Rich Harden

Its been a little while since I posted about the Cubs, but there's no better time to start again than right now. Just a couple of days removed from the Brewers' acquisition of C. C. Sabathia from the Indians, the Cubs made a 6 player trade to nab Rich Harden from the A's. The complete trade is as follows:

A's Trade:

Rich Harden
Chad Gaudin

Cubs Trade:

Matt Murton
Sean Gallagher
Eric Patterson
(Single-A catcher) Josh Donaldson

Harden this year is 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts, which would put him 2nd in the AL in ERA behind teammate Justin Duchsherer were it not for the fact that he's just under the innings pitched requirement to qualify. The biggest concern with him has been injuries, as he's missed some time this year, and made only 13 combined starts in 2006 and 2007. Chad Gaudin has been used as a long reliever and spot starter and has a 3.59 ERA himself. The inclusion of Gaudin is nice as it sort of negates Gallagher's departure in the sense that the Cubs still have some depth if Harden or someone else gets injured.

Getting a pitcher like Rich Harden in a pennant race is a good thing, period, but what makes this truly a great trade is that, although they gave up four players, for the most part its not going to weaken the Cubs MLB club in other areas this season nor should it hinder the farm system much in the future. Obviously, Sean Gallagher is the biggest loss. Even though he was about to head back to the bullpen with the return from the DL of Carlos Zambrano and the emergence of Sean Marshall, he's had several good starts this year. It's possible that he develops into a very good pitcher, but really his is the only loss that really has you wondering "what if we're giving up more than we think?" Matt Murton is 26. He may turn into a viable everyday player in Oakland, but he's not going to get leaps and bounds better than what he is now. He can hit some home runs and he plays hard, but he's somewhat of a liability in the outfield, and doesn't really have the massive power numbers that you'd expect from a starting corner outfielder on a contending team. Murton's been the odd man out in the Cubs' outfield plans for a while now, and you'll recall he started the year in AAA Iowa. Eric Patterson is much younger than Murton and still has time to develop, but during his time in the majors, he has yet to show much evidence that he would be much better than his brother Corey who is currently wasting away on the bench with the Reds.

A playoff rotation of Zambrano/Harden/Dempster (with the added off days that they put in last year--which I hate--a 3-man rotation is really all you'll need) could be incredibly fearsome. This isn't even a "rent-a-player" type of situation, as Harden's contract has a club option for 2009. This is one of the best trades that Jim Hendry has made.

The Cubs beat the Reds at home last night in the opener of the series. They're coming off of a road trip that was shaky, as most of their road play has been to this point, but ended with the Cubs taking 2 out of 3 from the Cardinals at Busch.