http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/pr...ent_id=3091876&vkey=pr_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc Cubs get Harden and Chad Gaudin for Gallagher, Murton, Patterson, and catching prospect Josh Donaldson. This move is better than the Brewers trade IMO. Harden is nasty. He has finally stayed healthy this season and showed how dominant he could be. Z, Harden, Lily, Dempster is a very good foursome in the postseason. Gaudin is also very solid. Gallagher is a very good young pitcher but Patterson, Murton, and Donaldson are nothing special. A steal IMO for the Cubs.
This move and the Brewers move should be a wake up call to Drayton and Ed. The Astros have zero chance to make the playoffs this season. Trade Tejada, Ausmus, Erstad, Loretta, Brocail, and Byrdak. These guys could help some team out in the stretch run. Get something for them because they are free agents next year except Tejada and Byrdak. See what the market is for Oswalt, Valverde, and Wiggington. If you get some young, cheap players for them, trade them too. I would trade Lee but nobody is going take that contract.
They need to trade their ace to get prospects. The team needs to be blown up. No good free agent pitcher is going to want to come to a bottom feeding Astros team in the off season and Drayton won't want to pay him anyway.
If they rebuild, then Lance Berkman needs to be traded. Lance is in the prime of his career and he shouldn't waste away in a rebuild process. It will take at least 3 years to rebuild this team and Lance will be 35 by then.
Oh yeah I definintely agree with that. I hope as it gets closer to the deadline that we start to blowup our team. Unfortunately Drayton might be worried about declining attendance at the ballpark to do that.
Berkman is the only on the team that should be untouchable...if the Astros can nab CC after the season, or a good number 2
uh, yeah...no joke. it's also more lopsided than the Pau Gasol trade. this is just disturbing. they gave up NOTHING. keep on making "shrewd" moves, Moneyball. one of these days people will start realizing that all his "genius" moves can't even get him a sniff of the world series. he's a joke. this trade stinks to the high heavens in my opinion.
Jesus Keerist! That's all the SCrubs gave up for those two? Seriously, the Cubs and Brewers are younger than us, have better young talent and farm systems, and we have....last place. As much I HATE to say it, it's time to look at trade offers for EVERYONE on our team. That includes Oswalt and Berkman. Rebuild now, bright future ahead. Right now we're headed nowhere in this division.
Everyone expected Oakland to be in the cellar this year and they're 48-41. They won four division titles and until last year hadn't finished below 2nd since 1998. Say what you will about Moneyball, but Billy Beane's been the GM of a very successful ballclub with a very small payroll. Beane traded away a starter who's never cracked 150 innings and is already experiencing a velocity drop this year. Granted, this is no where near the haul he got for Mark Mulder, but Murton fits their system and Patterson will be a nice addition with Ellis leaving via free agency after this year. Gallagher's just average, but Donaldson's a decent catching prospect. Again, not a great haul by Beane, but I don't think he got fleeced. Harden's someone who needed to be traded eventually.
Beane has owned so many GMs over the years. I think there's some market inefficiency here that us outsiders are unaware of. Remember when he dumped Mulder and Hudson, then let Zito walk? None of them have pitched as well as they did with the A's.
they are 48-41, and he just threw in the towel on the season. it's like he's saying, "see? i told you we could overachieve. now that i've proved that, let's get rid of our last starter and see if i can do it again". that's the vibe i get from this guy. world series championships are the last thing on his mind. he's just trying to prove he's smarter than everybody else and that he can field teams with no "stars" and a microscopic payroll and still play over .500 ball. i realize this may be presumptuous, but from your comments on the players the A's received, i think you would blindly agree with and assume that decent value is begotten from any trade Beane were to make. "Murton fits their system"? "Patterson will be a nice addition"? "Donaldson's a decent catching prospect"? That's all a bunch of hooey, man. Murton is garbage, Patterson is garbage, and i'm guessing that you hadnt heard of donaldson before today, but from what i've read about him, his chances of being an MLB backup catcher are miniscule anyway. and you didnt even mention gaudin, who's better than any of those 4 players also. damn, i'll take michael bourn, geoff geary, and frank costanzo for brad lidge and eric bruntlett ahead of this one 100 times out of 100, and that was an awful trade. beane has gotten too smart and cute for his own good. he's bought into his own hype to the max. the book was the worst thing that could have happened to that organization. he completely shuns star players now. quit giving the guy so much credit. i refuse to believe that they shopped the market for harden suitors, and this was the best they could get. impossible.
agree... cubs got the better player, which 9 times out of 10 is always the winner. yankees would have given more for Harden. almost every team would have given up more. no way harden was shopped.
