According to Mlbtraderumors.com Rich Harden has been claimed by an unidentified team.
Could it be the Mets? This one may seem far fetch as the Mets have no hope this season and Harden is a FA at the end of the year. However, Harden’s salary is only 7M this season and after the season Harden will be a type A FA. There is almost a 0% chance he would accept arbitration but if he did the Mets would have their #2 pitcher for next season. If he declined the Mets would get 2 picks on top of their seemed to be locked in 1st round pick. There is also the fact that the Mets would get to court Harden for an entire month to convince him to sign with the Mets as a FA if that was the direction they wanted to go in. Now of course all of this is far fetch and the Cubs may want too much. However, my point is WHY would the Mets NOT claim him?
18 comments
stickguy
8/27/2009-9:20pm at 9:20 pm (UTC -4)
why not? because then we might have to give Omar some credit for having a clue. Unless, of course, it was Riccos idea!
It actaully make a ton of sense in some cases, but less so with the Cubs. Why, you may ask? The Cubs probably want real talent back, negating the value of the picks. A cheap team out of the race may just want to save slary, and let him go (like say, if you were trading Billy Wagner…)
Anyway, if the Mets could redirect the Wagner $ ssavings (actually only part of it) and prospects equivilant to what they got for wagner, then this would be an assume move.
Wagner was a risk accepting arbitration. harden, assuming his arm doesnt fall off before year end, would be a great thing (no risk).
trs86
8/27/2009-9:24pm at 9:24 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, as I was saying I see no reason or way for the Mets to be able to work out that trade with the Cubs from the Cubs perspective. They could get a lot more out of him from a contender or they can pull him back pay him and offer arbitration. But again why would you not claim him?
stickguy
8/27/2009-9:21pm at 9:21 pm (UTC -4)
hopefully they claimed murton too. That again seems like a no brainer.
stickguy
8/27/2009-9:49pm at 9:49 pm (UTC -4)
well, over on MLBTR, a “source” with an AL team said they believed it was the Twins, and someone posted that ESPN1000 (whatever the heck that is) said it was the Marlins.
In either case, it means the Mets passed.
TRS, while we figure it is worth a try, Omar probably played by the gentlemans agreement rulebook (the one that the Yankees lost their copy of) and let him go by for a contender.
should have done it anyway, but hey, this is the Mets FO we are dealing with.
trs86
8/27/2009-9:52pm at 9:52 pm (UTC -4)
Well we still don’t know if the Mets did or not. It could be that all 3 and more claimed him right?
JoeR
8/27/2009-10:18pm at 10:18 pm (UTC -4)
Haha…petty yankees..so the yanks get their big wish and force the Sox to drop Penny for Wagner…maybe they saw what Smoltz did after it appeared all hope was gonr and didnt want to give Penny another start…Idk
JoeR
8/27/2009-10:52pm at 10:52 pm (UTC -4)
Oh..they only have 38 on their current 40 man…hurts us more than them.
steveo
8/27/2009-11:25pm at 11:25 pm (UTC -4)
There is no way the mets claimed harden.He’s not in their future plans the last tthing we need is another always injured pitcher ,they definetly don’t want to take on his remaining salary ,they don’t have a single person that chicago would want or need and last have no reason to claim anyone who’s a free agent this year if they wanted it for the picks they would have kept wagner who definetly wouldn’t have accepted arbitration.
trs86
8/28/2009-9:08am at 9:08 am (UTC -4)
This is a lot different than the Wagner situation. We all think he would not accept it but he may be forced to depending on the market. There is no way in hell Harden would but if he did then he would be very useful here.
wannybackstra
8/28/2009-8:29am at 8:29 am (UTC -4)
If they wanted to collect draft picks via arb eligible Type As they would have kept Wagner for half the cost of Harden.
No way they’ll spend the money for the remainder of Harden’s contract.
trs86
8/28/2009-9:06am at 9:06 am (UTC -4)
So why would Wagner cost half of Harden? Harden only made 7M this year and Wagner made 10?
And what you guys do not get is how much more certain it is that Harden would NOT accept his arbitration. Wagner could be forced into it if he saw the market would not allow him to be signed for more than a couple million because of his type A status.
wannybackstra
8/28/2009-9:14am at 9:14 am (UTC -4)
When I said the remainder of his contract I mean this season… Harden makes twice as much money as Wagner for this season.
Wagner wouldn’t have time to gauge the market before the Mets would have to have decided on offering him arbitration anyway.
trs86
8/28/2009-9:15am at 9:15 am (UTC -4)
? How? Harden makes 7M Wagner makes 10M?
wannybackstra
8/28/2009-10:54am at 10:54 am (UTC -4)
Yeah I just realized that I was comparing the 3.5 the Mets would have owed Wagner to the 7 mil Harden gets for the year.
Still, the Mets moved Wagner as much for the cost savings as they did for the prospects. otherwise they may have received prospects better prospects from Boston by paying his salary.
Anyway, the cubs would probably want something better in return for harden than the two draft picks they or the Mets would obtain by letting him walk.
trs86
8/28/2009-9:16am at 9:16 am (UTC -4)
But he has until like the 2nd week of December to accept or decline right?
prismo
8/28/2009-8:36am at 8:36 am (UTC -4)
Probably not? It wouldn’t make any sense for the Mets to claim him.
trs86
8/28/2009-9:07am at 9:07 am (UTC -4)
Why would it not make sense? Do you think there is any way that he would take arbitration? And if he did you would have Rich Harden for the 7M range for 1 year. If not then you get the 2 picks.
Most likely you could not work out a deal with the Cubs but why would you not at least claim him?
trs86
8/28/2009-9:33am at 9:33 am (UTC -4)
The more and more I think about the Yankee’s and Carter situation the more I understand it. This is baseball and there are rivals. We have rivals that we don’t get along with. You mean to tell me that if the Yankee’s and Phillies were making a deal and we had a chance to inconvience both teams and just plain ole mess with them you would not want the Mets to do it?