And to that, I have only one word: Why?

Actually, I have many more words to say on the subject, of course. The first of which is to point out the obvious: Crosby just isn’t any good at hitting a baseball.

It seems he is still living off of his 2004 Rookie-of-the Year award, when he hit 22 homers. But upon closer inspection, his offensive performance wasn’t that good. First, he struck out 141 times. Second, he hit only .239 with a pedestrian .319 on-base percentage.

That doesn’t exactly scream Cal Ripken, folks.

Since then, Crosby’s offense has been just as bad and with much less power, to boot.

In 2008, his line was scary-bad: .237/.296/.349

On defense, he is way overrated. While his UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) was 1.9 and his RF (Range Factor) 4.57, slightly above average totals, his +/- rating was third worst among all MLB shortstops at -13 (zero is average).

For comparison sake, that -13 was exactly the same as Manny Ramirez’s rating in left field last year.

Meanwhile, Ryan Theriot isn’t a particularly great defensive shortstop either. But he is certainly no worse than Crosby and, in fact, is among the best at fielding pop-ups.

And while he has almost zero power, at least he hits for average and last year got on base at a .387 clip.

And the kicker is that Crosby is scheduled to earn $5.25M in 2009, while The Riot will make a bit above the minimum.

So let’s hope this is a false rumor. Just say no, Jim Hendry, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

This is such breaking news that it isn’t on ESPN’s website, which I just checked to write this article.

At this point, the MLB.com article was up exactly 10 minutes ago, so I must be getting to this early, now, on to the trade specifics.

Here is what each team gets in the deal before going over what this means for the Cubs.

Cubs Get:

Rich Harden SP

Chad Gaudin RP

A’s Get:

Sean Ghallager SP

Matt Murton OF

Eric Patterson OF

Josh Donaldson C

What this means for the Cubs

Just a few days ago, the Brewers acquired C.C. Sabathia who has a 3.83 ERA and 123 strikeouts. (Sabathia makes first start today)

Now the Cubs make a move that seems even stronger than what the Brewers did, not only helping their rotation, but also adding another solid reliever.

Despite Sabathia’s strong numbers, Harden has an ERA about 1.5 less than Sabathia, has a stronger record at 5-1, a better WHIP, more strikeouts per nine innings, and a nearly 3-1 strikeout to walk ratio.

There was talk of the Brewers having the best 1-2 punch in the majors, but the Cubs blew past them with this acquisition, especially when you make it a 1-3 punch adding Ryan Dempster the way he has played.

The addition of Gaudin adds another strong reliever with Carlos Marmol in the bullpen to help get to Kerry Wood in the ninth.

In addition to Gaudin’s help as a reliever, he is also available to step in as a starter, as he has done the job before.

He has 15 appearences this season where he has not allowed a run, and has six starts this season as well.

In his last seven appearances, he has just a 1.7 ERA, which bodes well for the Cubs. This gives them a possibility to put him in the rotation at the fifth spot or keep him as a reliever where he has thrived.

I see this making a huge impact on the race and this could catapult the Cubs into the best team in the majors yet again.

Let me know what you think of the trade.