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Rich Harden: The biggest news from the past week was that the Cubs countered the Brewers move of acquring C.C Sabathia by trading for Oakland A's ace Rich Harden:
The Cubs landed Harden one day after the NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers got CC Sabathia. Harden heard the rumors and they intensified last weekend when he was in Chicago pitching for the A's against the White Sox. Now the reality of the deal is here. The Cubs also received right-hander Chad Gaudin, who will be used in relief, while sending promising right-hander Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton, infielder-outfielder Eric Patterson and minor league catcher Josh Donaldson to the A's. (ESPN)
Last week I had touched on the need for the Cubs to acquire a frontline pitcher to go along with Carlos Zambrano. At that point, I thought it would be more likely to be A.J. Burnett headed to the Cubs rather than Rich Harden because I thought that the Cubs did not have enough to trade for Harden, however I think I slept on Sean Gallagher too much because he is still young and has plenty of potential.
Now that the Cubs have landed Harden, they should be the clear cut favorites in the National League, provided that Harden stays healthy for the remainder of the season. That is certainly not a guarantee considering Harden's extensive injury history. They did acquire some insurance for Harden in swingman Chad Gaudin, who has been pitching out of the bullpen but was a starter last season and pitched almost 200 innings. My guess would be that Harden will be injured at some point but I think the Cubs will be happy as long as Harden can pitch for them in the playoffs. I'm sure they will not over use him either since they are almost a lock to make the playoffs at this point.
Oakland A's: My first reaction to the Oakland A's trading Rich Harden was one of shock because they traded an ace pitcher when they are still very much in the playoff hunt in the American League. However, after thinking it over, they did get a very good return for a pitcher who most likely will be injured again at some point. It was definitely worth the risk to unload him for a prospect like Sean Gallagher, but the Oakland A's also have four other talented pitchers in the minor leagues in Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, James Simmons, and Brett Anderson:
Gio Gonzalez: When Gonzalez first faced Fresno on June 18, he pitched his best game of the season: eight shutout innings, one hit, 12 strikeouts, no walks. That is, it was his best game of the season until he traveled to Fresno on the Fourth of July. In his second showdown with the Grizzlies, Gonzalez went the full nine innings, struck out 13 batters, walked two and allowed only one run on one hit, a solo homer by left fielder Eugenio Velez. Velez is now in the big leagues. Can it be a coincidence? Oh yeah, Gonzalez also pitched well in his second start of the week, limiting Colorado Springs to one run on one hit in six innings. That's a grand total of five baserunners in two starts—or exactly one-fourth his strikeout total in that span. And with 110 strikeouts on the year, Gonzalez has taken the PCL lead. The centerpiece of last offseason's Nick Swisher trade, Gonzalez may be turning a corner in his development at Triple-A. His walks per nine innings rate still is a bit too high, at 4.3, and he pitches much better at home (2.41 ERA vs. 6.79), but over his last five starts, he's gone 4-1, 2.27 with 44 strikeouts, 11 walks and three home runs allowed in 31 2/3 innings. And that's including a six runs in 2 2/3 inning disaster on June 23. (Baseball America)
Trevor Cahill: Double-A has not yet been the great equalizer for Cahill, who keeps humming along after three solid starts for Midland. He's given up just four runs on eight hits, while striking out 18 and walking eight, in 19 innings. And with a 3.75 groundout-to-fly out mark, he continues to pound the bottom of the zone with his low-90s sinker. Cahill, The minor league strikeout (121) and average (.165) leader, starts today for the RockHounds, leaving his availability for Sunday's Futures Game up in the air. (Baseball America)
James Simmons: It's the Week of the A's pitcher, with three Oakland farmhands ranking in the top four. Simmons, a first-round pick out of UC Riverside in 2007, has such advanced command that he hasn't spent a day below Double-A—not even a tune-up in the short-season Northwest League after signing last year. He retired the first 10 batters he faced this week, and struck out 11 total, but had to "settle" for an eight-inning two-hitter. With 16-year-old Dominican righty Michel Inoa in tow, Gio Gonzalez improving at Triple-A and lefty Brett Anderson carving up Double-A batters along with Simmons and Trevor Cahill, Oakland's pitching depth is officially the envy of baseball. (Baseball America)
Brett Anderson: (acquired in Haren trade): A former second-round pick, Anderson's first professional season went well as he posted a 3.07 ERA and 125/21 strikeout to walk ratio in 120.1 innings split between two levels of A-ball. Though he's more of a lefty command pitcher without nearly as much upside as the recently acquired Gonzalez or De Los Santos, Goldstein argues he's one the finest pitching prospect in the Oakland system citing his breaking ball and changeup as both plus pitches. It'll be interesting to see how Anderson performs at higher levels of play, but Oakland's got a good one here. (Beyond The Boxscore)
With this kind of pitching depth in the minors and with the addition of Gallagher, who just happened to throw 7 innings the other night and only give up 2 runs, the A's could afford to unload Rich Harden. In fact Beyond The Boxscore thinks the Harden trade was a very good deal for the A's and that Sean Gallagher is the key:
But the key to this trade is Sean Gallagher, a righty who I believe some are underrating. For some reason, people like to focus on Gallagher’s negatives – he’s hefty and does not offer much to project upon– rather than his positives. Both of these statements are true, but they obscure the positives: Gallagher is already good. Just 22 years old, Gallagher has excelled at every level of the minor leagues, doing exactly what you want a young pitcher to do: staying healthy, striking out a batter per inning, and limiting his walks and his homers. In 481 career minor league innings, Gallagher has struck out 482, while only giving up 188 walks and 26 homers. He has had success at the upper level of the minors as well: in 216 innings across Double-A and Triple-A, Gallagher has a 2.96 ERA and 212/101 K/BB ratio (55 of those walks came as a 20-year-old in double-A in 2006), while surrendering only ten homers. Oh, and he did it while pitching half of his games in parks which marginally favored hitters. Gallagher has been fairly successful in the majors as well, despite the poor handling of him and his role. Gallagher has a more-than-respectable 49/22 ratio in 58 innings with the Cubs this year, having surrendered six homers (four of which were hit in homer-happy parks: US Cellular Field, Great American Ballpark, and MinuteMaid Park). (Beyond The Boxscore)
Seems like Billy Beane still has the stuff to keep his team competitive in creative ways and I will never second guess any moves that he makes.
