MLB Trade Speculator: Rich Harden Traded to Cubs

is definitely an interesting one. At 25-years old, there is still a fair amount of upside left in Gaudin. He is in the midst of his third straight quality season with the A's, and, outside from a thumping in Toronto, Gaudin has been a decent major-league starter. Especially when you take into account his age.

Gaudin is arbitration eligible for the next three seasons, and probably won't be a pitcher to cost all too much for those seasons. He will, however, be a very strong pitcher in the weak National League.

Being more of a groundball pitcher will help Gaudin in Chicago. What will also help is facing weaker lineups, where his high walk rate (BB/9) will not be as prominent. With any luck, the Cubs traded for the pitcher Gaudin has been this season, and, considering his recent trends, that isn't all too unlikely.

In 2004, Gaudin earned honorable mention on Baseball Prospectus' top-50 prospects list. The authors cited Gaudin's incredible run through the minors as a 19 and 20-year old, where he eventually got the call to the bigs by the then Devil Rays.

After an impressive big-league showing, Gaudin was abused by the Rays' management, jumping between the starting rotation and the bullpen. He was later moved to Toronto for catching prospect Kevin Cash. The Jays then decided he wasn't worth their time, and moved him for a player to be named later (the player turned out to be Dustin Majewski).

In return for Gaudin and Harden, the A's received one of my favorite pitching prospects, Sean Gallagher. The 22-year-old righty has been a disappointment thus far in the majors, although he has made some substantial adjustments this season and still boasts a lot of potential.

In Gallagher, the Athletics receive a B-rated prospect entering 2008, according to John Sickels—the prospect is also No. 3 overall and the top pitching-prospect in the Cubs' system. Sickels also rated Gallagher as a B-level prospect entering the 2007 season, at No. 4 overall and as the No. 2 pitcher within the Cubs' system.

So it is good to see Gallagher has at least maintained course. Overall, Sickels had Gallagher rated as his No. 38 prospect in all of baseball entering the 2007 season.

At the beginning of the 2007 season, Sickels compared Gallagher to Kevin Slowey of the Minnesota Twins, having the following to say about him:

...improved to 89-94 (mph) last year, with movement. His curveball is excellent, and his changeup has developed into an average pitch. His mechanics are usually solid but at times they will wander a bit, hurting his command.

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