Hi, I'm visiting from Cub land and thought I would give our view of the best piece you guys got in this trade. Personally, I cant believe some of the stuff I've read here today about how Gallagher sucks ect ect. Some of these opinions even backed with his W-L and ERA. This is A's land- the home of Moneyball and it surprises me that people cant realize the guy is 22 and if you watch him you can see pretty quick he is going to be special. But enough about judging by your eyes take a look at his minor league #'s. His career down there is much better than another more famous Cubs pitcher a Mr. Carlos Zambrano and they both broke into the major league at a similar age. How many prospects dominate the minors at a young age for every level and then make the bigs? The kid isnt Tim Lincecum but writing him off as a 5th starter at the age of 22 is just plain stupid.

A cubs blog wrote a piece awhile back that is about Gallagher and his career and breaking down one of his performances pitch by pitch. You can take a look if you want but its kind of long.

Basically, I think you guys did get a good young pitcher and I would have much rather have traded Vitters than Gallagher. Pitchers who make to the bigs this early (with justification) are hard to come by and you guys are going to be pleasantly surprised with him imo.

Anyway, enjoy your new pitcher because he is a good one and hopefully the trade works out for both teams.