Sean Gallagher
When They Pull a Knife, You Pull a Gun
UPDATE 4:56 CST: One of our readers tipped us to this fantastic piece on Rich Harden's mechanics (with video) by Carlos Gomez at The Hardball Times. Can't recommend it enough....
I've had a little time to digest the trade since my initial reaction and a little time to actually write about it now. I don't think there's too many warm-blooded Cubs fan out there who aren't happy about the deal...other than maybe a Chicken Little or two that are never happy with anything the Cubs do.
We all know the risks. Rich Harden has all the durability of a roll of toilet paper caught in a rainstorm. He was called up half way through the 2003 season, proceeded to make 31 starts in 2004 and has battled injuries ever since. The list is too long and complicated for me to dive into, so we'll wait for the good Dr. Hecht to chime in on that side of the trade. Harden's 13 starts this year are his highest total since 2005 and he spent almost a month of this year already on the disabled list. But in those 13 starts, he's gone 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA, 10.75 K/9, 2.97 K:BB and 0.58 HR/9.
He once had a fastball that could hit 100, although he seems to have dialed it back a bit this year. He compliments that fastball with a fantastic change-up and that's pretty much it. He'll occasionally throw a slider in there, but seems to have scrapped it for the most part this season. A quick and dirty comparison with some of the best in the game using career numbers:
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Peter Angelos Finally Agrees to Roberts Trade
THIS JUST IN...
Game 86 Thread / Cubs @ Giants (4 of 4)
Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview
SP | Sean Gallagher |
SP |
Tim Lincecum |
3-3, 4.36, 47 K, 20 BB, 53.2 IP |
9-1, 2.38, 114 K, 43 BB, 109.2 | ||
LF |
Reed Johnson |
LF |
*Fred Lewis |
RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome | 2B |
#Ray Durham |
1B |
Derrek Lee | RF |
#Randy Winn |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez | C |
Bengie Molina |
CF |
*Jim Edmonds | CF |
Aaron Rowand |
C |
Geovany Soto |
1B |
*John Bowker |
2B |
Mark DeRosa | 3B |
Jose Castillo |
SS |
Ryan Theriot | SS | #Omar Vizquel |
P |
Sean Gallagher | P | Tim Lincecum |
In roster moves, Reed Johnson was activated today with Eric Patterson getting sent down. Matt Murton thanks you Eric Patterson for your defensive ineptitude. Proud papa Aramis Ramirez is back in the lineup as well.
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Game 68 Thread / Cubs @ Blue Jays (1 of 3)
Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview
SP | Sean Gallagher |
SP |
A.J. Burnett |
3-2, 4.42, 31 K, 13 BB, 36.2 IP | 5-6, 4.98, 78 K, 38 BB, 81.1 IP | ||
SS |
Ryan Theriot | RF |
Alex Rios |
1B |
*Micah Hoffpauir |
DH |
*Matt Stairs |
DH |
Derrek Lee | 3B |
Scott Rolen |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
CF |
Vernon Wells |
RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome | 1B |
*Lyle Overbay |
C |
Geovany Soto | C |
Rod Barajas |
CF |
*Jim Edmonds |
LF |
*Brad Wilkerson |
2B |
Mark DeRosa | 2B |
*Joe Inglett |
LF |
*Eric Patterson |
SS |
David Eckstein |
Can the Cubs reach 20 games over by mid-June? They have a chance by winning tonight or this series, and it would be the first time since late 2004. But they'll be on the short-end of the pitching matchups for the most part. By ERA, Gallagher is outperforming Burnett at this point, but Saturday's matchup is Roy Halladay(3.07) vs Jason Marquis(4.54) and Sunday is Jessie Litsch(3.42) vs. Ted Lilly(5.13). Burnett might also have the added motivation of trying to audition for his next team, as he's one of the names certain to be bandied about during the trade deadline in connection with the Cubs.
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Game 62 Thread / Cubs @ Dodgers (2 of 4)
Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview
SP | Sean Gallagher |
SP |
Hiroki Kuroda |
3-1, 4.55, 25 K, 10 BB, 31.2 IP | 2-5, 3.93, 37 K, 23 BB, 71 IP | ||
LF |
Alfonso Soriano |
LF |
*Juan Pierre |
SS |
Ryan Theriot | RF |
#Delwyn Young |
1B |
Derrek Lee | 2B |
Jeff Kent |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
1B |
*James Loney |
RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome | CF |
Matt Kemp |
CF |
*Jim Edmonds | 3B |
*Blake DeWitt |
2B |
Mark DeRosa |
C |
Danny Ardoin |
C |
Henry Blanco |
SS |
Chin-Lung Hu |
P |
Sean Gallagher | P |
Hiroki Kuroda |
A win tonight and the Cubs are the proud owner of a winning road trip. They will aslo be the first team to 40 wins this season, a seemingly insignificant milestone that reader "JohnBeasley" shows is at the very least, a marker of good things to come.
First in the majors to 40:
2007: 6/9 - BOS (won World Series) and LAA (made playoffs)
2006: 6/11 - DET (won pennant)
2005: 6/8 - CHW (won World Series)
2004: 6/13 - NYY (made playoffs)Source: BaseballRace.com
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Gallagher's Dirty Dozen
The season here in Des Moines has had a hard time getting started this year. Bad weather, bad team and bad schedule; you're out!
Yesterday was an exception.
Sean Gallagher served up a tasty lunch in a nooner matinee at Principal Park on one of the very few days so far when the elements didn't cross-up the schedule makers.
After seven innings Gallagher had thrown 86 pitches, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and 12 strikeouts. All 12 K's were swinging, most of them on a nasty breaking ball.
His pitch counts by inning were as follows: 11, 13,13, 14, 16, 9 and 10.
They trotted him back out for the eighth, the only frame when he failed to fan anybody. He walked the leadoff man, erased him on a DP grounder, gave up a base hit and called it a day after 101 mostly carveaceous, to coin a word, pitches.
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Recent comments
Childersb3 (view)
AZ Phil:
Rookie ball (ACL) starts on May 4th. Do yo think Ramon and Rosario (maybe Delgado) stay in Mesa for the month of May, then go to MB if all goes "solid"?
crunch (view)
masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around. i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.
That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.
Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.
Childersb3 (view)
Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa
Taillon and Wisdom up
Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.
crunch (view)
booooooooooo
also, wisdom and taillon are both in chicago.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Tonight’s game postponed. Split games on Saturday.
crunch (view)
cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.
taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight. who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.
p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury. good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.
Bill (view)
A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return. Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.
Sonicwind75 (view)
Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention". Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."
Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost. But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.
Sonicwind75 (view)
I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions. Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022. I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.