Harden shut down for season

July 9, 2008 is one of those days I can still remember fairly vividly, though during the part of it I remember, I was doing something I do nearly every day — working in the MDH newsroom.

It was late in the afternoon, I believe, when I caught the news that the Chicago Cubs had traded for Rich Harden. At that time, the Cubs were 3 1/2 games ahead of St. Louis in an NL Central race they would ultimately win. Milwaukee was four games behind the Cubs, and had traded for Cleveland ace C.C. Sabathia the previous day. I was ecstatic about the trade, believing the Cubs had landed one of baseball's dominant starting pitchers ... if he could only stay healthy.

Health really hasn't been the problem for Harden since he has joined the Cubs, though he has now been shut down for the meaningless rest of the 2009 season with "arm fatigue." He made 12 starts after coming over in 2008 and was very, very good, going 5-1 with a 1.78 ERA. He had one disabled list stint earlier this season, but even though he'll miss maybe three starts after shutting it down early, he finished 2009 with 26 starts, which is a total I'm sure the Cubs would've taken entering the year.

No, the big issue with Harden in 2009 has been effectiveness. Now there have been some starts where he's shown his old dominance. His strikeout total — 171 Ks in 141 innings — certainly suggests he has dominant stuff. But he ended up just 9-9 with a 4.09 ERA. Those numbers aren't terrible, of course ... but they're merely average from a guy who was promised to be dominant if he could just stay in one piece.

Almost every time Harden has struggled this season, poor command has been the biggest reason why. He's a guy that throws almost nothing but fastballs and straight changeups. When he's locating both pitches, and mixing them up well, he fools hitter after hitter. When he's not locating one or the other — or, as has happened more than a few times this season, missing his spots with both — hitters can wait him out or take him deep.