RammyFanny

Call me crazy but I don't think this is going to be a high scoring affair.

I'm loving everything said in the article posted above. Nice to see both sides are on the same page and mutual about him getting enough rest as possible.

Hudson is pretty damn good. Don't forget Haren. Either way, you can't relate this to Harden in any way. He hasn't even gotten the chance to be overused because of all of the time he's missed.

Someone posted a thread to Sopcast or something in a thread that links to a channel that should show the game. Don't feel like looking for it, but it's out there.

Well, I haven't put my official word in yet, so here it goes. Obviously, this was a deal that had to be made. We gave up talent that is blocked and had no true superstar potential. A Murton, or moreso a Gallagher, is a valuable player, but i'd like to think a big market team like us could buy a player who will put up similiar stats in FA, if we really needed someone like that in the future. As far as Harden, I am keeping my health expectations low, so when he does miss a start or two I am not going to be crazy dissappointed. If he can even give us half of his scheduled starts + postseason it's still an amazing deal IMO. We're in the unique situation where we don't have to fully depend on him during the regular season (IMO), so it is really a perfect fit for us rather than most other teams since his true realistic value lies for us in a short series (playoffs). We have the ability to likely make the playoffs and be careful with Harden, so I expect us not to ride him like other teams might try and keep him at or under 100 pitches. The bottom line: He gives us alot of options in the big picture of things. If he can stay healthy, you might have one of the biggest steals in history considering he's still so young and has the god given ability to be THE best pitcher in the game. If his shoulder acts up: We can still slowly build him up until the playoffs where his presence could be HUGE. Assuming his potential injuries aren't anything really serious, he's really the perfect fit and best case scenario we could have hoped for.

Will Guadin be available?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWncRBp0kOM Changeups at the 32 and 47 (I think a changeup on this one) second mark. Definately could be mistaken as a slider IMO.

Again, am I the only one who heard either Hendry or Lou talk about Marquis in the bullpen yesterday?

Just turned on the Score and as they were leaving to break they said Hendry was on the radio earlier and said that they'd give Harden 6 days rest if he wanted it.

Very well could be. They were talking about how Harden was so effective against lefties as well, and talked about how his changeup was a big reason why and was one of the best in the league. That was about all they said, but the way the made it sound seemed like it would be thrown more than once in an entire ball game.

I may be wrong on this, so correct me if i'm wrong, but Len and Bob made it seem like Harden's changeup was an important pitch for him and that it was used quite often. If that's true, i'm highly doubting he only threw 1 in his last start.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080708-rich-harden-chicago-cubs-trade,1,3779313.story Honesly, you'd think it's bad news to find out he's only throwing 2 pitches, but outside of his last 2 starts (which weren't terrible), he's still been unhittable, so if it let's him pitch more innings i'm fine. I'm assuming they are talking about since his last trip to the DL right? Or are they just talking about since the recent dead arm start?

Was it just me or was Hendry talking about Marshall starting and saying Marquis could even go to the pen? It makes sense since we'd only have one lefty.

Haha, Hendry actually was finalizing a deal when he cancelled.

I Love Lamp.

Radio 720 confirms says Kap will be on soon to announce.

Radio 720 confirms says Kap will be on soon to announce.

With numerous people saying we might not have what Oakland wants, would we match up better with Seattle? Bedard quietly has gone on a nice little run to get his numbers down to : 3.67 ERA / 1.32 WHIP and on pace to give up only around 16 HR's. However, one problem is shoulder pain during his last start that will cause him to miss his next. If they are looking to get back a chunk of the talent they gave up to get him, would something like Pie/Gallagher/Ceda make sense for both clubs?

2 dead.

Hopefully whoever told him this is the same guy who told him that "we don't have anything Oakland wants". From yesterday:

I'm a gambler, so i'd probably take Harden over Hudson just because Hudson is already 32. The chance (albeit small with the injuries) to get a bonafied ace in your rotation that's young doesn't happen often, so i'd do that. Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to having a pitch count in the early season for Harden (say...80-85 pitches) and gradually increase him if needed after the all-star break into the postseason.

I'd like to ask you what tradeable player in our system offers what LaPorta can, since a middle of the order power bat is what Cleveland was obviously looking for.

Hey, at least we get a mention from SI today: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/07/06/scoop.sunday/?eref=sircrc

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8318218/Dodgers-out-of-mix-for-Sabathia,-Brewers-close??CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=3498

Yeah, AJ is the perfect buy low candidate. If you notice the game logs (and I can attest for this since he's on my fantasy team), he is still throwing alot of gems but he follows up every couple of gems with a 6IP 8ER thing. So it's not like he's consistently struggled in each of his starts, it's just that he has a really bad game for every couple of really good games. He's still striking out a crap-ton of batters too. Let's take a look at his last 12 starts: April 25th-7 innings/ 3 ER/6K 7 innings/ 0 ER/ 5K 6 innings/ 5 ER/ 10K 8 innings/ 3 ER/ 7K 6 innings/ 2 ER/ 8K 6 innings/ 3 ER/ 6K 6 innings/ 2 ER/ 10K 8 innings/ 2 ER/ 8K 4 innings/ 8 ER/ 5K 5 innings/ 2 ER/ 7K 5 innings/8 ER/ 5K 8 innings/1 ER/ 7K 7 innings/ 0 ER/ 11K July 4th-7 innings/ 6 ER/ 3K As you can see, he has a bunch of quality starts but always throws a terrible one in between that kills his ERA.