John Danks: Danks has been excellent this season posting a 7-4 record with a 2.67 ERA, 94 strikouts and 162 ERA+ in 114.7 innings. Statiscally speaking, he has been the best pitcher on the White Sox this season and Beyond the Boxscore took a look at why he has been so successfull. The conclusion is that Danks is getting more ground ball outs than in previous years, which is probably due to a combination of his addition of a cutter, increasing velocity, and different break from his slider/curveball. At just 23 years old, the White Sox could have a solid left handed pitcher for years to come if Danks can keep pitching this way.
Worst All-Star Selections: In honor of Jason Varitek, who probably deserves to be on this list as the worst All-Star catcher ever, Hard Ball Times took a look at the Worst All-Star Selections ever. The selections include a pretty funny story about how Alfredo Griffin got selected to the All-Star team in 1984.
Moises Alou: Moises Alou is hurt once again and is out for the season, which could mean the end of his career. If Alou is indeed forced to retire, expect to see me post something on his career stats at some point after his announcement. In the meantime, the Mets could be looking at Seattle Mariners outfielder Raul Ibanez as a replacement in the outfield for Alou. Ibanez has a solid bat and can certainly help the Mets. I do think he is a little shakey in the outfield but he probably has more range than Alou does.
The Cubs landed Harden one day after the NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers got CC Sabathia. Harden heard the rumors and they intensified last weekend when he was in Chicago pitching for the A's against the White Sox. Now the reality of the deal is here. The Cubs also received right-hander Chad Gaudin, who will be used in relief, while sending promising right-hander Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton, infielder-outfielder Eric Patterson and minor league catcher Josh Donaldson to the A's. (ESPN)
Last week I had touched on the need for the Cubs to acquire a frontline pitcher to go along with Carlos Zambrano. At that point, I thought it would be more likely to be A.J. Burnett headed to the Cubs rather than Rich Harden because I thought that the Cubs did not have enough to trade for Harden, however I think I slept on Sean Gallagher too much because he is still young and has plenty of potential.
Now that the Cubs have landed Harden, they should be the clear cut favorites in the National League, provided that Harden stays healthy for the remainder of the season. That is certainly not a guarantee considering Harden's extensive injury history. They did acquire some insurance for Harden in swingman Chad Gaudin, who has been pitching out of the bullpen but was a starter last season and pitched almost 200 innings. My guess would be that Harden will be injured at some point but I think the Cubs will be happy as long as Harden can pitch for them in the playoffs. I'm sure they will not over use him either since they are almost a lock to make the playoffs at this point.
