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Originally Posted by JS19
Makes sense considering they just dealt Millwood. I wish the Mets went after Harden, especially for this price. Guy is dominant when he stays healthy, I know that's a big if, but he's worth a shot.
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I think they dealt Millwood to clear room in the budget for Harden - at least that's what's been reported from some sites.
1 year at $7.5M is an entirely reasonable roll of the dice on a guy with Harden's ability. Yeah, he's a risk given his injury history, but that's not a lot of money, relatively speaking. I wonder how much of a buyout there is on the 2nd year option - seems highly one-sided if it's just the club option for $11.5M. Maybe there are a lot of incentives that can lock in a much higher 2nd year salary and come with an expensive buyout?
Given Harden's ties to the area, the advantages to his numbers of pitching in Safeco in front of our OF defense and the M's greater competitiveness potential than Texas, and I'm rather surprised Zduriencik wasn't the one to get him signed. I have to assume there are some unreported parts to the deal that Z wasn't comfortable with...