Naturally I am so worked up over Rich Harden's Cub debut Saturday afternoon, I have no choice but to stay up all night tonight in anticipation. As a result, I am following tonight's late games from the West Coast as they happen, including Sean Gallagher's first start for the Athletics, who are opening a series against the AL West-leading Angels in Oakland.

Gallagher pitched the first seven innings of the game, which the A's currently lead, 9-2. The 22-year-old righty allowed just two hits, three walks, and two earned runs before he was lifted. The seven-inning stint matches Gallagher's longest this year for the Cubs, back in late May when Gallagher and his mates beat the Dodgers, 3-1.

During tonight's late edition of Baseball Tonight on ESPN, Tim Kurkjian reiterated what has been written elsewhere, that Gallagher was the key player from the A's perspective in the Harden trade. For at least a moment this evening, Oakland fans also had to be feeling good about having acquired Matt Murton—the redhead smacked a bases loaded single to plate two runs in the middle of a 6-run Oakland rally in the third inning. That rally essentially locked up the game for the home team.

That was Murton's only hit in the game thus far. He is 1-for-5 with a strikeout.

In any case, I'm sure Rich Harden is happy to see his former team burying their chief AL West rivals.

Shortly after the announcement of the Cubs' acquisition of Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the Athletics on Tuesday afternoon, WSCR's Boers & Bernstein took a call from Dave in Bloomingdale, who decried the Cubs having to give up both Matt Murton—1 HR in 231 AB's this season, with Iowa and the Cubs combined—and Eric Patterson, who has hit the hell out of the ball in the minors, but simply fields like hell.

That conveys all one needs to know about the average sports I.Q. of the average sportstalk listener.

Here is what some knowledgable observers outside of Chicago had to say about the deal, which brings the gifted but oft-injured Harden and Gaudin to 1060 West Addison and sends Murton, Patterson, Sean Gallagher, and minor league catcher Josh Donaldson to Oakland:

Yes, pity the A's fan who's seen so many aces disappear up so many other teams' sleeves. But A's fans should embrace Tuesday's trade...

Harden was house money. His right arm, so worrisome over the years, had transformed back into a wanted commodity, thanks to a 5-1 first-half record. Despite back-to-back sub-par outings, he was the A's best trade bait.

The Cubs wanted him, and they can have him. They need him more than the A's do. And they'll need to get skipper Lou Piniella a reliable pitch-count clicker to track Harden.

— Cam Inman, Contra Costa Times

"The Cubs were pretty aggressive," (Oakland GM Billy) Beane said. Cubs GM "Jim Hendry and I talk quite a bit anyway. We consistently had conversations over the past month; we came to an agreement this morning. They were looking for Rich..."

From the A's point of view, Gallagher was key to the deal. Beane said the A's have been following Gallagher's progress since he joined the pro ranks. He is scheduled to start for the A's on Friday.

"We've had numerous injuries," Beane said. "Guys have done a good job battling through it, but as far as what we're doing, this is a step forward for what we're doing for the next four or five years."

— Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle

My first reaction is that Cubs fans ought to be insanely happy about this. They're not likely going to miss any of those players in their pennant drive much, while Harden and Gaudin will both make an immediate impact, especially if they turn Gaudin back into a starter.

And my second reaction is that if Cubs fans should be happy, then A's fans should be disappointed. I like Gallagher, but Murton seems redundant on the A's roster, Patterson seems like the type of risky player who, like his brother Cory, will likely not pan out unless he can miraculously find some plate discipline, and Donaldson--never heard of him.

—Ken Arneson, Catfish Stew

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry checked in from time to time throughout June with Oakland general manager Billy Beane about the availability of Rich Harden...Yes, Harden was available, but only at the right price, and that price would include right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher. Hendry indicated, repeatedly, that Gallagher wasn't available.

On Sunday evening -- the same night when word broke that the Brewers had worked out a deal for CC Sabathia -- Hendry indicated to Beane...that he would make Gallagher available in a Harden deal, but it would create a problem: If Gallagher was traded, the Cubs wouldn't have the kind of depth they needed to deal with an injury.

