Cubs get Hardin in six-player deal
CHICAGO, July 8 (UPI) -- The Chicago Cubs got pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the Oakland Athletics Tuesday in exchange for four players.
The Cubs sent pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton, infielder Eric Patterson and catcher Josh Donaldson to Oakland.
Harden, a 26-year-old righthander, led the Athletics pitching staff this season with a 5-1 record and a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts. He has 92 strikeouts in only 77 innings, and has allowed only five home runs in 2008.
However, Harden has not made 30 starts in a season since making 31 in 2004. He made only 16 combined starts in 2006 and 2007 while suffering from back and arm issues. He has a 36-19 career mark in 97 appearances in parts of six seasons, all with Oakland. He has been on the disabled list at least once a year since 2005.
Nationals' