Rich Harden to the Cubs

I put together a post on the Brewers getting CC Sabathia so I figure I better make a post on my favorite team answering that with Rich Harden. (By the way, I am usually opposed to guys deciding they can change their names after everyone they had gained some level of fame. If people have been calling you J.R. for years but you randomly decide you want to be referred to as Isaiah, I'm not on board. Tell us that from the beginning. However, I can get on board with CC dropping the periods perhaps only because it makes his name easier to type.)

Even after the Brewers picked up Sabathia the Cubs were still a good bet to make the playoffs. My biggest fear was front end starting pitching for the Cubs once there. Now, if healthy, I'd throw Zambrano and Harden up there with anyone in baseball. That combined with the Cubs offense and bullpen makes them a pretty scary team in the postseason.

I get the health concerns with Harden but this is definitely a reasonable roll of the dice for the Cubs. If Harden's arm had fallen off on the plane ride from Oakland to Chicago what are the Cubs out for this year? Gallagher? Well, that would hurt but Jim Hendry did a great job getting Gaudin back in the deal as well as not only bullpen help but also insurance in case of a Harden injury. (And it should be noted that even Gaudin or Harden or Gallagher the Cubs can put together a competitive rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Marquis, and Marshall).

The point of this deal was for October and considering the Cubs only lost one possible contributor from this year's team it is a deal that looks like it could be too good to be true (and really with Harden's health it might be).

In addition to Gallagher, Murton, Patterson, and Donaldson. Gallagher has a real promising future and is obviously the centerpiece to this deal. The Cubs wouldn't even let Murton play with Soriano out this past month (although that may have been stupid on the Cubs' part). Patterson is a guy whose bat would be good as a second baseman except he can't play there defensively. So the Cubs have been working him in the outfield where his bat is no longer very good but he sucks defensively there too. And Donaldson is a catcher of questionable defensive ability struggling to hit as a 22 year old at A ball. Like I said, this is perhaps too good to be true.