The Cubs Strike Back

[Frayed Knot]

... by banking on the forever-injured Rich Hardin from Oakland as part of a 6-player deal

To Chicago
RHP - Rich Hardin
RHP - Chad Gaudin

To Oakland:
RHP - Sean Gallagher
OF - Matt Murton
IF - Eric Patterson
and minor league C/DH Josh Donaldson

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Wow!!!

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Huh. That doesn't seem like a very good deal for the A's at all. Murton might be good, but I don't think he'll be great, Gallagher doesn't seem like much more than a middle of the rotation guy, and Donaldson is a 22 year old really struggling in high A ball. I guess they must like Patterson a lot.
The Cubbies, on the other hand, might have just pushed themselves over the top. Woof.

[Guest AG/DC]

A lot of players in that deal whose name ends in 'n.'

I think Julie Donaldson is probably the centerpiece of that package.

[Frayed Knot]

Vince Coleman Firecracker wrote: Huh. That doesn't seem like a very good deal for the A's at all.

Part of the problem is that Harden has a total of 150 IPs for 2006-2008 combined and that's gotta take a big chunk out of the asking price.

[nymr83]

If Harden was going to become a FA after this year i'd say Oakland ripped off the Cubs, but He's still under their control until the end of NEXT season, which makes me wonder if they couldn't have gotten more for him either July 31st of this year or during the offseason.

[seawolf17]

Hell, if all they wanted were B- and C-level prospects, the Mets had plenty of those. I like Harden.

[Frayed Knot]

Harden looks like he had 4+ years of service as of the beginning of 2008 and the Cubs acquire his 2009 option for $7mil. So the earliest he can be a FA is after '09

btw, the crew at Cot's Contracts already have Harden and the others listed under their new teams.
Now THAT is an up-to-date website.

[Guest AG/DC]

seawolf17 wrote: Hell, if all they wanted were B- and C-level prospects, the Mets had plenty of those. I like Harden.

We also have penty of big names who are only occasionally available.

[Fman99]

Great deal for the Cubs, the way Harden has pitched the last two months. We'll see if he can stay healthy the rest of the way.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm just impressed that they pulled it off before Sabathia had even taken the mound for Milwaukee. That's competition.

[Guest AG/DC]

That's some Red Sox-Yankees-style arms-racin'.

[Guest AG/DC]

The next name-brand pitcher to get dealt (hear me now and believe me later) will be Randy Wolf, maybe to the Yankees, but possibly to the Phils also.

San Diego is going nowhere but is loaded with big-contract arms:

• Wolf


• Greg Maddux


• Trevor Hoffman


• Chris Young


• Jake Peavy, even, if the Yankees feel like going nuts.

[nymr83]

Young is far from free agency isnt he?

Wolf is really having a decent run but his ERA+ is still only 85 and he's a 31 year old average pitcher with an injury history, if they can get something useful for him they should jump on it, they wont miss him down the road.

[Theoldmole]

Cubbies love those oft-injured pitchers.