Earlier this season I wrote an opinion piece listing the players within the Cubs organization that I thought could possibly fill the fifth spot in the starting rotation, a position that seems to have been the missing piece to the North Side roster all season.
Two months, 27 Bleacher Report articles, and countless headaches every fifth game later, I can finally relax knowing that the spot has been filled with quality.
By now, Wrigley Field is buzzing about Chicago’s most recent trade, which brought Oakland’s number two starter, Rich Harden, and reliever Chad Gaudin to Wrigley Field in exchange for Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, and catcher Josh Donaldson of Single-A Peoria.
This has the potential to be the best trade for the Cubs in a long while and is exactly what Chicago needed to assure that they will successfully defend their National League Central crown this year. Probably the best aspect of the trade is that the Cubs didn’t take any sort of hit in the transaction.
Gallagher was disappointing with a 3-4 record and a 4.45 earned run average and the only other spots for him were either in the Cub bullpen or in Triple-A Iowa.
Murton and Patterson each got a bit of action this summer in the absence of Alfonso Soriano. However, when Soriano gets healthy, the Cubs will have an outfield that will feature him, Kosuke Fukudome, Jim Edmonds, Reed Johnson, and possibly Mark DeRosa or Daryle Ward to cover days off.
The Cubs outfield right now is too competitive for either Murton or Patterson to be consistent starters anytime soon.
Donaldson won’t make too much a move. He will likely stay in Single-A. If he does, he will probably still play in the same state, Illinois, and the same league, the Midwest League, playing for Oakland’s Single-A Kane County Cougars. Kane County and Peoria will meet at Wrigley Field later this year.
In return, the Cubs will receive a 5-1 starter with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts in Harden and a reliever with a 3.59 ERA in 26 games in Gaudin.
What’s more, Harden will be the youngest player in the Cub rotation. At 26, he is five months younger than Carlos Zambrano.
"We felt this guy is a legitimate high, high-end starter, and will add to the ball club we have,” general manager Jim Hendry told Major League Baseball. “It's not any secret that when he's out there, he's as good as it gets. There's certainly some risks, but very, very high reward.”
This deal drew a lot of hype as some suspect that the Cubs made the trade in response to the Brewers’ trade for CC Sabathia, who was pulled in the sixth inning of tonight’s game against Colorado with a 4-3 lead. Hendry said that the deal had been under discussion for weeks, but comparing Harden and Sabathia still makes for great conversation.
Harden, in terms of this year’s statistics, seems to be the obvious choice over Sabathia in every facet of the game except for how long he can stay in the game, which is something Lou Piniella has focused on all year. Harden averages 5.9 innings per start while Sabathia has gone 6.7 innings per start. Sabathia has three complete games this year.
Sabathia has a 3.83 ERA, 1.49 higher than Harden’s. Harden has given up less than half of the runs and hits that Sabathia has in only five fewer starts. He has also walked fewer batters.
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3 months ago
Matt, good article, but how in the world can you say that Harden will be better than Sabathia? OMG. He's always hurt Matt. Sabathia is always healthy. And he's left-handed. And he has won 19 games. And he has won a Cy Young. The most Harden has won is 11. Now, I'm not saying he isn't a great pitcher when helathy, but so were Wood and Prior. He's another Prior, that's why he was available. Beane wouldnt' have traded him if he wasn't concerned about his future.
from 3 months ago
You're dead on with the Prior comparison Bob, but I'm not so sure Beane wouldn't have traded him anyway. He has a knack at spinning anything into something. With Harden the Cubs have a player they can control for 1.5 seasons, and they gave up potential talent, plus Gallagher.
We'll see how everyone else does shortly, and Gallagher should prove his worth in about a month, once he adjusts to the American League.
3 months ago
Matt, it seems like I haven't read your articles in months! Nice to see you writing about the Cubs again. My two cents on the trade is...well....I want to see at least one Harden start before I can really say anything. I am sure though that the prospects we gave up weren't going to help our team this season and became expendable. Billy Beane's action of trading Harden so fast is the one thing that scares me a little...
3 months ago
Saying Harden is better than Sabathia demonstrates a mild form of retardation.
3 months ago
So you're saying if Doug Melvin called Jim Hendry today and offered CC for Harden, straight up, Jim would say "no" ?
3 months ago
My understanding is Harden has pitched 11 straight games with no problem. That is a good start. He has never had surgery. That is a real plus. Come to think about it our 10 game winner had major surgery and is still throwing the 90+ fastball. I think Lou will use Hardin wisely just as he does with Zambrano. If Hardin can give us a good 6-7 innings each game we have the horses to take it from there. Marmol seems to have recovered from what ever went wrong with him and he is almost unhittable. Our pitching staff overall seems like one of the best in all of baseball. Stats wise we are the best offensive team in the N.L When Soriano returns at mid season we could become an offensive machine much like the Big Red Machine. We have our own Johnny Bench in the making and what looks like a .300 hitting SS for the next ten years. Aram to me is the best 3rd baseman around and could be a gold glove player along with Lee another gold glove. This team is built to win it all. Add Hardin to this mix and he is going to catch Cub fever in front of a packed and loud Wrigley every day. The second pitcher we acquired looks very good on paper to me. He can start or relieve and has good stats. We are blessed with pitching and pitching wins pennants. The Brewers are very good but do not have the Cubs depth. We can lose a Soriano or even Z for a few weeks and still be a force. If the Cubs stay healthy they will be hard to stop. I am biased and I know it but I would put my money where my mouth is. Strange things can happen in baseball. I can recall many years ago on a west coast trip we lost every starting pitcher to injury and our promising season went down the tubes. This year we got the Karma thing going and we even have a Cubs song "Go Cubs Go" which offsets any Billy Goat or Black Cat Curse.
3 months ago
Gardy, I have to admit I'm more than a little apprehensive about this trade. While I agree that the Cubs didn't give up a lot, besides Gaudin they didn't receive a whole lot of positives in the trade. Harden hasn't made many starts in the last five years due to injury. We all know the troubles the Cubs have had with injuries. Hope this one pans out!
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