Harden happy to be with Cubs

How happy was Rich Harden to be joining the Cubs?

A better question might be, will his new teammates be able to contain themselves over the acquisition of Harden and reliever Chad Gaudin (pronounced Go-dan) from the Oakland Athletics in a six-player trade Tuesday afternoon?

They were sure struggling with it Wednesday.

"When he's on, he's one of the best right-handed pitchers in the game. Stuff-wise, his stuff is off the charts," said second baseman Mark DeRosa, who faced Harden while playing with the Texas Rangers. "When you go up there and you're getting 97 mile-an-hour fastballs, there's no decision-making process."

"He's one of the best out there," said fellow starter and fellow Canadian Ryan Dempster. "He's dominating most of the time he pitches. He throws close to 100 miles per hour, he has a good slider, throws strikes, knows how to pitch.

"We were already a good team. He's added some depth and made us better."

"I don't know if we really need it, but we really got it, and it's going to be a great situation for all of us - another veteran guy, another No. 1 starter," center fielder Jim Edmonds said.

Even the boys in blue chimed in on Harden's arrival.

"The umpires were talking about him (Tuesday), how well he was throwing it, how electric his stuff was," Edmonds said.

To say Harden, 26, was surprised he was dealt by the A's, the only organization he has ever played for, wouldn't be entirely truthful. He, like most everyone else, had heard the rumors.

"Last week we were in Chicago playing the White Sox and that's when (the rumors started) about coming here," he said. "You kind of knew it was a possibility, but still when it happens it's still a complete shock - you can't prepare yourself for that."

But of all the possible destinations, Harden (5-1, 2.34 ERA) and Gaudin (5-3, 3.59) both are glad it ended up being Chicago.

"Someone told me it's like the playoffs every day," Harden said. "Oakland's a lot different. During the week there's really nobody there and the fan base is limited to Northern California.

"Whereas here you can watch the games all over the country, even in Canada - it's great all my family can watch the games on WGN."

"Coming to a team with all the talent they have, it doesn't get much better than that."

While Harden's stuff has never been questioned, his health and durability have.

"I feel good," he said. "I've had some injuries, but I'm looking forward to getting out there and working every fifth day."

And of his recent loss of velocity?

"My last couple of games it may have been down a little bit, but you're going to have games like that," Harden said. "It happens during the course of the season to just about everybody. I'm not too concerned about it."

While the media were breathless for the arrival of Harden on Wednesday, there certainly wasn't a herd of them waiting for Gaudin.

But if you were assuming the 25-year-old reliever who pitched for Lou Piniella in Tampa and joked about being on the wrong end of the famous Piniella glare was just a throw-in, think again.

"I don't think so," outfielder Reed Johnson said. "I got to face him quite a bit, and he was my teammate in Toronto so I got to see what he can really do. He's got good stuff. He throws hard, has a short, tight slider that's tough to pick up.

"I think he's going to help us quite a bit."

"He's no throw-in for this deal," DeRosa said. "He's a guy I've faced and had trouble with as well.

"This trade makes our team really good."