Posts tagged SeanGallagher at FanHouse

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

San Francisco Giants (39-54) at Chicago Cubs (56-37) - 1:05 PM ET

Here you go, boys and girls. The Cubs' answer to Brewer-mania is here. Sure CC Sabathia has made the Brewers about as popular as free gasoline or free beer. But the Cubs have been popular since William McKinley was president ... and as Rich Harden makes his Cubs debut today, I'm sure some of that free beer will be flowing up and down Addison. At first the beer will go down throats in celebration. But Cubs fans had better hope that Harden stays relatively healthy this season, or that beer will turn out to be nothing more than sorrowful suds.

By the way, Harden's career numbers against the Giants: Four starts, 2-0, 0.84 ERA, 0.61 WHIP, .074 BAA. Chew on that.

When I first found out yesterday that the Oakland Athletics had traded Rich Harden to the Cubs, my first reaction was "Why?" I didn't even know who Oakland had gotten in return from the Cubs, and already the deal didn't make that much sense to me. Then I heard who the A's got, and the deal made even less sense to me.

Don't get me wrong, I think Matt Murton has the potential to flourish in Oakland as he's finally found an organization that can appreciate what he's capable of (Matt has struggled this season, but does still have a career OPS of .810 without ever getting regular playing time), and Sean Gallagher could end up being a very effective pitcher for the Athletics. Eric Patterson is probably just an insurance plan should Mark Ellis not re-sign with the team after the season, as the A's are pretty thin at second base in the minors, and I don't know anything about John Donaldson.

But why now, Billy Beane? Why pull the trigger on this deal when your team is only five games out of first place in the AL West, and only 3.5 behind Boston for the wild card? There is no way that Beane can honestly think his team has a better shot at making the playoffs this season without Rich Harden.

Yet, while on the surface this deal makes absolutely no sense to me, I also realize that Beane knows what he's doing and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's just tired of being held hostage by Harden's injury history and is tired of having to build a team around a pitcher who may or may not be available at any given time. If you look at Beane's history of letting his pitchers go, he seems to have great timing, as Mark Mulder and Barry Zito have never been the same since leaving the bay area.

It's still way too early to tell if this was a mistake or not, but I have to say, at the moment I don't think this was one of Beane's finest moment.

As Watson noted earlier, there has been a fairly decent seismic shift in the National League Arms Race, what with the Cubs acquiring Rich Harden only 24 hours after the Brewers picked up CC Sabathia. And just like it affects real baseball, the trade does some things for fantasy owners as well. So, why not look at the four biggest names in the trade?

Rich Harden, SP -- I've said it once, and I'll say it again: sell high on Harden. Billy Beane rarely gets suckered and this deal kind of looks like one of those times, no? Which makes me think "ruh-roh" with regard to Harden's health. Especially when you remember that during his next to last start in an Oakland uni, he was barely topping 90 mph. But his move to one of the most offensively potent teams and a World Series contender should boost his value in theory, making him a prime sell.

Just days after the Brewers made a splash by trading for CC Sabathia, the Cubs countered by acquiring an ace of their own, picking up Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the A's in exchange for Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson, Matt Murton, minor leaguer Josh Donaldson and ... wait, that's it? Whoa. Advantage: Cubs.

Harden is obviously a huge injury risk, but no one can dispute that he's one of the most dominant pitchers in the game when healthy. In 13 starts he's been one of the best in the AL this year, posting a 2.34 ERA (1.14 WHIP) while averaging better than 10.7 strikeouts per nine.

And while Gaudin is clearly an afterthought, he's not all that bad himself, capable of eating innings from the bullpen or starting rotation.

What did it cost Chicago? Some intriguing prospects, sure, but absolutely nothing in terms of players capable of helping the Cubs win today.

Perhaps you saw Gordon Wittenmyer's Cubs' notebook in the Chicago Sun-Times today and were expecting some kind of FanHouse commentary on Jim Hendry's, "How can I panic about the CC Sabathia trade if I'm already crazy?" statement. I was kind of thinking of trying to work that into a post, but that was before the second item in the notebook hit my eyeballs:

After Derrek Lee spotted a bug in his locker Saturday in St. Louis, [Sean] Gallagher ate it for an undisclosed sum of cash -- to the disgust and delight of Lee and teammate Reed Johnson.

Sean Gallagher eats bugs ... now that's a scoop! Still, the little blurb in the notebook now leaves me with more questions than answers. What kind of bug was it? How much money do you have to pay a guy that makes $350,000 a year to eat a bug? Is this some kind of rookie hazing? Will Gallagher continue to eat bugs if it helps him break out of his recent slump? What else will Sean Gallagher do for cash? Wait ... don't answer that last one.

The real question now is whether or not the light-hearted, bug-eating atmosphere will continue now that the Cubs appear to have a genuine division race on their hands. The Cubs might claim otherwise, but it kind of seems like they've been on cruise control for a month now. They can't really afford to keep that up now that the Brewers have made their move.

Spot Jobs gambles by picking five spot starters for the week and five usual starters to avoid. The success rate is usually around 50%, but the risk level is always through the roof. Obviously, though, you always start Brandon Webb (when healthy) and sit Dave Bush.

Five Down

Randy Johnson, DBacks, @ Boston -- As I assumed would happen when he was going well, he's in the middle of a free-fall. He's done. I wouldn't start him again the rest of the season anyway, but getting the Red Sox in Fenway is a rough task for anyone. Do not let him destroy your ERA and WHIP just for a few Ks.

