According to ESPN 1000 in Chicago, the Cubs have acquired RHP Rich Harden and RHP Chad Gaudin from the A’s in exchange for OF Matt Murton, IF/OF Eric Patterson, RHP Sean Gallagher and C Josh Donaldson.
…hat tip to Chicago Cubs Online for the info..

Tyler Blezinski of Athletics Nation recently conducted an interview with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle to gain insight on the A’s expectations this season.
Slusser on the possibility of the A’s trading RHP Rich Harden this season, as quoted by Blezinski…
“Yes. The only caveat is if the A’s do make a super strong showing [...]

In an article for yesterday’s New York Post, Kevin Kernan makes a case for trading Lastings Milledge and Aaron Heilman to the A’s for RHP Dan Haren, assuming Oakland will trade him.
In the last three seasons, since becoming a full-time starting pitcher, Haren has won 43 games with a 3.64 ERA while striking out 531 [...]

In a recent post to his blog for ESPN.com, Buster Olney details how difficult it is going to be for the Mets to acquire the top-flight starting pitcher they are looking for.
According to Olney, executives and scouts with other teams do not believe Mike Pelfrey or Phil Humber are close to being ready, considering the [...]

Earlier in the week, when asked during a conference call whether re-signing OF Moises Alou will impact how he approaches staffing right field, Mets GM Omar Minaya said…

“I feel that if we were to go with one of our young players in right field, be it a Lastings Milledge or a Carlos Gomez or Endy Chavez, [...]

In a mailbag for MLB.com, A’s beat writer Mychael Urban suggests that, if the A’s are going to trade a starting pitcher, it will be RHP Rich Harden, not RHP Joe Blanton or RHP Dan Haren.
As Urban points out, Harden has missed roughly 60 percent of his starts over the last three seasons due to injury.
Of [...]