings with a 3.93 ERA, with peripheral statistics that support the performance. (He's not a creature of a big ballpark and a great defense, in other words.) Possessed of perfectly fine but hardly overwhelming stuff, he's something like a young, right-handed Andy Pettitte. On a per-inning basis he's a good no. 3 starter or a passable no. 2, but his durability bumps him up a notch, and he's ranked among the 15 or 20 most valuable starters in the game the past two years. With no injury concerns or off-field issues, Haren's exactly the kind of young veteran every team would want to stick right into their rotation. Truthfully, he's a good bet to outperform pitchers like Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt over the next couple of years.

Best of all, Haren is signed to an exceedingly reasonable contract. He's owed $12.65 million over the next three years, and the A's hold an option on his services for 2010 that could be worth as much as $7.75 million if he reaches a certain innings threshold. By way of comparison, free agent Gil Meche, who has never pitched as many as 190 innings in a season and whose 4.48 ERA this past year was the best he's ever put up in a season in which he threw at least 100 innings, signed a five-year, $55 million contract yesterday. Haren will make at least $50 million less over the next few years than he would if he were a free agent.