IBA: Steward: Time to come clean: We’re hooked on Harden again

Fresh off his enlightening speech at the Heffter Research Institute…Carl Steward is back.

Smoking. Gambling. Dark chocolate. Aged bourbon. Bad addictions, all.

And then there is Rich Harden, who for an A’s fan—or just a fan of power pitching—is like crack cocaine, heroin and LSD all rolled into one. Every once in awhile we get a pure dose of him, and we’re sucked in all over again despite all those trips to “won’t fall for it again” rehab.

...The other possibility is that Harden finally can string successful starts through midseason and Billy Beane decides not to tempt fate, particularly if the A’s aren’t doing well as a whole. He could dangle his most talented pitcher in trade on the old “sell high” philosophy.

But that would require some serious gulping on Beane’s part. Yes, the A’s GM managed to part with Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito, but Harden is a whole different case. You can scout for years and never find the combination of talent and tenaciousness Harden has. At his best, he is the equal to the Josh Becketts of the world, the kind of ace pitcher you simply don’t let get away, regardless of how fragile.

See? One brilliant outing and we’re happily hooked again.