Cubs trade four players to A's for pitchers Harden, Gaudin

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Harden and Gaudin to Cubs
Published 7/8/2008 by Pistol at Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Per Jason Stark on SportsCenter. Presumably one less team to trade for Burnett. The A's get Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson.

Breaking: Cubs Acquire Rich Harden from Oakland
Published 7/8/2008 by TheBigLead at The Big Lead
... Sorry there’s no link, we just saw is on Sportscenter. Only the AP recap is available. The obvious question: Z and Harden or Sheets and Sabathia? We know nothing about the Cubbies involved, but Bill Beane is a master, so … ...

A's Trade Harden and Gaudin to the Cubs
Published 7/8/2008 by baseballgirl at Athletics Nation: Front Page Posts
... From the Chicago Sun Times: The Cubs have traded for Oakland A's pitcher Rich Harden in a multi-player deal. This counters the move of the Milwaukee Brewers, who acquired CC Sabathia. The Cubs also acquired Chad Gaudin for right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton, infielder Eric Patterson and catcher Josh Donaldson.  The A's official release (and some info on the new A's). ESPN digs at Harden a little bit in their version: CHICAGO -- The ...

Harden a Cub
Published 7/8/2008 by Adam J. Morris at Lone Star Ball: Front Page Posts
The A's have traded Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Cubs:  The Chicago Cubs have acquired pitcher Rich Harden from the Oakland Athletics in a six-player trade, a day after the rival Milwaukee Brewers landed CC Sabathia. The Cubs will receive the right-handed Harden and righty Chad Gaudin for pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielders Matt ...

A’s Trade Harden to the Cubs
Published 7/8/2008 by Jeeves at Life In The Cell
Saw this on ESPN Update here’s something official AP Report I know this doesn’t concern the White Sox in even an indirect manner, but I just want to relay some thoughts about this trade. I’m not being a bitter Sox’ fan, but I smell trouble. My feeling is that Harden’s dead arm is a little worse than dead. In his last start against the Sox on Sunday, he didn’t break 95 on the gun and he had a lot of trouble with his control. Combine that with his start prior to that, and you could have an injured pitcher ...

CUBS GET HARDEN
Published 7/8/2008 by The Zoner at Zoner Sports
... Jim Hendry has made another deal with Billy Beane and the A’s, this time snagging prized pitcher Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin. Heading west will be Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher and Josh Donaldson. ...

I hate the NL Central
Published 7/9/2008 by Deshawn Zombie (noreply@blogger.com) at 18 to 88
It's bad enough to have to play in a 6 team division, but now that the Brewers and Cubs have both improved their starting rotations, it just got that much tougher. The Cubs pulled off a great trade for Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin today. I'm shocked the A's parted with Harden for so little, but since he's on my fantasy team, I have noticed that he hasn't gone past 5 innings too often recently, which makes me wonder how sound his arm is. Still, this is a great deal for the Cubs who apparently agreed with my assessment that they needed more pitching. The only part ...

Your Input: Rich Harden Trade
Published 7/9/2008 by Kyle at Driveline Mechanics
Rich Harden traded in six-player deal with the Cubs I’ll make a post on this trade tomorrow with my thoughts, but what do you think about the trade? Did the A’s not get enough? Did the Cubs trade away too much for an injury-prone starter? This is a post from: Driveline Mechanics - An Unconventional Look at Baseball Scouting. Your Input: Rich Harden Trade

Cubbies Have a Harden
Published 7/9/2008 by Sooze (noreply@blogger.com) at Babes Love Baseball
... season, including 6 starts. The Cubs will do fine without Opie Murton, a former top prospect who has bounced between Triple-A Iowa and Chicago in his fourth season, just to bat .250. Meanwhile, Gallagher is 3-4 with a 4.45 ERA over 12 games for the PCL Cubs. Corey Patterson's little brother has already been sent down four times this year, so the Cubs aren't missing out there, either. It would seem they came out on top of this deal for the meantime. [ESPN] | [Athletics Nation] | [The Big Lead] | [Baseball ...

Cubs Land Harden
Published 7/9/2008 by Patrick Sullivan at Baseball Analysts
The Cubs get Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin, the Athletics get Scott Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson. "Wow, Hendry got the better of Beane." "This is a deal that seems to make sense for everyone." "Wait, maybe the A's got the better of this thing." That has been my thinking, in chronological order. Now let me explain. Folks who knock the A's will in all likelihood underestimate the market for Harden's services. There are three components to this deal that conspire to bode badly for Chicago when I think about it. 1) Beane's ...

