01-19-2009, 11:35 AM
I put together my thoughts on Rich Harden's injury here. A snippet:
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Harden is a free agent after this year, so he’s got all the incentive in the world to pitch and pitch well this year....
The Cubs have an incentive to let him pitch through it, too. After all, if he has surgery, there’s no guarantee he pitches, and pitches well, this year at all. And this year is all the Cubs have - I guess it’s that way every year.
So why is that scary? Well, you’ve got a player with a strong incentive not to get surgery even if he kind of needs it, and you’ve got a team with a strong incentive not to have that player get surgery even if he kind of needs it. That’s a dangerous combination that could blow up mid-season, and then Harden would definitely be unavailable when the Cubs need him most: October.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I also have concluded that there is zero chance Harden is with the Cubs after 2009.
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Harden is a free agent after this year, so he’s got all the incentive in the world to pitch and pitch well this year....
The Cubs have an incentive to let him pitch through it, too. After all, if he has surgery, there’s no guarantee he pitches, and pitches well, this year at all. And this year is all the Cubs have - I guess it’s that way every year.
So why is that scary? Well, you’ve got a player with a strong incentive not to get surgery even if he kind of needs it, and you’ve got a team with a strong incentive not to have that player get surgery even if he kind of needs it. That’s a dangerous combination that could blow up mid-season, and then Harden would definitely be unavailable when the Cubs need him most: October.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I also have concluded that there is zero chance Harden is with the Cubs after 2009.
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