MLB Trade Speculator: Rich Harden Traded to Cubs

A fastball topping out at 94 mph is nothing to write home about, but if the movement is legit, and he is capable of controlling his curveball, Gallagher should be a quality major leaguer. Sickels saw him live this season and confirmed what he already thought.

Baseball Prospectus wrote about Gallagher in November of 2006, saying, "a 91-93 mph fastball, and with his hard, biting breaking ball, he has two plus pitches." 

As a three-star prospect, Gallagher isn't expected to be much more than a middle-of-the-rotation innings-eater, something that is still highly valuable in this day and age of baseball. In a perfect world, I think Sean Gallagher turns out to be a Joe Blanton-type.

The ginger in the equation, Matt Murton, simply cannot seem to stick it in the bigs. At 26, he is too old to be in AAA, and really isn't going to get any more seasoned at that level. His major-league stats have been fine, yet unspectacular and lacking power; the move to Oakland and the American League certainly will not help.

At worst, Murton is a fourth outfielder, another piece a club needs. However, this piece isn't really one you build a trade around, which leads me to believe the A's have the same hope for Murton that many experts had when entering 2006, as an essential rookie.

I would say an optimistic annual expectation out of Murton would be 25 home runs and an on-base percentage (OBP) around .380. Realistically, we're looking at 15-to-20 home runs with a .350 OBP—nice, but not spectacular.

Probably the most impressive player involved in what is feeling like a rather disappointing trade for Mr. Beane is Eric Patterson. At 25-years old, Patterson must start producing at the major-league level. While he cannot be blamed for his lack of production to this point, the pressure will be on for him to follow through with the promise, especially after being moved to a more demanding outfield position.

Although, I have to believe Patterson's arrival is the beginning of the end for second baseman Mark Ellis, whom a lot of teams would love to have.

Hurting Patterson, in my opinion, is that he has somewhat regressed in the eyes of John Sickels. Sickels rated Patterson as a B-plus prospect entering 2007, and dropped him down to a B this season, 'due to defense.'

However, entering 2006, Patterson sat at a B, so overall he hasn't really moved up or down. Is that a positive or a negative for a toolsy hitter like Patterson?

Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus breaks down the good and the bad of Patterson, while rating him a three-star prospect and the eighth best within the Cubs' organization:

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