Rich Harden traded to the Chicago Cubs: Reaction
Published 7/9/2008 by noreply@blogger.com (jumbo) at Towel Drills: A Chicago Cubs Blog
... Not to be lost in this deal is that we also received Chad Gaudin as part of the package. Gaudin is a very useful reliever and, if necessary, is more than capable of starting. Gaudin will immediately help this bullpen and makes the Cubs pitching staff and rotation even deeper than before. Their lead over the Brewers in that regard has extended even further. Here's Lou on Gaudin: ...

Cubs Land an Elite Young Pitching Talent; Dave from Bloomingdale is Furious
Published 7/9/2008 by Cubnut (noreply@blogger.com) at A Hundred Next Years
... — Buster Olney, ESPN.com Finally there was this summation from Buck Showalter on ESPN's Baseball Tonight: "Harden's stuff is just wipeout filthy."

Even more about the Rich Harden trade, if you can believe it
Published 7/9/2008 by Colin Wyers at GoatRiders of the Apocalypse
... Baseball Musings writer: 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. He's more optimistic about Dempster than I am, I'll say that. Billy Beane learns what we knew back during the Ted Lilly signing - Trader Jim answers his phone no matter what: On Sunday evening -- the same ...

Will they ever learn?
Published 7/9/2008 by noreply@blogger.com (Jason) at It is about the money, stupid
... I guess I am not surprised the Cubs traded for Rich Harden. He can be as dominant as any pitcher today. He is also among the most fragile. ...

The Harden Trade
Published 7/9/2008 by moneyline at The Money Line Journal
In case you spent yesterday in the Arctic. I don’t like to go off topic on this site, so I am going to keep my opinion of this trade to myself, but here is what I would like to know: Would Hendry have actively pursued this deal if the Brewers hadn’t just dealt for Sabathia? How big of a role did Harden’s injury history play in Beane’s decision to pull the trigger this early in July? Would Beane have held onto Harden if* the A’s were 5 games up on the Angels instead of 5 games back? ...

IT'S THIS OR BEING BORED
Published 7/9/2008 at With Leather - Sports news and gossip for your impressionable young children
... This is ordinarily the part of the morning where we recap the various sports events from the previous night.  But guess what?  Nothing all that special happened.  Rich Harden got traded to the Cubs, Elton Brand ...

When They Pull a Knife, You Pull a Gun
Published 7/9/2008 by Rob G. at The Cub Reporter (TCR) | A Chicago Cubs Blog -
... signed a four-year extension in 2005 that includes a team option of $7 million for 2009 with no buyout. But, even if the Cubs decline that team option, they would still retain his rights as he won't reach six years of service time until the 2009 season. And of course, there's little chance they wouldn't pick up the option unless his arm literally blows up this year. The "throw-in" of Chad Gaudin though is what makes this deal go from good to great. I'll let Buster Olney take it (sidebar): On Sunday evening -- ...

Cubs catch Canadian and Cajun
Published 7/9/2008 by R.J. at Snobs vs. Slobs
I wonder if this move is a countermove to the Brewers dealing for CC Sabathia. The Brewers saved about 15-20 runs in the Sabathia move and I wonder if Jim Hendry and Co. thought the Cubs needed to make a move in order to stave off the Brewers. Rich Harden is Canadian. I’m just sayin’. The brief bit I saw of Lou Piniella talking about the deal had Piniella using just about every cliche imaginable (I saw the bit somewhere “>in this video ). The ESPN .com trade recap has it in the third paragraph:“He’s got really good stuff,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “He ...

Cubs Add Harden, Supplement Medical Budget
Published 7/9/2008 by Matt (noreply@blogger.com) at Chuckie Hacks
Chicago responded to Milwaukee's addition of CC Sabathia by trading for Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin in exchange for 4 players, 3 of whom have spent time on the Cubs 25-man roster this year. I assume Gallagher and Patterson were the keys to the deal from Oakland's perspective. This is a calculated gamble by Chicago, which was already a good team without Harden or the 4 players that they gave up (these were bench guys for them right now). Harden can be wicked when healthy, but he's also been on the DL 6 times. I thought this was a funny quote from Cubs GM Jim Hendry about ...

The Day After: Continued reaction on the Cubs trade for Rich Harden & Chad Gaudin
Published 7/10/2008 by noreply@blogger.com (jumbo) at Towel Drills: A Chicago Cubs Blog
... again in a mere 3 1/2 months. Goat Riders of the Apocolypse again has some great coverage of the reaction to the deal around the dubya dubya dubyas here. Lots of great info at that link, like this: "Oh, and about that dead arm thing. Checking with Fangraphs, Harden's fastball this season has averaged 92.6 MPH. In the past seven days? 91.9 MPH. I wouldn't worry too much about that yet." And here's a really great story they pulled from this ESPN article: On Sunday evening -- the ...