This is what I get for taking a day off to enjoy real life instead of posting about the Sabathia trade. Now the Cubs have Rich Harden and I have twice as much ground to cover. I’ll try to make this fast.

Honestly, I’m taking a Jayson Stark approach to this: yes, it’s exciting that the Brewers landed C.C. Sabathia. Yes, it’s a big, bold move for a franchise that had long been sellers (not that that was entirely bad; they made out like bandits on that Richie Sexson trade a few years back). Yes, most Brewer fans thinks the NL Central is theirs on a platter, even after the Cubs got Harden. But whether it’s McClung or Bush or Suppan (briefly) that gets bumped from the rotation, the big hubbub spells at most three or four extra wins. Team’s still gotta hit, team’s still gotta close games out. Three or four more wins can make the difference, but one injury can swing it back. Same goes for Harden- Brewers raised the pot, Cubs called… we still have to see the cards. And beat the Cards, for that matter. Two trades does not magically send St. Louis into last place. Cincinnati, maybe, but not St. Louis.

Haven’t gotten a whiff of reaction from the bosses on Harden (it was “NL Central on a platter” regarding CC), but general buzz seems to dismiss Harden as a sloppy copycat move. That of course is nowhere near accurate… at least the sloppy part. Hendry’s lips are sealed on the copycat part, but it was a good trade. Harden is an upgrade from Gallagher and I can’t imagine us missing Patterson a whole lot. Wish I could have seen Donaldson when I went to a Peoria game last month, but Ryno gave him the day off (incidentally, his backup, Mario Mercedes, threw out four baserunners trying to advance on a steal, wild pitch or outfielder’s throw home- kid’s got an arm).

Finally, happy trails to Matt Murton. I’ve always liked him and I’m glad to see him get the opportunity he deserves, even with another team. It’s clear that with Soraino and Fukudome locked up for a few years, there’s no room for another corner outfielder here, so we all knew Murton’s biggest function was to be trade bait to land somebody like Rich Harden. Well done, Red- with your help, we landed the big one.