Cubs One Up Brewers Grab Harden

Jim Hendry has done it again.  The Cubs needed an answer to the Brewers' big trade involving C.C. Sabathia over the weekend and on Tuesday, they got it when they brought Rich Harden over from Oakland for seemingly pennies on the dollar. 

Harden will come in and solidify a starting rotation that was arguably the weakest point on this NL leading Cubs team. The starting five now includes Zambrano, Dempster, Harden, Lilly, and Marquis which is extremely formidable.  Plus, you now have a three man playoff rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, and Harden which is quite a scary set of ERAs.

Let's look at the trade in-depth now though. The Cubs received Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin in exchange for Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson, Matt Murton and minor league catcher Josh Donaldson. 

Who the Cubs Got:

Rich Harden: A young starter (26) with plenty of experience and potential.  Also, he is having a wonderful season going 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA in his 13 starts this season. 

Harden also brings post season experience to the table, having pitched with the A's in the 2003 and 2006 playoffs. The only drawback has been that he is injury prone, but hopefully he can stay healthy now.

Chad Gaudin: Another relatively young pitcher (25) that has been big out of the bullpen for the A's this year having not allowed an earned run in 15 of his 20 relief appearances this season.  He is also a versatile pitcher than can start (he had 34 last year) or come out of the pen as he has shown during the rest of his career.

Look at who the Cubs Give Up:

Sean Gallagher: A young pitcher (22) that has had an alright season. In his 12 appearances (10 starts) he is 3-4 with a 4.45 ERA which isn't that bad for a number five starter.  However, with the arrival of Harden, he no longer has a spot in the rotation, so he is worth giving up.

Eric Patterson: A relatively young player (25) who the Cubs have been waiting to come around now for a few years.  If he follows like his brother, he'll be a career Four-A player, meaning he dominates in Triple-A but can't do squat in the majors. 

Plus, with Theriot, Fontenot, DeRosa and Cedeno clogging up the middle infield and our current outfield situation with everyone healthy, he wasn't going to see consistent time in the majors any time soon.

Matt Murton: Again a relatively young player (26), who is going to get lost in the Cubs outfield log jam.  In the one season he saw consistent time(2006), he played in 144 games (started 122), hit .297 with 13 home runs and 62 runs batted in. 

If he is given a starting job, I don't think its that far off for him to his .300 with 25 to 30 home runs and 80 to 90 runs batted in, which would be very good production.

Josh Donaldson:  A Single-A catcher that is obviously a young guy at only 22.  But he is expendable because obviously we plan on having Geovany Soto for a while so Donaldson obviously doesn't fit into the plans for the Cubs obviously.

The Cubs didn't really give up any big time players nor did they have to give up anyone that was really in their future plans. In return they got one of the best young pitchers, when healthy, in the game. Hendry has pulled off his big deal magic once again, just as he did in 2003 when he brought Aramis Ramirez over from the Pirates.

It now appears that the Cubs are poised to make the big stretch run and hopefully the one that was have been waiting a hundred years for all the way to the Series.  Although I think they may still make another move before the deadline, the Cubs are in great shape right now.