The cubs are not offering arbitration to Rich Harden. Harden was claimed on waivers by the Twins in August and could have been traded for a prospect or two but Hendry elected not to trade him and now he is walking away with zero compensation.

and Jim Hendry is still on the cubs payroll....

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-k ... esday.html

Agreed. What was the reason given? Did Minnesota want the Cubs to pay salary?

Hendry legitimately thought the Cubs were in the division race so he kept both players. No joke.

I would have offered Harden arbitration as the result is only a 1 year deal. The fear with Harden is a multi year disaster. Gregg can go and Johnson can still be signed.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I'm baffled as to why they didn't offer him arbitration.

At the worse, he accepts it and they agree to a 1 year deal probably somewhere in the 10-11 million range.

At best, he rejects and the Cubs get two comp picks.

Where's the downside?

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

im never baffled by hendrys moves anymore. harden should have been either traded when they had the chance last season or offered arbitration. im ok with him coming back as a 4 or 5 next year. but letting him walk for absolutely nothing is a mistake

It's just not smart baseball. Sure Harden can only legitimately go about 90 to 95 pitches for 25 starts a year. But he still has value - value enough to have garned a few prospects or draft picks through arbitration.

Stupid.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

Maybe they didn't want to take a risk that they'd accept arbitration, and the rest of the league wouldn't beat what some dumbass arbitor gave them? Maybe there's a known risk on Harden's health?
Just guessing.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Your guess is as good as any because nothing makes sense at this point. Maybe the Cubs just didn't want to spend 10 to 11 Mill (I'm guessing at the numbers, maybe a bit high) that Harden would get if he won in arbitration?

I don't know - it just doesn't seem baseball smart to me, but what the hell do I know? It's not my money.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

I'm assuming they already factored in to subtract his $10mil-ish salary, even if for only one year. This team is strapped!

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Right and I have a 12 inch dong that can sing opera.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

No, he's right. The Cubs don't have unlimited corporat resources any longer and are addled by bad contracts. Several bad contracts. I think I told y'all that the Larry Himes style days were returning. Here we go.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Harden signed with the Rangers. 1yr/$7.5M with an $11.5 option for 2011 (not sure on the buyout number). He signed a 1 yr deal for $500,000 more than he made last season. This is exhibit B (Granderson is exhibit A) on just how strapped the cubs really are.

You are right on Harden. Granderson was more they didn't want to give up Starlin Castro I think.

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Team Cutler.

Just like they didn't want to give up on Corey Patterson and Felix Pie right?

Speaking of mistakes....


" The Cubs have interest in Padres closer Heath Bell, and they are at work preparing a trade package centered on catcher Geovany Soto. …"

from BP

This has been discussed on this board before, but if the rest of the lineup around Hill is decent, I'd have no problem w/ him being our regular catcher 5 games per week. He's fantastic defensively.

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Ah Cub Fan drama. Some bitch saying they are not willing to part with anyone in trades. Then when a rumor starts that they might be trading Soto, who most of you spent all last year bitching about, then you get upset about that too. You cannot be satisfied.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I think I get it though. Koyie isn't really ready for prime time. The parts around him aren't really all that wonderful. You've got an uncertain outfield, and a questionable 2nd baseman. Lee and Ramirez are solid for sure, do you get 150 games out of them? Soto was a pretty good defensive catcher too wasn't he? I mean, as opposed to Koyie Hill.
I'm not against Soto going, but I'd like to have a better replacement than Hill.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Dood. His name is "Koyie". That's right - "Koyie". Sure we've all heard of a silent letter at the end of a name or word. Hell, sometimes people are crazy and have a silent letter at the beginning of their name or smack-dab in the middle. But this insane MF'er has two consecutive silent letters to end his name.

Oh. He's good enough.

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What about his career .215 BA thrills you? Or is it the miserable .286 OBP? Could it be the staggering .304 slugging %?
Or was this spanksarcasm?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Dooood. Two consecutive silent letters. Two.

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Spanksarcasm. Got it.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Bingo. They didn't want to take the chance of him accepting, either because they can't/don't want to pay him. I would guess it would be that they didn't want to pay him, and if that's the case they're right. Too little bang for way too much buck.

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JohnKirk wrote: I dont get it...

They didn't want to pay him and they don't want their bullpen burned out by July.