UPDATE 1:05 AM 7/31: It appears that Harden isn’t coming to the Red Sox after all.
RT @abc7newsBayArea: AP: Trade deal that would send Oakland A’s right-hander Rich Harden to Boston Red Sox has fallen through.
RT @susanslusser: Harden says he’s staying. “I’m happy to be part of this organization. I’m looking forward to starting Tuesday.” #Athletics
While the whole Ubaldo Jimenez saga was going on Saturday night, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal tweeted that the Pawtucket Red Sox had removed first baseman Lars Anderson from the game. With that saga still ongoing, Twitter became a buzz with multiple rumors of where Anderson could be heading.
I did joke that if I thought he would be going anywhere, it would be to Oakland. I just didn’t see the Red Sox meeting the high demands of the Colorado Rockies for Jimenez. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle sent out a tweet that the Red Sox were working to acquire Rich Harden from the Oakland Athletics.
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe put the Anderson rumors to rest by basically confirming that Anderson would be returning to the area where he grew up. Anderson went to high school in Sacramento.
So it turns out that pending a physical the Red Sox will receive Rich Harden from the A’s in exchange for Anderson and a player to be named later.
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Anderson would have had to move positions to stay with the Red Sox since he wasn’t going to be the first baseman any time soon with some dude named Adrian Gonzalez there. So in the end this could end up being a good move for him.
In 132 games for the PawSox, Anderson was hitting .261 with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs. He made 18 appearances for the Red Sox in 2010 where he hit .200 with four RBIs.
Harden has been injury prone in his career and missed some time this season with the A’s. In five starts this season, he was 2-1 with a 4.30 ERA.
The acquisition of Harden will give the Red Sox some pitching depth if Clay Buchholz can’t return to the rotation any time soon. Plus he’ll provide insurance if Andrew Miller can’t work out his control issues quickly. And with a start on Sunday, Miller could end up being the odd man out.
But until Harden passes his physical and officially becomes a member of the Red Sox, we won’t know what Terry Francona and Theo Epstein will have in mind for him. One thing we do know is that Harden is familiar with Curt Young, the Red Sox pitching coach who was in Oakland last year.
I’m sure Theo isn’t done and we’ll know by 4 p.m. tomorrow if the Red Sox add any other players.
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