POTD Rich Harden - 2010 Prospectus
Q. Is there a solution for Harden's chronic health issues?
A. Harden's attempting a solution: he throws just two pitches now.
He uses an overhand rising fastball, a straight change, and he has STRICTLY junked his other pitches in a desperate attempt to put together a career.
2009 was the first year that Harden went out there throwing a 1-finger, a 2-finger and nothing else, ever.
If you're an optimist, you could hope that this is the magic sparkle dust.
I'd be more optimistic if the problem were his elbow. It isn't. It is (a) his shoulder, and (b) every part of his body (a la Marfan Syndrome).
I can see dropping sliders and curves to save the ligaments in your elbow. How does it protect your shoulder? Ah well. He did go 140 innings last year. Who knows.
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Q. What's Aardsma worth on the trade market?
A. I don't know of any way that a Rich Harden or Kerry Wood or any pitcher like them, has ever been coaxed to stay healthy except if he .... WAIT a MINNNNIT! (Jerry Seinfeld)
There are 9,000 pitchers in the minor leagues who aren't allowed to start, because their orgs don't think they're durable enough. Why isn't Rich Harden a closer?
Supposing that Harden, as a closer, were Eckersley-Rivera class? Wonder why they don't discuss it much.
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Q. Or?
A. I'm hoping that the M's crack saber department has figured something out, with their advanced formulas... a correlation between throwing four games into the 7th, and hitting the DL 30 days later, or something.
That's what they're paid for. Maybe they've figured something out.
But remember ..... can YOU think of ANY pitcher like Harden who ever got healthy?
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Q. How much will it take to get him?
A. Everybody in baseball knows what you know: Harden will never be healthy.
GM's aren't waiting to see where he'll go from here. They're trying to figure a "price point" for what his partial season is worth.
Going after Harden isn't a question of rolling dice. The dice have crapped out before we started. It's a question of, what are those 100 innings worth? And can you arrange it so he throws 20-30 tough innings in October?
Guess here is that somebody will say, yeah, okay, and give him $8-10m for 1 or 2 years.
....
Like everybody else, I'd love to see Harden in the Blue and Teal, and sit there hoping for the best.
However, assuming that Bedard is showing the medical progress that he did last winter, he's probably a better bet to go 150 innings. And Bedard's hook is a candidate for the best pitch in baseball, too.
Now you want to get SABRMatt's shtick going, i.e. Harden AND Bedard making a combined $10m and throwing a combined 200 (-300?) IP, now we're talking :- )
If the M's manage to grab the spectacular Rich Harden, I'll shut my eyes tight and hope that the FB-change diet has cleared the path to greatness. Rich Harden is badder than El Cartelua when he's rocking.
Cheers,
Dr D