OK, this has got to stop. What an outrage.

[cboy4]

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Disgusting. :puke:

Cubs acquire pitcher Rich Harden from Athletics

By RICK GANO, AP Sports Writer 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

CHICAGO - The Chicago Cubs acquired pitcher Rich Harden from the Oakland Athletics in a six-player trade on Tuesday, a day after the rival Milwaukee Brewers landed CC Sabathia. The Cubs received the right-handed Harden and righty Chad Gaudin for pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielders Matt Murton and Eric Patterson, and minor leaguer Josh Donaldson.

"We've been working on Mr. Harden for a few weeks now," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said.

Harden, eligible to be a free agent after the 2009 season, is 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts this season. He's scheduled to $4.75 million this season.

The oft-injured righty missed a month earlier this season because of a right shoulder strain. It was his sixth trip to the disabled list in his six-year career.

[El Supremo]

1. Since when do you care about the A's?

The A's were my first team in KC. Oakland has won four World Series. San Francisco has won zip - as in zippo - as in zipidy do dah.

[cboy4]

2. Don't be mad at me because the Rockies were a joke

during the World Series that they backed into against Boston -- simply because they we hot during the end of the season..

Be mad at the Rockies, who won't win a ring for decades to come.

And this has more to do with just the A's ... I'm talking about small market teams constantly losing their star players.

It's not right.

[hughee99]

5. Your right...

these big market teams are constantly screwing the small market teams. Just ask Barry Bonds and Jason Schmidt's former team the Pirates, or Livan Hernandez and Rob Nen's former team the Marlins. Or even Barry Zito's former team, the A's. They'll all tell you how difficult it is to compete when big market teams take their star players either through free agency or via trade.


Although, in Oakland's defense, in recent years, they've been presented with the option of paying a ton of money over a long period of time to Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Keith Foulke, Billy Koch, and Jason Isringhausen (to name a few) and in almost every case they clearly came out way ahead. Arguably their worst deal was locking up Eric Chavez long term. For Oakland, their stars don't seem to shine as brightly once they leave town.

[Auggie]

6. FYI: The A's had the option of signing Chavez or Tejada that season.

That's a choice they'd like to have over.

I can understand Billy Beane's reluctance to commit to big money. Chavez, Giambi, Zito, Mulder, and Foulke have all struggled, either physically or mentally, since being traded or signed. The guy does a great job of keeping the team competitive and fun to watch, so I'm not complaining TOO loud.

[cboy4]

8. So does this mean you're satisfied with "simply" playing

competitive baseball every season knowing Oakland cannot win a championship with the strategy of losing all of its key players?

I mean that's cool if you don't mind going 85-77 and not make the playoffs.

I would just find it unbearable.

[Auggie]

9. It's the reality for a small-market baseball team

in a league without a salary cap or revenue sharing.

[cboy4]

7. Yea, the A's may come out ahead in almost every case, but

they're completely sacrificing a chance to win a World Series ring.

Do they always get a bunch of good, young players in exchange for many of the studs they're forced to let go?

Yup, for the most part, yes.

Their Sacramento RiverCats AAA team, which is a minor league powerhouse with all of the championships it wins and large crows it draws from where I live is proof.

However, the A's will never get back to the World Series trading away all of their good players.

They might finish 10 or so games over .500 every year picking up these prospects, but they won't be winning any rings.

So it comes down to this for A's fans:

Would you rather be 10 games over .500 every season trading away star players, or would you rather compete for a championship and perhaps not have your farm system quite as stocked?

And I realize you got in a shot about my Giants picking up free agents, including Zito from the A's.

But your team is far from being an angel. Money is no object for Boston when it comes to acquiring free agents and budgeting payroll.

In fact, they're spending is almost as insane as NYY.

[hughee99]

10. I'm not really taking issue with the big market teams doing it...

It's the current system, what are they supposed to do? The luxury tax is not effective at balancing out the inequities. Unless they go to an NFL style flat salary cap, this will continue. As a GM, if you have $200 million dollars to spend, why shouldn't you try to get the best players available. As a player, why should you have to work for less just because you happened to "hit it big" while you were in a small market? Yes, I realize that it sucks for a small market team, but the problem isn't the players, the owners, the fans or the GM's, it's the system.

The A's simply can't hold on to these big names, it's not an option for them. At best they can have 1 or 2 guys making Chavez sort of money (9 million/per) at a time and that's not "superstar" money anymore. Beane is hoping that if he keeps turning in solid teams, one of these years he may catch lighting in a bottle for a few weeks in october, and to be realistic, that's really the only choice he has under this system.

[Awsi Dooger]

3. Baseball threads need a warning

How in hell was I supposed to know, based on that header?

Regardless, as always I've never heard of this guy.

[IndianaJones]

4. hey...I'm a Yanks fan hater. nt.