"Let me call you back," Beane said.

Beane had an idea. He could fill Hendry's need for depth by adding veteran swingman Chad Gaudin in the trade. He phoned Hendry back on Monday night with the suggestion. "That could work," Hendry said, and the two general managers began piecing together other parts of the trade. Beane called Hendry with a detail of the trade very late on Monday night...

Some 15 hours later, the trade was finished. Oakland got Gallagher, a pitching prospect with a more stable medical history than Harden, and the Cubs got a high-risk, high-reward talent in Harden.

— Buster Olney, ESPN.com

"Harden's stuff is just wipeout filthy."

Six box score lines belonging to young starter pitchers in Thursday's National League games:

7 IP, 6H, 1 ER
8 IP, 6 H, 0 ER
8.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER
6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER
5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER
6 IP, 10 H, 11 ER

The first four lines belong, respectively, to Mike Pelfrey (Mets), Chad Billingsley (Dodgers), Cole Hamels (Phillies), and Manny Parra (Brewers).

The bottom two lines, the mediocre one and the ghastly one, belong to Sean Gallagher of the Cubs and Mitchell Boggs of the Cardinals.

The Mets, Dodgers, and Phillies were all winners yesterday. But despite Parra's strong effort, the Brewers lost when their bullpen allowed Arizona to rally from a 5-0 ninth-inning deficit and score a miraculous 6-5 victory.

Gallagher, who survived a terrible second inning at San Francisco, to post a respectable start against the Giants' outstanding young pitcher, Tim Lincecum, was also a loser.

Finally, Boggs, the owner of that 11-earned run start, was on the wrong side of the 11-0 beating that the Mets and Pelfrey doled out to St. Louis. While it might seem cruel and unusual for Tony LaRussa to have left Boggs in for six innings of abuse, the manager actually had little choice. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I would rather save him the beating when it's not his night," La Russa said, "but I was much more concerned about the effect on the rest of our pitching staff trying to finish that game."

The Cardinals' bullpen has had plenty of work lately, with three of the previous four St. Louis starters failing to last past the fifth inning and the Cubs are coming to town tonight.

"It was good for me to stay out there and take my lumps and get better," Boggs said. "It's a huge series starting (tonight). The last thing I want to do is come out in the third inning. Then our bullpen has to eat up six innings. That's a killer.

As you probably know by now, Rich Hill was sent down to Triple-A Iowa in the wake of his nightmarish performance Friday night, Sean Gallagher was summoned from the I-Cubs (and pitched well in Sunday night's 5-3 loss to the Redbirds), and Jon Lieber was named the starter for the Cubs' Wednesday afternoon meeting with the Reds.

If, based on the previous post, you, too, guessed that Lieber's joining the rotation would be the first of the three events to occur, you're a winner!

Please claim your prize on the way out.

Here we are, three days into the Winter Meetings, and the biggest thing to happen to the Chicago Cubs so far is a trade involving Omar Infante.

True, there's time: we have a lot of off-season yet to play, and the Cubs could still make a signficant move before Team Hendry leaves Nashville. I don't have nearly the browsing skills to keep up with all of the Cub-related rumors circulating, but the most recent one involves the possible acquisition of Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts.

As covered in the Baltimore Sun...

Although no specifics have been revealed, one baseball source said the Cubs have put a "significant" offer on the table that would include a starting pitcher for Roberts, the Orioles' lone All-Star in 2007.

One player in the proposal is believed to be right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher, who entered last season as the Cubs' fifth-ranked prospect, according to Baseball America. Gallagher, 21, pitched primarily in Double-A during the 2007 season, going 7-2 with a 3.39 ERA in 11 starts. He made eight appearances in relief for the Cubs, allowing 14 earned runs in 14 innings.

It's likely the second player in the deal would be a position player, although the Cubs' top prospect, outfielder Felix Pie, is not being offered, according to a team source. One possibility is outfielder Matt Murton, 26, who hit .281 last year with eight home runs and 22 RBIs in 235 at-bats.