Posts tagged RichHarden at FanHouse

I imagine that Rich Harden feels the same way about trips to the doctor that World War I soldiers felt about charges toward the opposing trench. Chances are good that the trip won't end well but it's something you've gotta do if you want to keep your job.

Unlike so many fine young men in 1917, though, Harden avoided a bayonet to the gut. Even better, he also avoided a date with the surgeon's scalpel. That was the only obstacle to the Cubs picking up his $7 million option for next year, as we told you this morning, and with it out of the way Harden got his cash. That's good news for Harden and the Cubs, who could use a smile right about now, but there's a dark lining to their silver cloud.

While he'll avoid surgery, Harden still needs to solve the puzzling decline in velocity he suffered at the tail end of the season. The best case scenario would probably be that his slowdown was due to his largest workload since 2004 and not because of anything awry inside the right arm. His elbow wasn't part of today's examination and that would be another potential explanation for his problems.

Kosuke Fukudome seems like he's about to become Cubs outcast No. 1. If Cubs fans have anyone to direct their ire at this year, it might be, say, Ryan Dempster -- his sudden collapse was first among many -- but Fukudome's horrible second half and visibly ugly playoffs, including a derisive quote from Lou Piniella, could make him 2008's unofficial Cubs scapegoat.

But at least he gets it. Instead of giving some unfeelingly jocky quote about better luck next year, Fukudome apologized to Cubs fans, albeit meekly:

Nor did it seem to surprise him that he eventually was booed. ''It's good the fans are honest and straight with us,'' Fukudome said. He even issued an apology. ''I'm sorry that I disappointed some fans who had really high regards for me,'' he said.

Aww. Isn't that nice? Now that's out of the way, Fukudome can get back to figuring out what's wrong with his swing, which, he mentioned, never felt right all year, even when he was hitting the ball. Good news! The one part of the season that Fukudome actually looked like a major league hitter, by his estimation, he was just getting lucky.

What else could go wrong? Next thing you'll tell me Rich Harden is hurt agai -- oh. Right.

The Cubs have to make a decision about picking up Rich Harden's $7 million option for next season today. Based on his performance after coming over from Oakland, it's a no-brainer. Harden may have tired down the stretch and flopped in the NLDS but he had a 1.77 ERA and solidified the Cub rotation in the second half.

Based on his injury history, though, there may be some reservations about locking Harden in at that price because of the late struggles. There was a marked drop in Harden's velocity as the year progressed, even after the Cubs gave him extended rest in September. That's why they're holding off on their decision until Harden sees a shoulder specialist. If he needs arthroscopic surgery, he would likely miss the start of next season although the 25 starts he made this year wouldn't be hard to reach.

That's why, unless doctors find severe structural damage, the Cubs need to pick up his option. If they decline Harden's option he becomes arbitration eligible where he's likely to win a salary of more than $7 million. Harden may have the injury history of a subpar stuntman but he still won 10 games with a 2.07 ERA in 2008. Starting pitchers who can do that are well compensated in these parts. It's good PR to hold off on the decision until you know what you've got but poor fiscal management to do anything but exercise the option.

Ever since the Cubs were swept out of the NLDS by the Dodgers on Saturday night, I've heard quite a few different excuses for their postseason collapse. First and foremost, there's the idiotic ones about the team being cursed, which we all know is a bunch of crap. Then there are some who just think that the team collapsed under the weight of a 100-year title drought.

While some of the excuses are viable, and others are just plain dumb, there's one explanation for the Cubs failures that rules the roost of ridiculousness, and it comes from left fielder Alfonso Soriano.

"Yeah, it's tough," he said. "We tried, but it just didn't happen. We played all year like a very good team and we expected a little bit more, but it didn't happen.

"We're a very good team for [162] games, but we don't do nothing after that. That's the difference. We're not put together for [a short series]."

That could honestly be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard, and keep in mind that I have to listen to myself talk 24 hours a day.

The Cubs aren't built for a short series? That's funny, because I always thought that the most important part of a team in a short series was their starting rotation, and last I checked the Cubs had a pretty good one. Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, and Ted Lilly seem like a rotation that's built for a short series to me.

I mean, isn't the entire regular season just a whole lot of short series packaged together? They did pretty well there, didn't they?

Hey, I'm as panicked as anyone else. I had to get counseling via gchat last night from a Red Sox fan, our MLB editor Andrew Johnson. We did discuss, at length, one simple reality ... for a die-hard fan, losing in baseball sucks far more than in other sports.

