Harden And Zambrano

Matthew Cerrone at Mets Blog, writes about the tradepossibilities of A's pitcher Rich Harden and Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano:

During Wednesday’s edition of MetsBlog Talk Radio, ESPN’s Buster Olney talked with Matthew Cerrone about the future of A’s RHP Rich Harden and Cubs RHP Carlos Zambrano.

…whether the A's will truly consider pulling the trigger on a deal for Rich Harden, or is this typical Billy Beane just feeling out the market…

"I think they absolutely could pull the trigger. For the back drop to this, consider that, during the off-season, had the Angles made a big move…I think Oakland, from what I've heard, Oakland would have gone in a complete rebuilding program. So, they are kind of in that thinking that it's right around the corner anyway. Now you have this great, young, talented pitcher, Rich Harden, who when he takes the mound he's definitely dominant, but has only 32 starts since 2005, and they don't know if they can depend on him and right now he probably has a value where you could get two really good young players for him - and that's the direction Oakland is going. I think if he gets five to seven good starts when he comes off the DL, and that will be in two weeks, and then I think, absolutely, they will put him out on the market and will try to get players who can help them with the rebuilding process, and I think that's going to begin very soon."

…how the sale of the Cubs will impact their ability to give Carlos Zambrano an contract extension, and how that will impact the trade market for starting pitching…

"Every day that goes by the likelihood that Zambrano is not going to follow through with this agreement increases. He's waiting for the Tribune Company to say, 'Go ahead and do that deal, for $85 to $90 million over five years,' and Carlos really wants to play in Chicago, that is his preference, though he knows probably as a free agent he could probably get in the range of $130 to $150 million, but he's saying, 'I wanna play with the Cubs.'…I don't think it's gonna come to pass, simply because the National League Central is so mediocre…I don't think the Cubs are gonna get so far out of the division that they're gonna say, 'You know what, where gonna put Carlos Zambrano on the market."…I just don't think it's gonna get that far out of control. And they would want to leave open the option of signing him after the year, so I don't think Zambrano's situation is gonna affect the trade market."