Getty Images Back problems have plagued Dan Haren for much of the season. After taking a little break from the Angels’ rotation he turned in consecutive Quality Starts, but now a new back injury is expected to keep him from making his scheduled start tomorrow against the Rangers.
Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports that Haren “tweaked a muscle in the right side of his back” last week, which is different than the lower-back tightness that required a disabled list stint previously.
Either way Haren likely won’t face Texas and is once again a big question mark for the stretch run. He had a five-start stretch in which he allowed 27 runs in 27 innings and served up nine homers before finally admitting that the back problems were a big factor and if that’s a possibility again it doesn’t really help Haren or the Angels to keep trotting him out there.
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- jarathen - Jul 31, 2012 at 1:18 PM
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This is the real benefit to the Greinke deal. He gives you what you thought Haren would, and now you can slot in Richards for a struggling Santana/injured Haren, instead of having him round out the rotation before he’s ready to really be a contributing starter every five days (though he’s approaching the time where we’ll know for good).
