Dan Haren said yesterday was “one of the most anxious days” of his life

If you thought the drama involving Dan Haren yesterday was crazy from an outsider’s perspective, just imagine being the guy in the middle of it all.

Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com caught up with Haren late last night after the proposed deal with the Cubs fell through and the Angels bought out his $15.5 million option for 2013, making him a free agent.

Haren actually followed the proceedings via Twitter, which he admitted was pretty nerve-wracking given the constant conflicting reports throughout the night.

“I don’t even know what to think, really,” Haren said in a phone interview with MLB.com late Friday night, moments after his roller-coaster day was finally over. “This day has been one of the most anxious days of my life, definitely of my baseball career. I’ve been glued to my phone all day. I’ve tried to stay as busy as I could, but the fact of the matter is I was trying to keep up with what was going on.”

Once reports surfaced regarding the trade, Haren and his wife warmed to the idea of spending some time in Chicago. However, it wasn’t long before Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto told him that the deal was off and that his option was being declined.

“I don’t know what went on on his end, but I knew he wasn’t going to make any quick decisions,” Haren said. “I had the feeling that it was going to go on throughout the day, and it definitely did. I knew the deadline was today. My agent was in town and we were kind of going through it together. Like I said, it was a very anxious day for me, for my wife, just not knowing where our next city would be. I thought for sure it would be somewhere else. I thought for sure I’d know today where I’d be playing next year, but that’s obviously not the case.”

Haren is interested in returning to the Angels and would do so at a discounted rate, but Dipoto said last night that the possibility isn’t all that likely. On the bright side, the 32-year-old right-hander got a $3.5 million buyout for his troubles and should fetch a multi-year deal as one of the top starting pitchers available in free agency, even coming off a down year.

Keeping Zack Greinke is expected to be the Angels’ No. 1 priority this offseason, even though Dipoto says that he isn’t “isolated” on signing him. It’s going to take big money to keep Greinke in the fold and he appears to have quite a bit of leverage with the Angels at the moment, as their projected rotation for 2013 currently includes Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Jerome Williams, Garrett Richards and Barry Enright.