...but in this case, I think trading Harden was a smart move. He’s simply not reliable enough, and if the team needs to be efficient to succeed, then the better players need to be available to play and contribute.

I believe the better gamble was to gamble that he stayed healthy and you’d have him in the playoffs and in so doing gamble that his trade value would increase by the end of the season. I don’t really care if he’s not reliable, I don’t really care if his arm falls off and you get no value for him. As Paul Thomas has pointed out a million times, if his arm falls off, the can decline his option moneywise.

His value in a 4-man playoff rotation is tremendous, and missing that opportunity this season was not worth the risk for a team very deep in middle-of-the-rotation talent but with a lack of top-of-the-rotation talent. It therefore made sense as “using-your-head” decision to keep Harden.

That is unless Billy has specific information regarding Harden’s health that no one else has access to. Otherwise, I keep sending him out there throwing Fastball/Change and let it ride.

I feel like even if he got hurt and was shutdown for the rest of the year (I place his risk of going under the knife as low, given that he never has), they could get a Gallagher-type for him in the offseason…So the trade has me scratching my head, not breaking my heart.

To be an A’s fan requires that you be more interested on the name on the front of the jersey than the back. I’m getting to old to have a favorite player but when I was a kid Carney Lansford was my absolute favorite and I would have been crushed had he been traded. I think the one thing the A’s need to consider is trying to cultivate young fans by finding a couple of guys and building around them. Baseball is a sport but it’s also entertainment and it would be nice to know some of the players without a scorecard.

If Billy pulls the strings and we have the basis for a super ass-kicking team in a hot new stadium, then moves like this will look visionary when we make the move.

I believe this move makes us better when we need to be better.

Just as most people that produce posts on here, I’m a life long, die hard fan of the A’s. I’m fairly new to AN, but I read posts nearly every day. No matter which sport it is, I try to remain as objective as possible when making remarks of my favorite team. After spending the last few months reading posts in AN I realize that most fans are not objective. Before the trade was made I’d read and hear remarks saying BB needs to dump Harden for whatever we can get. Now that deal has been done, so many people are being severely critical of the trade. Call what you like, I refer to that as fair weather fans, arm chair quarterback, etc, etc, etc… As much as I love Harden’s talent I can’t possibly imagine every year having to hold on to the hope that Rich will be healthy only to be disappointed again. Any kind of return for him should looked upon as a positve. Last year at this time we couldn’t have got Murton alone for Harden. I think we should feel fortunate for what we received, and we should sit back and watch to see what BB will do next. And a quick side note, I haven’t really paid attention to who it is that puts down other people’s post based on bad grammar, but come on, give it a break. I’m sure I have made more than several error’s on this post and probably will on any future posts as well. If you don’t agree with the opinions of mine or someone else’s that’s fine, we are all entitled to that, but who really cares about the grammer errors…heck I’m not sure of the spelling of grammer…haha.