Baseball Musings: Harden a Cub

July 08, 2008

Harden a Cub

A huge trade goes down between the Cubs and the Athletics. Rich Harden goes to Chicago with Chad Gaudin for four players:

The Cubs answered the Brewers acquisition of CC Sabathia, picking up Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from Oakland on Tuesday for Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson, Matt Murton and Josh Donaldson.
The right-handed Harden is 5-1 with an 2.34 earned-run average and 92 strikeouts over 13 games for Oakland, bolsters a Cubs rotation that just got saw the return of Carlos Zambrano.

Wow. My first reaction is that the A's didn't get enough, but I'll have to explore that further.

Update: The Athletics obviously recognize Murton's ability to get on base. While that's something that's needed on this season's Cubs team, the A's offense sure can use it. Same with Eric Patterson. He's a middle infielder who has a decent OBA in the minors. Gallagher is very young, and his minor league strikeouts, walks and home runs are great. Basically, he's someone who can take over the ace roll with a little more maturity. Donaldson is a catcher with minor league stats much like Patterson.

The question I'm trying to answer for myself; was this the A's giving up on the season or trying to improve for this season? Murton, Patterson and Gallagher can help this season. If Sean can come close to replacing Harden, without the threat of injury, I can see this deal improving the A's now. I'm always amazed when I look at a Beane deal at how it always looks better than I expected.

Obviously, Harden answers the Sabathia trade very well. He doesn't go as deep in games as CC, but the Cubs now send out three aces with Zambrano, Dempster and Harden. It's like having Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz from the mid 1990s. It looks like a great move for both clubs.

Posted by David Pinto at 06:53 PM | Trades | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Gotta object to your Zambrano-Dempster-Harden comparison to Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz. I'm a Braves fan and just can't let that slide. =)

The reference to Ryan Dempster as an ace also raises an eyebrow.

I like your point about Beane's deals always turning out better than people originally expected. I'm guessing Beane's over/under date on the next Rich Harden injury is earlier than Hendry's.

Posted by: Daniel at July 8, 2008 07:17 PM

Meanwhile AL contenders are happy that another ace got shipped to the other league instead of a rival.

Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at July 8, 2008 08:00 PM

Arms race in the NL Central!

Posted by: rbj at July 8, 2008 08:48 PM

I dunno, I think your first impression is right. What's Matt Murton, really? A decent offensive outfielder? He's got no star potential at all. He's certainly not someone who would start for more than 15-20 teams, assuming all of them knew what they were doing.

I really don't see Gallagher. Sure, he's a kid... but I look at his minor league record and I don't see "ace." The K/BB isn't particularly good, for example.

Do you give up two of your best pitchers for that? 6 games out in early July?

I wonder if Beane knows there's something wrong with Harden. Why else would he trade him so soon? You'd think he could have gotten a lot more back if he waited until closer to the deadline. You'd think he could have gotten more back by dealing them separately, rather than together. It sure isn't the best deal he could have gotten this season.

Posted by: Scott at July 8, 2008 09:15 PM

Beane isn't perfect.

He traded Harang for Jose Guillen.

And he traded away Hudson who is still pitching effectively.

And Haren.

Harden is an ace when healthy, which is obviously a big question.

But Hendry didn't give up any stars, with the possible exception of Gallagher who probably won't be as good as Dave Pinto implies above. He is good - but more like a guy who projects to be a #2 than a good ace.

Posted by: dave at July 8, 2008 09:15 PM

Both clubs are taking a risk. Harden has made around 25 starts since 2005, but if he can stay healthy, is one of the best pitchers in baseball. The A's got two solid prospects and two good players for a potential ace and another good pitcher. I just wonder if Beane shopped the Cubs offer--to the Phillies, say, or the Dodgers, to see what else might be out there.

Posted by: Drew W at July 8, 2008 09:53 PM

Just saw a brief interview with Beane during the A's-M's game, and he said that Gallagher is someone they've liked ever since he started playing pro. I guess this is something Beane's been trying to wheel and deal for a while now.

Posted by: Devon Young at July 8, 2008 10:24 PM

Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz have a combined total of around 900 wins and IIRC 7 Cy Youngs. The Cubs trio has less combined wins than any one of the Braves big 3 at 196. Dempster has a career losing record with a 4.6 ERA. Obviously the Cubs guys have no Cy Youngs. So except for about 700 wins they're pretty similar.

Plus I always forget how Beane's genius has led to a string of penants and WS champioships. Oh it hasn't?

Posted by: Bandit at July 9, 2008 12:06 PM