Cat and Mouse: Cubs land Harden

One day after the Milwaukee Brewers pulled off a trade for Cy Young Award Winner CC Sabathia, the Chicago Cubs made a deal of their own. In a trade with the Oakland Athletics, the Cubs landed pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin for Outfielders Eric Patterson and Matt Murton, Pitcher Sean Gallagher, and catcher Josh Donaldson. Cubs GM Jim Hendry said that this deal had nothing to do with the Brewers landing Sabathia...ok right. Hendry started pursuing Harden after talks between the Brewers and Indians heated up. Hendry knew that the Brewers had just grown stronger with the addition of Sabathia, and that they posed a big threat to overtake the Cubs in the division, and the way the St. Louis Cardinals are playing, it would even tougher to get the wild card. The Cubs had to do something and something they did. Acquiring Harden is one heck of a move. When healthy Harden is one of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball, but health is a big if. Harden has visited the DL frequently throughout his career and spent a month on it this year. So far Harden is 5-1 with a 2.31 ERA. Team him up with Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano and that is as good a 1-2-3 as the Brewers combo of Ben Sheets, CC Sabathia, and Manny Parra. Also the addition of Chad Gaudin is a very underrated move. Gaudin can be a 4th or 5th starter and provides nice long relief help. He's a hard thrower and he'll make an impact on the overused Cubs bullpen. As for the A's this deal did not make too much sense. The A's are only 5 games out in the AL West and 3.5 in the wild card. Dealing Harden and Gaudin leaves the with only one bonafide pitcher in Justin Duchschrer, and the players the A's got back are very questionable. Eric Patterson is 26 and while he did show some promise at the big league level the A's have a crowded outfield and he'll be playing at AAA Sacramento. Matt Murton has never been the same since he got beaned in the head by Dontrelle Willis in 2005, Sean Gallagher lost his spot in the starting rotation and Josh Donaldson is 23 and hasn't caught past A ball and is hitting a measly .213 at Peoria. The A's clearly seem to have just given up on this season. Billy Beane has been known to get the best out of his deals like when he traded Mark Mulder to St. Louis and Dan Haren to Arizona, but the Cubs got away with robbery here. Basically the Cubs gave away mid level prospects for an Ace of staff and a solid reliever. Watch out Milwaukee, the Cubs are coming