Two days after Milwaukee acquired C.C. Sabathia from the Indians, the Cubs have traded for Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from Oakland.

The Cubs sent Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, and Josh Donaldson to the A’s in return for the two pitchers. I don’t know too much about Donaldson, but he is supposed to be a quality catching prospect. I think this trade is pretty lopsided in favor of the Cubs, with the only risk the Cubs are taking is that Harden stays healthy. I’m surprised Oaklands GM Bean would take so little. I thought he wanted a bounty almost as much as he got for Dan Haren. If Harden can stay healthy the Cubs have a great 1-2 punch in him and Carlos Zambrano for the next 2 years at least.

The recent trades of the Brewers and Cubs has to make the Astros think about their plan going forward. The Cubs will stay good for awhile, but the Brewers seem to be trying to win this year, even if they lose Ben Sheets and Sabathia next year. In my opinion, I believe we should stop thinking about this year and focus on building for the future. Even if we made the playoffs this year, and that’s a big if, I can’t see us making it deep.

The Astros need to do something to keep up with their division rivals because the Cardinals are still good, and the Reds are only getting better. It would be nice to see some good trades before the deadline. We made some this winter to try and win now, and that hasn’t worked. It is time for plan B.

Hopefully I’ll have a nice game review to write tonight, stay tuned…