Roy Oswalt, Astros, vs. Rangers -- I don't trust him anymore, and the Rangers lead the majors in runs scored. He's already disappeared from "must-start" territory, so why would you let him go against a team that mashes like Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Milton Bradley, and company?

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox, @ Houston -- That last debacle of a start was enough to scare me temporarily, and the Astros definitely have the potential to take advantage of mistakes in that park. I like him for one sit and then he's back to a must-start.

Our version of "fantasy start'em/sit'em" for one-start pitchers of the week. We hope you assume the Brandon Webbs are auto-starts and the Dave Bushes are auto-sits. Specific lineup questions? Email us!

Five Up

Chad Billingsley -- Only the Nationals have scored less runs in the NL than the Padres, and that ballpark is absolute rape on fly balls. That should help Billingsley, who is somewhat susceptible to the longball. He's been plagued by a lack of run support this season -- and that may continue with Randy Wolf on the opposite bump in that park -- but has been dealing of late. In his past five starts he's compiled a 1.97 ERA in 32 innings while striking out 31. Of course, he's only 2-1 in that stretch. Hopefully the Dodgers can push two across for him Wednesday night, because that should be enough.

Sean Gallagher -- The Braves offense is already much worse on the road, but now it appears Chipper -- the only Brave hitting better than .271 on the road thus far at .371 -- will likely miss the entire series at Wrigley. The young Gallagher has settled decently into the Cubs rotation, going 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA and 17/5 K/BB in 17+ innings during his last three starts.

Cubs GM Jim Hendry disputed recent reports that his efforts to acquire Brian Roberts have stepped up this week, telling the Chicago Tribune that he hasn't spoken with the Orioles in "five to six days." It doesn't help that Sean Gallagher, one of the prospects Hendry was hoping to trade, was pummeled for a pair of homers in two innings in his start on Tuesday.

That said, I still completely expect this Roberts deal will eventually happen. Where there's smoke, there's fire, and we've been hearing about this proposed deal for so long that surely some compromise will work, just like how the O's eventually dealt Eric Bedard to the Mariners. In the NBA, the trades that everyone talks about forever are the ones with the smallest chance of actually happening, but for whatever reason the opposite seems to be true in baseball.

As for Lou Piniella, well, he can't be bothered with what the folks on the internet are saying:

As for the Internet trade rumors, Piniella said: ''The only thing I do on the Internet is trade stocks once in a while. I don't trade infielders.''

Wait, is that all he does online? Does that mean he hasn't watched this video? Or that we're not really MySpace friends? This saddens me.

It's been a few weeks since there's been any talk coming out of Baltimore involving Brian Roberts being traded, but that doesn't mean that the Orioles had decided to keep Roberts around for this season. Now that the team they spent most of their time talking to about Roberts, the Chicago Cubs, starting second baseman Mark DeRosa has been having heart problems this spring, the talks are back on.

The Cubs and Orioles have resumed trade talks involving second baseman Brian Roberts, and one person familiar with the talks indicated discussions were starting to get serious.

In one of the trade proposals being discussed, outfielder Jay Payton would accompany Roberts to Chicago.

The Orioles are seeking a package that would possibly include Sean Gallagher, Sean Marshall, Matt Murton, and Ronny Cedeno.

This is one of those trades that makes sense for both sides, yet neither side has been able to get it done. Well, actually, they did get it done. It's just that Peter Angelos wasn't ready to give up on the Brian Roberts Shrine he keeps in his office at the time. Apparently he's finally found the inner strength and courage to say goodbye, but with Angelos, you never know the lengths he'll go to to screw the Orioles.

The Orioles are clearly rebuilding, so moving Roberts for a package of young players makes the most sense for the organization. As for the Cubs, adding Roberts to their lineup would finally enable the team to move Alfonso Soriano to the middle of the order, and make one of the NL's best lineups even better.

One of the main position battles for the Chicago Cubs this spring is for the last two spots of the starting rotation. While it's safe to say that Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, and Rich Hill will more than likely claim three of the five spots, there are four other pitchers fighting for the final two: Jason Marquis, Ryan Dempster, Sean Gallagher, and Jon Lieber.

Well, Jason Marquis was asked on Saturday what he thought about the possibility of having to pitch out of the bullpen, to which Marquis replied, "So as much as I want to be here in Chicago-I love it, I love the fans, I love the stadium-I also have a family to worry about. I think I can take my services elsewhere if that's the case and I can help another team, in that capacity as a starter. So, my value doesn't lie in the bullpen in my mind."

Needless to say, after hearing the comments, manager Lou Piniella wasn't exactly pleased.

"Well, if that's the case, he can go somewhere else," Piniella said. "Win a spot in the rotation, you don't have to worry about it. ... I've got seven starters here for five spots, you know? It's a little bit too early to start talking about what he wants to do or not do."

"You know, that galls me about Marquis, it really does. I'm not pleased with that comment. We've had a good camp over here, everybody's getting an opportunity. Go out and win a spot in the rotation."

"Sure it's a surprise. We've got seven guys here that are competing for spots in the rotation and everyone is going to be given an equal chance. After the first start of spring training, saying if I'm not going to make the rotation I'd like to go somewhere else?

"He can go somewhere else right now if he wants. How's that?"