MVP broke in saying Cubs picked up the $7 million dollar option on Harden. Whatever tests he had supposedly only revealed normal wear & tear.

We'll see how that decision plays out. You can never have too much pitching.

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

I couldn't believe the people calling in to M&H this morning saying they should dump him, and making the Mark Prior comparison.

$7 million is nothing for a starting pitcher, and even if the Cubs do believe that he's too injury prone, they can easily trade him during the winter.

I'd rather hold on to him though. The Cubs "window" of opportunity to win a title is still open, might as well take the risk on him for 2009.

yet another guy that would make a better bullpen pitcher...no gas in his tank after a few innnings and is a two pitch pitcher. they made the right move.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised they picked up his option, just throwing good money after bad. Not sure who would want to trade for him but I do know the cubs wouldn't get anyone near as good as Sean Gallagher in return.

He is Mark Prior. They both have been proven to be weak. Everything was checked out yesterday, and Hendry said everything was fine. That means Harden is just soft. He won't be easy to trade, because nobody wants a pitcher who can only last 5 innings, and will eat up their bullpen every 5 days.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

"Normal wear and tear" for a regular person or for someone whose shoulder is already held together with chewing gum, balsa wood, and rubber bands?

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He's not Mark Prior. Mark Prior was getting shelled at the end of his Cubs career. Harden is still dominant.

Even at the risk that he bombs out next year, show me a better option out there for $7 million for a one year commitment.

With Dempster being a free agent, this had to be done. Should Dempster get a huge offer that the Cubs declined to match and they did not pick up this option, they would face losing 40% of the starting rotation. A 7 million dollar 1 year deal is a good risk. He is a long shot to pitch more than 150 innings, but he sure has a nice winning pct.

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Go Cubs!!!!

bringing harden back seems to me to be one of the cubs no-brainer decisions for 2009. he was effective, even when he didnt have his A+ stuff at the end of the year. to me his problem wasnt durability - he was good for 100 pitches - but he hit the 100 pitches in the 5th inning, which is a problem lots of strikeout pitchers have. he would go 0-2 on a hitter, and waste pitches to get to 3-2, and then strike him out on high heat or the change. i remember more than a few games where he was out after 5 where he gave up 2 or 3 hits, walked 1 or none, and struck out 8-10 guys, and give up 1 or less runs. his stuff was dominant at times, but not efficient.

hes a bargain at 7 mil i think. as for the remark about not getting someone as good as sean gallagher in return for him, gallagher had big problems in oakland. there is no way in hell you can put him in the same category as harden. and i liked gallagher, he seems like a pretty gutty pitcher on the mound, but there is no comparison, id take harden over gallagher at this point.

i feel better about giving 7 mil to harden for a year, than going long-term big-money on dempster.

who cares

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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.’”

what are you talking about?! Did you actually pay attention to what happend to Gallagher? Of course they could get someone as good as Sean...he's not very good and he was exposed as such with the A's...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

He's 22 years old and has a tremendous future ahead of him. If anyone was 'exposed' it's Jim Hendry for his lack of vision. How much more money is it going to cost to pay for all of his mistakes?? The cubs need a bailout!!!!! Mark Cuban to the rescue!!!!!

In fairness, this WAS the Cubs year, and Harden was the right move for them. CC would have been a better option, but once he went to Milwaukee, the Cubs had to make that move.

He was really the only pitcher that showed up in the playoffs.

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In fact, with the exception of the somewhat successful Dontrelle Willis, who is now for all intents and purposes done with baseball, and Jon Garland, also injury prone and ineffective, who has Hendry traded away that went on to be an ace or even a good pitcher?

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Ricky Nolasco- 25 yrs old. 15-8 3.52 ERA
Renyel Pinto- 26 yrs old. Lefty set-up man. 17 holds.



What about Joe Blanton? He was available when Hendry traded for Harden. He went 4-0 for the Phillies and made 13 starts to Harden's 12 and Blanton was acquired 9 days later. He's also under team control for 2 more seasons.

Rich Harden
L 4.1 innigs 3ER is showing up?

Joe Blanton
W 6 inning 1 ER that's showing up.

?

What in the holy hell are you talking about? How many days has Jon Garland spent on the DL in his MLB career? I can't speak for this past season, but he did not miss one single start due to injury when he was on the Sox.

Maybe the better question is who has come up thru the Cubs system, be it from draft or trade, that has been a good pitcher?

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How about Zambrano.

Oh yeah, I could I forget about that psycho

I guess I was just too busy laughing at the "Jon Garland is injury prone" comment

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whoops, I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong...I had Garland mixed up with another pitcher...my bad.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

let the record show that I went on B&B and stated I wanted Blanton over Harden...I agree with you on that.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.