Preparing for Aaron Harang

Looking through the free agent list, is it inevitable that we end up with Aaron Harang? He's got all the signs of a pitcher on his way to Petco Park for a season. Former ace coming off an injury plagued season looking to rebuild value. San Diego native from Patrick Henry High School. Played college ball for the Aztecs. I'm not saying anything new here. But I am preparing myself for the guy who'll most likely round out our rotation next year.

The "coming off an injury" angle already makes Petco a place to pad his numbers for a season (see: Garland, Jon. Not that he was injured before, just that he wanted some Petco-size numbers).

And the "San Diego native" part (I do have one piece of scoop -- he's a fan of Luigi's Pizzeria in Golden Hill, saw him there last off-season), means a second discount.

His past three years have been ugly after pitching back-to-back 16 Win, 200+ K, sub-4 ERA seasons in '06 and '07... but those also included back-to-back 230+ inning counts. And Dusty Baker wasn't even there yet. If he was, it easily would have been 275+ innings.

I don't know how I'd feel about it. His numbers after '07 make me nervous. It's not like Garland where you knew what you were getting. If he's healthy (and Luigi's Pizzeria is not a place for healthy), then there's a chance we could see '06 and '07 Harang if we sign him. But if being in San Diego means extra trips to Luigi's and extra pounds to his 6'7", 260 lb. frame, then we'll probably be seeing the guy who's looked washed up since '08.

Here's hoping to the first Aaron Harang and a rotation of Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, healthy Aaron Harang, Tim Stauffer and Cory Luebke in 2011.

Just so it's clear, I'd rather spend the money on Brandon Webb, Erik Bedard, Brad Penny, or even Rich Harden. But Aaron Harang seems like the guy who'll end up giving us the biggest discount. And I've comes to terms with the fact that we're a team who bargain shops.

But while I'm on the topic of moves that seem inevitable, have we traded for Jason Bartlett yet?