Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 08, 2008
Suspect Shoulder

The Cubs want a look at Rich Harden's shoulder before they pick up his option:

General manager Jim Hendry said Harden would be examined Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. He received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder in early September and his velocity dropped after a 109-pitch outing Aug. 24 against Washington. Harden still was throwing in the 95-96 m.p.h. range in the seventh inning of that game when he struck out the side to finish with 11 strikeouts.

One advance scout told Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper that he believed Harden had elbow or shoulder problems: "I've had him consistently down at least 5 miles per hour from what he used to throw. There's something in [his arm.]"

It's not clear that refusing the option and letting Rich go to arbitration saves the Cubs any money. If the exam shows the need for surgery, however, they could argue to an arbitrator that a partial season isn't worth as much as a full season, I suppose.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:16 AM | Injuries | TrackBack (0)
Comments

rich harden cc sabathia v. joe blanton

as the philly papers noted duly, the fans in philly were upset when the phillies picked up joe blanton instead of cc sabathia or rich harden.

but the post season records of the three were joe blanton 1-0 and clinching the NLDS, while cc sabathia blew up in a critical game going 0-1, and harden was 0-1.

guess who's still pitching in the post-season? it's the guy who pitched for the A's.

Moneyball, baby.

--art kyriazis, philly

Posted by: art kyriazis at October 8, 2008 03:49 PM

Que???

Not only is Joe Blanton several steps below either Harden or Sabathia, but also Harden pitched for the A's as well.

What are you talking about?

Posted by: SS at October 8, 2008 04:15 PM
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