Baseball musings

by Steve

Two big name pitchers moved in 24 hours for a bunch of scrubs and double A players and both went to the NL Central? Rare.. More recently than CC going for an above average outfielder in Laporta to Miller Park is Rich "I can be a baller if/when I am healthy" Harden to the Cubs. In return the A's got 22 year old righty Sean Gallagher, two maybe average outfielders Matt Murton and Eric Patterson and single A catcher Josh Donaldson.

There are a few things I hate about this trade. One, Harden has a club option for next year, so this dude isn't a rental ala Carston Charles. Two, none of these players are anything more than middle of the road players according reports (Gallager has 10 starts and a 4.45 ERA, Murton and Patterson are both hovering around .240 and are 25+ years old and Donaldson is a nobody.) True Gallager will probably go to the A's and have a solid ERA because it is a pitcher friendly park, but he is no Harden and at least not in the next 1.5 seasons, obviously.

Three, the rich get richer. WTF is the point of being an Athletics fan, it is worse than the Sabres at this point. Every time they have a potentially great player they dump him for some prospects. True this has worked in the past, but it has also blown up in the past. Dan Haren has a 2.83 ERA and 103 k's in 18 starts this season and still has 3 years left on a cheap contract. Carlos Gonzalez has barely sniffed the majors this year and the other major part of that trade was Dana Eveland who has pitched well but hasn't blown anyone way.

Even if those dudes become ballers in 2-3 years along with Greg Smith in high A, Chris Carter who is in no man's land and Aaron Cunningham average maybe outfielder, it will not help the A's ,they're 3.5 games out of the wild card, contend for the playoffs this year. Harden and Haren would have almost guaranteed they would be around in September battling for the AL WC. I don't wanna hear shit about Beane getting what he could NOW while Harden was healthy and pitching relatively well. A lot of teams would have still jumped at trading for him outside of another major injury which is impossible to predict. Remember there are still 23 days till the deadline...

Need further prove of Beane's hit or miss ditch the potential ace while you can bs... Look at the Tim Hudson trade. Dan Meyer ( in triple A nearly out of options) Juan Cruz (pitching out of the bullpen has as a slightly above average reliever) and Charles Thomas(who I don't even think is still in baseball). In that time Hudson has 52 wins and a 3.50ish ERA. (But making $15 mil a year) Some dudes you sign, some dudes you don't. Not sure why NO ONE is signed in Oakland.

Finally, why throw in Chad Gaudin like he is garbage? I feel like Beane might have really dropped the ball on this final piece to the puzzle. A reliable reliever who can start games and has a sub 4 ERA and his fastball reaches the low 90's. I feel like I could name 20 teams that would want him. I guess thats why I'm not a baseball GM yet.


CC was a different story. He was walking at the end of the year and the Indians are in the basement in the Central. They probably are going to revamp the front office and the bench in the near future, and they still have Fausto. All I really wanna know though is what does drunkie drunk Tony La Rusa and the red birds have up their sleeve cause they need to do something quick.( And speaking of the Cardinals when the hell did ex Bison Ryan Ludwick and ex majors drop out Rick Ankiel become the rebirth of the bash brothers? God damn these two are pounding the ball)


Don't look now but the Mets are heating up. Reyes is above .300, they just took three of four @ Philly who they never beat where they never win. Oli has seemed to settle in a groove, Beltran is swinging a stick, and no one remembers Willie Randolph especially with the soothing calm of Jerry Manuel. Oh and they lit up Lincecum tonight.


Quick quick how do you pronounce Justin Duchscherer quicker quicker how many All Star appearances has he made? Duke-sure and 2 (05 and 08) once as a reliever and once as a starter, (damnnnn)


Can the Giants be that foolish and trade Matt Cain? Good luck getting better value than Rich Harden Brain Sabean. I know I would love to see this dude in a Mets jersey.. period and so would any fan of most teams in the playoff race.

Did Wny Watercooler's own T-Wreck predict the TB-Rays would win the AL East before the season? Shiiiiaattt.