For six months of your year, you live and breathe baseball. The games aren't just once a week like in football, or even three to four times a week as in basketball. Nope, baseball is almost every single day throughout half of every year. Andrew made an apt comparison ... the difference between your favorite baseball team and your favorite football team is like the difference between immediate family and your weekend friends. He's right. I live with the Cubs every day, and I have for nearly half of my life. I see the Bears once a week for each season. The Cubs are my family, while the Bears are my friend.

With this in mind, fellow Cubs die-hards, let's not give up on our family just yet. I'm here to breathe some optimism back into Cubs nation.

I'm not saying I necessarily believe it's going to happen this way, and I'm certainly not predicting it ... I'm just saying these are some reasons why we shouldn't quit on the team just yet.

Stop that, Cubs fans. You know what I mean -- the repeated mumblings of "That's why they call it a series" followed by the "Something-something ... don't mind if I do!" Homer Simpson-like behavior. Seriously, stop. It's totally okay to freak out.

After all, you are down 1-0 in the National League Division Series to the Dodgers, and as TBS was kind enough to squeeze in between "I Love This Town" soundbites, the team that wins the first game of such a series has gone on to win said series 24 of 28 times.

Of course, it didn't have to be this way. There were a lot of things going in your favor. On paper (in theory) you had the better team. You also had a hefty wind (17 mph at last check) blowing into Wrigley. And Joe Torre made the mistake of using ground ball pitcher Derek Lowe tonight instead of saving him for a change in weather.

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Matt Snyder and Will Brinson discuss the NLDS between the Cubs and Dodgers.

We'll run through different aspects of each team -- starting rotation, bullpen, defense, starting lineup, bench, manager, and end with a prediction. We'll do it with numbers and snarky commentary (most of which was used by Brinson), and we'll get right to it after the jump.

The mantra of every single non-Cubs fan in the world is the same heading into this postseason, and it couldn't be more misguided.

If you really don't think the Cubs are going to the win the World Series, that's fine. It's neither offensive nor outlandish, as long as your reasons are rational. If your reason is something along the lines of "because they are the Cubs" or has anything to do with any circumstance outside Lou Pinella and his 25 troops, however, you have no idea what you're talking about. Wake up.

Let me lay it out for you. Jerseys and logos don't cause winners and losers. Players and managers do. The Cubs franchise hasn't won the World Series since 1908. That's as much a coincidence as anything else. There's been bad management, what some would call bad luck, and plenty of bad players ... none of which have been inflicting the team during this 2008 season.

If you think teams need postseason experience to excel -- you better not look at last year's Rockies -- then the Cubs have plenty of it. The team was in the playoffs last year. They got swept, but as Ryan Theriot said, "sometimes you have to lose before you win." It's a learning curve.

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Pressure on Brewers: With a pair of dramatic walk-off wins Thursday night, the Mets and Brewers earned a little less than 24 hours of breathing room -- a momentary respite from the words choker and collapse. They enter the final weekend of the regular season tied for the wild-card lead, and, in another bit of symmetry, both teams must wait until Sunday for their aces -- Johan Santana and CC Sabathia -- to start.

The pressure is always on in the Big Apple, but make no mistake, Milwaukee is facing a tougher road to the postseason. The Brewers must deal with the best team in the National League, the Cubs, as they claw and scratch for a playoff spot.

Lou Piniella rested Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto in Chicago's final game against the Mets Thursday, but it's unlikely he will sit them all weekend against Milwaukee, especially with a chance to knock out a Brewers team that presents a real threat in October. And Piniella will also send his best two starters of late -- Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly -- to the mound in the first two games of the series. The Brewers will start the shaky Jeff Suppan and Ben Sheets coming off injury before turning to Sabathia in the finale.

Of course, the Mets won't have it easy this weekend. The Marlins are a dangerous team and New York is using a spot starter on Saturday. The Phillies will have to take care of business against the Nationals too. But as good as the vibes have been for the Brewers this week against the Pirates, the Cubs present a major obstacle to Milwaukee's playoff hopes.

From the Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

For the first time since the Clinton Administration, Yankee Stadium will be dark this October. The only thing more popular in America than the Yankees, is hating the Yankees, so it seems unlikely that your average non-New York baseball fan will be shedding a tear over the absence of the Bronx Bombers.

The network executives at FOX and TBS, on the other hand, can't be too pleased. People either love or hate the Yankees. Either way, they tune in to watch them in October.

The biggest draw in baseball won't be on the game's biggest stage next month, and the television types have every reason to wring their hands about the enormous void left in their wake. But hope is far from lost.

The 2008 postseason should offer plenty of storylines to keep viewers captivated -- and bean-counting executives happy -- even without the Yankees to kick around (or dote upon or whatever it is your average baseball fan likes to do with them).