So About that Harden Trade

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 9, 2008 1:26 PM EDT

Just some unorganized thoughts about the deal:

- Rich Harden has allowed 50% flyballs but has a 5.3% HR/FB rate. He's going to be pitching roughly half of his games in homer producing Wrigley Field (1.104). Harden's going to allow more than five homeruns the rest of the way, yet I wouldn't say his homerun rate is going to jump over one per game.

- Why can't Sean Gallagher step into the A's rotation without them missing a beat? He's more of a groundball pitcher than Harden which plays into the Oakland defense's hands, ranked first in defensive efficiency. Gallagher is only 22 and his K/BB ratio is 2.23, Harden's career K/BB ratio is 2.25.

- At first I thought Matt Murton was a redundancy on the Athletics roster. If Murton weren't headed to AAA a platoon between Ryan Sweeney and him would seemingly make sense.

- Is this really rebuilding? You always have to think about health when you discuss Harden, and yes Harden has been awesome this year however you can't help but think that Beane didn't think the marginal benefit of keeping Harden for another few starts and potentially having another "dead arm" situation didn't exceed the marginal cost, which in this case could've been negatively affecting his trade value.

- There's going to be a lot of talk about the A's trading their ace again, but Justin Duscherer is still in the rotation.

- There will also be debate about which NL Central rotation is better between the Cubs and the Brewers. I won't debate that now, but for the future -- or at least next season -- the Cubs would seem better off. Harden is iffy, but Sheets and Sabathia are almost guaranteed to be gone. Short term edge to the Brewers, long term to the Cubs?

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Seal Gallagher is very underrated.

I may write more about this soon, but my first thought was:

Wow, the Athletics really didn’t get much.

After a bit of research, my conclusion is:

Billy Beane is very good at his job.

by Peter Bendix on Jul 9, 2008 2:27 PM EDT reply actions

I think that was almost everyone's first reaction.

Although if Gallagher’s name were Seal I would’ve been for the deal immediately ;)

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 9, 2008 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions

LOL@seal.

I think that Sean has his new nickname.

by IM4Oakgal on Jul 11, 2008 1:57 AM EDT up reply actions

I felt exactly the same way.

And despite the conclusions everyone seems to be jumping to, I don’t think this is the A’s giving the division to the Angels just yet.

by Aaron Campeau on Jul 9, 2008 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions

In Billy We Trust

Gallagher is 22 and the 4th starter for the Cubs. How many comparable 22 year olds are there? You have to figure this year alone he at the very least replaces Gaudin with a big upside where he could be a 1/2 starter. Plus he is locked up for longer than Harden. And it saved the team 8 million future free agent dollars.

Harden is so injury prone, Beane was just trading him when his value was at its peak for this year, holding him any longer and you have another Dan Meyer dead arm.

As for the other 3, Murton was a top tier prospect not long ago, and Donaldson is a top catching prospect. Patterson I know little about….but If 1 of those 3 becomes a regular starter at some point, this trade is advantage A’s.

by Cochran86 on Jul 9, 2008 3:10 PM EDT reply actions