Yardbarker: Rich Harden

Reed & Harden Are Cubs Free Agents

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:42 -0500

More than 120 players have jumped into baseball’s free-agent money pool, two of which are Cubs: Reed Johnson and Rich Harden. Without hesitation, I’d bring Reed back in a second. He’s a good clubhouse guy, is versatile throughout the lineup and truly enjoys playing for the Cubs organization. Harden, on the other hand, is way too [...]

Cubs Rumor Round-up: DeRosa, Harden and Johnson

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:30:59 -0500

- Buried in this Stltoday.com artcile is this nugget:

DeRosa, coming off wrist surgery, figures to field an offer from the Chicago Cubs, at the least.

Seems like idle speculation than anything legit, but at least the Wrigley-ites would be cheering for the right team if it did happen. (Hat tip to Bleacher Nation for the find)

- Paul Sullivan says the Cubs are ready to let Rich Harden and Reed Johnson test free agency.

But Harden's injury-plagued history makes a multiyear deal unlikely, and Johnson may have to take a salary cut to stay.

Well if this is indeed the case, offering Rich Harden becomes even a bigger no-brainer. Johnson has never been more than a good short-side platoon player that shouldn't be too difficult to replace. Jayson Stark supposedly suggested Marlon Byrd as an option.

- Sammy Sosa takes this vampire a craze a step too far.

The official line was that he going through a rejuvenation process for his skin.

Cubs seem ready to let Harden, Johnson go

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:36:59 -0500

Free agents' contract situations a difficult fit for Cubs' plans There's no question Rich Harden and Reed Johnson would prefer to return to the Cubs in 2010, and in a perfect world, Jim Hendry would probably re-sign both.

Weekend Update ... Talkin' Cubs Rumors

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:27:43 -0500

The first two days of the off-season have seen quite a bit of movement across the league ... except for on the North Side of Chicago. The Cubs completed their organizational meetings on Friday in Arizona and other than Reed Johnson and Rich Harden declaring free agency, not much out of the Cubs' camp. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Jim Hendry has little payroll flexibility and will likely rely on making trades to improve (or fix) the big league team for next season. It is only t...

Aaaaand Here We Go…

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:13:24 -0500

The cap to one helluva busy day, MLB transaction-wise is, at least for Cub fans, the kickoff of the Cubs offseason, as Reed Johnson and Rich Harden filed for free agency: The Cubs’ Reed Johnson and Rich Harden didn’t waste any time. Johnson and Harden were among the 79 Major League players who filed for free agency on Thursday, the first day they were eligible to do so. So, there’s that. Harden is a Type B FA, meaning of the Cubs offer him arbitration (they won’...

2009 Recap: Rich Harden

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:16:24 -0500

I told you all about how Ryan Dempster let the Cubs in strikeouts. As it turns out, he almost didn't. Rich Harden pitched 59 fewer innings, started five fewer games -- and at the end of the season, only trailed Demp by one in the strikeout category. Of his 26 starts, Harden racked up eight or more strikeouts in 12 of them. As you may or may not know, 12 is really close to half of 26. So that is really super great. Rich's 171 strikeouts in 141 innings gave him a rate of nearly 11 K...

Harden and Johnson File for Free Agency

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:33:37 -0500

According to a report on Cubs.com, Rich Harden and Reed Johnson were among the 79 players to file for free agency on Thursday. The Cubs have exclusive negotiating rights until November 20 to work out new contracts with all of their potential free agents ... Reed Johnson, Rich Harden, John Grabow, Kevin Gregg and Chad Fox.

Rich Harden is done with the Cubs

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:10:00 -0500

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Rich Harden has seemingly pitched his last game for the Cubs. The free agent to be was skipped in his last start because of fatigue. That fatigue is due to heavy pitch counts in short starts during September. Now, he'll miss his last start of the season after being shut down. Harden's return seems questionable after he went 9-9 with a 4.09 ERA and 4.30 FIP this season. Harden hopes to return to the Cubs next season. We'll see what happens. Hopefully w...

Cubs Will Not Keep Rich Harden, Piniella Indicates

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:26:32 -0500

Manager banter is normally pretty innocuous, but on Sunday Lou Piniella actually spoke words that imparted useful information, though it was probably by accident. “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, [...]

Harden Shutdown ... Future with Cubs Uncertain

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:34:15 -0500

According to multiple reports Thursday night, Rich Harden's 2009 season has come to an end. The Cubs shutdown Harden for the year after it appeared he would only miss two of his final three starts. Harden finished with a 9-9 record in 26 starts with a 4.09 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. In 141 innings Harden struck out 171 batters and walked 67. It was reportedly a mutual decision to end Rich Harden's season.

Rich Harden done for the season

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:04:32 -0500

According to the ever reliable Paul Sullivan, The Cubs are shutting Rich Harden down for the year. The Cubs are shutting down Rich Harden for the rest of the year. Harden, who has struggled with his command the last three starts, including Wednesday’s 71-pitch, three-inning outing, is being replaced in the rotation. Manager Lou Piniella said Tom Gorzelanny would replace Harden in his next start on Monday and the Cubs would make plans afterwards. But sources said Harden is done for 2009 ...

