FanPost

Haren or Webb? Who's our All-Star?

There has been a certain predestined feeling that Brandon Webb will be the Arizona Diamondbacks' representative at the All-Star game next month in New York. He's the staff ace, and has more wins than anyone in the majors. But what about Dan Haren? Is he, perhaps, more deserving of being Arizona's representative? Let's take a look at the stats posted by the two pitchers this season.

Webb Haren
Starts 17 17
Quality 12 14
Record 12-4 8-4
ERA 3.21 2.85
WHIP 1.125 0.967
K:BB 94:29 96:19
BA .232 .215
OBP .287 .254
OPS .609 .603

Looking at their statistics side-by-side, it's apparent there's a strong case to be made that Haren, over the course of the season, has pitched better than Webb. That's been especially true in the month of June, where Haren has an ERA of 1.32, compared to Webb's 4.76. Now, it's certainly true that Webb won his first nine starts, posting an excellent ERA of 2.56 over that time. But the 9-0 record was as much due to our ferocious early offense: we scored an average of 6.2 runs per game in support of Webb over that streak.

In contrast, Dan Haren has received more than five runs of support from the hitters only four times over his seventeen starts - meanwhile, in his four losses, Arizona scored a grand total of seven runs. Not that Webb has fared much better, getting eight runs behind him, over his four defeats. But it's in the no-decisions where Haren has been hurt. Even though they've pitched almost the same number of innings [Brandon has recorded four more outs] Webb only has one ND; Haren has five, all of them quality starts, with an ERA during those games of 2.81. With a little more help from the bullpen and/or the offense, he could easily be 12-4 as well.

It's certainly great to have both of them on board for the Diamondbacks, and if - somehow - we make it into the playoffs, I don't think any team will look forward to facing Webb and Haren in the post-season. How far we get, will likely depend on their performances in October. However, it looks likely that we will have only one representative at Yankee Stadium next month - I can't see it being any of the hitters. So, who should it be? Webb or Haren?