…some 45 years ago. On promos for “Daily New Live” airing during tonight’s Giants/Mets tilt, Chris Cotter is shown asking Joe From Saddle River “when was the last time you read a book from cover to cover?”
“1963?” replied Benigno-Gazingo.
A what a fantastic read it must’ve been.
“The Cubs probably don’t have the talent to meet the asking price Oakland would attach to Rich Harden,” insisted ESPN’s Buster Olney earlier today, “and even then, Harden hasn’t yet pitched enough this year to bury questions about whether he can hold up.” And in spite of this observation, the A’s have shipped Harden to Chicago’s North Side (along with Chad Guadin) in exchange for P Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, OF Eric Patterson and C Josh Donaldson. You can label Athletics Nation’s Nico as being somewhat philosophical in the wake of Oakland going into sell mode :
The moment Harden goes down for the count the trade will look good. Put me in the camp that believes the A™s expect to see that happen before the season ends.
It™s clear that the A™s, just two games back of the Wild Card in the loss column, looked at their team and said, œThere™s just no way, because there is a real psychological cost to pulling the rug out from under a team that has competed against all odds. Perhaps Frank Thomas™ MRI report was unfavorable, or perhaps Billy Beane knows in his heart that the team has overachieved, to this point, beyond what is sustainable for another 2.5 months.
If it seems like all the marquee pitchers (and Rich Harden) are headed to the NL Central of late, somewhat lost amdist Cleveland’s trade of C.C. Sabathia was the Tribe’s recent acquisition of Wevie Stonder I. The Dream Weaver has yet to make his first start for the Indians’ Buffalo affiliate, but now that he’s sharing a locker room with former Met Matt Ginter, I’m very hopeful we’ll be hearing the duo’s Holy Mountain debut before long.
Lou Piniella’s goal of acquiring a sharp lefty didn’t quite materialize (were any out there?) but he did get some experience for the the quite green Sean Gallagher. Assuming Harden stays healthy, he’ll be a much more reliable arm down the stretch. If he doesn’t, the Cubs didn’t lose a reliable starter in Gallagher, and the Cubs got along without him. The A’s might think it looks good should Harden go down, but we finally filled a solid starter position or we go back to where we were, but I don’t see the Cubs losing ground.
That’s a plus — and a big difference will hopefully be Chad Gaudin, who replaces the run give-a-way derby that Bob Howry provides opposing teams in the late innings. Imo, the late innings have been the real drama for Cub pitching, not the starters.
Perhaps there will be a Holy Mountain LP out of Wevie Stonder I’s stay with the Bisons, but I’m pull(ey)ing for an Epitaph release.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/386787.html
This seems like a pretty shitty package for the A’s, even considering the fact that Harden hasn’t completed a season since…well, I guess I could’ve just ended the sentence there.
A spin through the Baseball Cube says that Donaldson was a good college catcher who’s currently overmatched as a 22-year old in A-Ball; Murton is certainly a Billy Beane-type in terms of OBP, but in the same way that half-useful guys like Mark Kotsay have also Billy Beane types. Patterson is serviceable enough if he can play second, but apparently he isn’t doing that anymore. Which leaves Gallagher, whose best-case scenario is something Ben could probably talk about with a lot more astuteness than me. But it seems like a pretty good deal for the Cubs, all told. As is always the case with Beane, I’ll gather there’s some secret stat he knows about that no one else knows about. Maybe Gaudin’s about to go to jail for running guns or Murton nailed the wunderlic or something.
Ben, would you agree that the Cubs didn’t give up even one important piece in this deal?
I met Radinsky at WFMU several years ago when he tagged along w/ Jack McDowell —- both of ’em on tour with the latter’s Stickfigure. The ever considerate McDowell thought it unnecessary to mention that Radinsky had his own discography of some repute.
Put it this way, since the A’s and Cubs have totally different goals this year, I actually think the deal works out both ways OK — assuming the A’s are really all about the future and the Cubs about October.
No, the Cubs didn’t give up anything major, although I was impressed with Patterson in what I saw. Gallagher had good days and bad, but it’s too soon to tell where he’s going. He came up when Rich Hill went down, so he was an clear improvement in that respec – but the high end run production of the Cubs covers up a lot of bullpen mistakes. None of the four traded Cubs were going to have their break-out year this year, so they’re expendable.
I don’t think they brought in Harden as an ace, just the best available pitcher they could get to bolster the starting rotation. And while he’ll definitely help, it’s Gaudin that I’m thinking could make a difference. Harden goes up every five days, a guy like Gaudin fills a spot multiple times a week, and one that’s shaky for the Cubs multiple times per week.
Chad Gaudin is actually a starter, not a bullpen guy. He started all last year for Oakland and was very effective, until coming down with a hip injury that required surgery.
He was put in the bullpen this year only because, with the emergence of lefties Dana Eveland and Greg Smith, Gaudin was the odd man out.
If put in the rotation, Gaudin would be better than Jason Marquis.
What surprises me is that the A’s didn’t (apparently) try to start a bidding war to see what the Sox and Yanks (and maybe a few others) might offer. Seems like they were in a mighty hurry to trade. Not saying anything’s wrong…just odd. And most teams wait until the deadline to drive up the price.
The Cubs are already saying they only plan to use Harden once in seven days (he starts against SF this weekend, unlike Sabbitha, who jumped in immediately) and Hendry emphasized today that Harden is presence is all about September.