Loss Ends Rich Harden's Season

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:45:25 -0500

Just when you let that little piece of hope back in, the Cubs yank it out of you like their Mola Ram from Temple of Doom. Rich Harden left his change up in the zone all game and paid for it as the Brewers knocked him for 5 runs in 3 innings. The first two courtesy of back-to-back two out hits by their 8 and 9 hitters in the 2nd. In the third, Aramis backed up on a chopper by Ryan Braun with a man on first. The ball went past him and one of the nicest gift doubles was awarded to Braun by the official scorer. That changed the whole inning, because instead of a man on 2nd and 1 out, you've got 2nd and 3rd and Prince Fielder up. He was intentionally walked and after a Casey McGehee sac fly (should have been the 2nd out), Harden walked another and got a fielder's choice that would have ended the inning in theory and kept the game at 3-0. But after seeing Alcides Escobar flail at 2 change-ups down and away, Harden went to the well one more time but missed right over the plate and Escobar pretty much ended his night. It looks like it may have ended his Cubs career as well, as the team announced this morning that he will be shutdown the rest of the season. I imagine his agent is thrilled with the news considering his impending free agent status. I imagine the Cubs are thrilled at the prospect of not getting those two draft picks for his Type A free agent status. Tom Gorzelanny will slide into the rotation.

The Cubs got 2 back in the bottom frame and were looking for more, but Milton's epic September slump continued, thanks to a fine play by Escobar to end the threat. That was Bradley's last at-bat of the game, as Lou curiously double switched, even though he has a 12-man pen and brought in Micah Hoffpauir to play RF and David Patton to pitch. Patton coughed up a run in the 4th and three more in the 5th, although two scored after Justin Berg relieved him. The Cubs battled back to make it 9-5 on an Aramis Ramirez home run and Bobby Scales RBI, but that was all the scoring for the night and the Cubs 3-game win streak ends.

In the Southern League Finals, Tennessee dropped behind 0-2 to Jacksonville(Florida affiliate) as they head back to Tennessee for Game 3 and hopefully Games 4 and 5. Jeremy Papelbon started for the Smokies and got saddled with the loss after throwing 5 shutout innings, but surrendering the winning runs in the 6th. The Smokies got a run back in the top of the 7th after Tyler Colvin reached after a strikeout, advancing to third on a Starlin Castro single and scoring on a Robinson Chirinos double play. They put a man on second with one out in the 8th, but couldn't push through and now have to win three in a row to take the Southern League crown.

In Game 1, the Smokies lost in dramatic fashion, tying the score at 4 in the 9th, taking the lead in the top of the 10th and then getting 2 outs before Brian Schlitter coughed up 2 runs to lose the game. Apparently a controversial overturned call, mired the proceedings.

Are Cubs Silently Waving White Flag?

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:47:44 -0500

You can't say that Jim Hendry isn't trying to still do his job. Reports came out today that Aaron Heilman and Rich Harden have both been claimed on waivers, Heilman definitely by an NL Team and Harden most likely by a pitching-starved NL team. Rosenthal's report says the Cubs have until Monday afternoon to complete a deal, but that seems longer than the normal 48 hour window to complete this type of transaction.

Heilman is owed about $270K on his contract this year, might as well just save it if your the Cubs and let him go to whatever team claimed him if a deal can't be worked out. I highly doubt any team that did claim him was trying to block him from somebody, since you know, it would probably actually hurt most teams that he joined, so there must be some interest there or maybe some drunk GM'ing. Since the Cubs aren't going anywhere with Heilman on the team and they're not going to offer him arbitration this offseason, hopefully Hendry can take advantage of this opportunity and send Heilman on his merry way...where he can win a World Championship and then go broke in the offseason.

Rich Harden is owed about $1.2M on his deal, but his true value will be beyond this season. The Cubs could try and resign him to a long-term deal, although that's doubtful. With a pretty bare market for starting pitchers, Harden will likely snag some sort of multi-year deal, so offering him arbitration is a no-brainer and if he does happen to accept it, I'm sure not going to complain about getting him back in a Cubs uniform for 2010. If Hendry does work out a trade, he will have to get back something resembling two 1st/2nd round talents from whatever team claimed him and in this case, I could see the Giants trying to block the Dodgers here and they're probably not looking for starting pitching right now.

And while teams generally put the bulk of their roster through waivers during this time period, it's somewhat interesting that the Cubs waited until the end of August here to put one of their most tradeable pieces in Harden. If Hendry can squeeze out two top prospects, preferably at higher levels in the minors, he can avoid the arbitration and paperwork headache in the offseason, avoid any potential late season injury to Harden that we're always worried about and hypothetically pick up two prospects closer to the show. A prospect in the hand is worth two in the draft so to speak....

A Harden Days Night - Cubs 7 Padres 1

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:57:39 -0500

Game One Hundred-Eighteen - Cubs 7 Padres 1 WP - Rich Harden (8-7) LP - Mat Latos (4-3) Save - None The Cubs ended their six-game losing streak in San Diego behind a dominant performance by Rich Harden ... and a lot of offense. The Cubs equaled their run total from the first five games of the year at PETCO Park by the sixth inning and posted their first win of the year in San Diego (1-5). After struggling with his command and throwing 25 pitches in the first inning, Rich Harden settle...