Oakland A's: My first reaction to the Oakland A's trading Rich Harden was one of shock because they traded an ace pitcher when they are still very much in the playoff hunt in the American League. However, after thinking it over, they did get a very good return for a pitcher who most likely will be injured again at some point. It was definitely worth the risk to unload him for a prospect like Sean Gallagher, but the Oakland A's also have four other talented pitchers in the minor leagues in Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, James Simmons, and Brett Anderson:
Gio Gonzalez: When Gonzalez first faced Fresno on June 18, he pitched his best game of the season: eight shutout innings, one hit, 12 strikeouts, no walks. That is, it was his best game of the season until he traveled to Fresno on the Fourth of July. In his second showdown with the Grizzlies, Gonzalez went the full nine innings, struck out 13 batters, walked two and allowed only one run on one hit, a solo homer by left fielder Eugenio Velez. Velez is now in the big leagues. Can it be a coincidence? Oh yeah, Gonzalez also pitched well in his second start of the week, limiting Colorado Springs to one run on one hit in six innings. That's a grand total of five baserunners in two starts—or exactly one-fourth his strikeout total in that span. And with 110 strikeouts on the year, Gonzalez has taken the PCL lead. The centerpiece of last offseason's Nick Swisher trade, Gonzalez may be turning a corner in his development at Triple-A. His walks per nine innings rate still is a bit too high, at 4.3, and he pitches much better at home (2.41 ERA vs. 6.79), but over his last five starts, he's gone 4-1, 2.27 with 44 strikeouts, 11 walks and three home runs allowed in 31 2/3 innings. And that's including a six runs in 2 2/3 inning disaster on June 23. (Baseball America)
Trevor Cahill: Double-A has not yet been the great equalizer for Cahill, who keeps humming along after three solid starts for Midland. He's given up just four runs on eight hits, while striking out 18 and walking eight, in 19 innings. And with a 3.75 groundout-to-fly out mark, he continues to pound the bottom of the zone with his low-90s sinker. Cahill, The minor league strikeout (121) and average (.165) leader, starts today for the RockHounds, leaving his availability for Sunday's Futures Game up in the air. (Baseball America)
James Simmons: It's the Week of the A's pitcher, with three Oakland farmhands ranking in the top four. Simmons, a first-round pick out of UC Riverside in 2007, has such advanced command that he hasn't spent a day below Double-A—not even a tune-up in the short-season Northwest League after signing last year. He retired the first 10 batters he faced this week, and struck out 11 total, but had to "settle" for an eight-inning two-hitter. With 16-year-old Dominican righty Michel Inoa in tow, Gio Gonzalez improving at Triple-A and lefty Brett Anderson carving up Double-A batters along with Simmons and Trevor Cahill, Oakland's pitching depth is officially the envy of baseball. (Baseball America)
Brett Anderson: (acquired in Haren trade): A former second-round pick, Anderson's first professional season went well as he posted a 3.07 ERA and 125/21 strikeout to walk ratio in 120.1 innings split between two levels of A-ball. Though he's more of a lefty command pitcher without nearly as much upside as the recently acquired Gonzalez or De Los Santos, Goldstein argues he's one the finest pitching prospect in the Oakland system citing his breaking ball and changeup as both plus pitches. It'll be interesting to see how Anderson performs at higher levels of play, but Oakland's got a good one here. (Beyond The Boxscore)
With this kind of pitching depth in the minors and with the addition of Gallagher, who just happened to throw 7 innings the other night and only give up 2 runs, the A's could afford to unload Rich Harden. In fact Beyond The Boxscore thinks the Harden trade was a very good deal for the A's and that Sean Gallagher is the key:
But the key to this trade is Sean Gallagher, a righty who I believe some are underrating. For some reason, people like to focus on Gallagher’s negatives – he’s hefty and does not offer much to project upon– rather than his positives. Both of these statements are true, but they obscure the positives: Gallagher is already good. Just 22 years old, Gallagher has excelled at every level of the minor leagues, doing exactly what you want a young pitcher to do: staying healthy, striking out a batter per inning, and limiting his walks and his homers. In 481 career minor league innings, Gallagher has struck out 482, while only giving up 188 walks and 26 homers. He has had success at the upper level of the minors as well: in 216 innings across Double-A and Triple-A, Gallagher has a 2.96 ERA and 212/101 K/BB ratio (55 of those walks came as a 20-year-old in double-A in 2006), while surrendering only ten homers. Oh, and he did it while pitching half of his games in parks which marginally favored hitters. Gallagher has been fairly successful in the majors as well, despite the poor handling of him and his role. Gallagher has a more-than-respectable 49/22 ratio in 58 innings with the Cubs this year, having surrendered six homers (four of which were hit in homer-happy parks: US Cellular Field, Great American Ballpark, and MinuteMaid Park). (Beyond The Boxscore)
Seems like Billy Beane still has the stuff to keep his team competitive in creative ways and I will never second guess any moves that he makes.
John Danks: Danks has been excellent this season posting a 7-4 record with a 2.67 ERA, 94 strikouts and 162 ERA+ in 114.7 innings. Statiscally speaking, he has been the best pitcher on the White Sox this season and Beyond the Boxscore took a look at why he has been so successfull. The conclusion is that Danks is getting more ground ball outs than in previous years, which is probably due to a combination of his addition of a cutter, increasing velocity, and different break from his slider/curveball. At just 23 years old, the White Sox could have a solid left handed pitcher for years to come if Danks can keep pitching this way.
Worst All-Star Selections: In honor of Jason Varitek, who probably deserves to be on this list as the worst All-Star catcher ever, Hard Ball Times took a look at the Worst All-Star Selections ever. The selections include a pretty funny story about how Alfredo Griffin got selected to the All-Star team in 1984.
Moises Alou: Moises Alou is hurt once again and is out for the season, which could mean the end of his career. If Alou is indeed forced to retire, expect to see me post something on his career stats at some point after his announcement. In the meantime, the Mets could be looking at Seattle Mariners outfielder Raul Ibanez as a replacement in the outfield for Alou. Ibanez has a solid bat and can certainly help the Mets. I do think he is a little shakey in the outfield but he probably has more range than Alou does.
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