Keyser Soze wrote:
The Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan writes that the Cubs have no plans to bring back Rich Harden, as eluded to by manager Lou Piniella. Prior to losing the final road game of the season to the San Francisco, Piniella ran down the 2010 rotation.
"You look at our starting pitching here for next year," Piniella said. "You've got (Carlos) Zambrano, you've got (Ryan) Dempster, you've got (Randy) Wells, you've got (Ted) Lilly, you've got (Tom) Gorzelanny, and you've got (Jeff) Samardzija...And if this kid keeps improving, he'll be right in the mix. So we've got six nice arms."
If they don't plan on bringing harden back why didn't they trade him when the Twins claimed him of waivers?? Are they going for the draft picks by offering arbitration and hope he turns it down?? That could be VERY risky unless they think there's a team dumb enough to offer him a multi-year deal.
I don't think they can afford to offer him arbitration, but it's hard to know exactly what this team's off-season plans are going to be until a budget is shared. With all of these escalating salaries on the books for next season, letting go of Harden is probably necessary from that stand point. You also have to wonder if they are against (or over) the budget already if this will force the move of a guy having a great season like Derek Lee for 2 or 3 younger players, but that seems to clash with the idea that they would be back in contention next season.
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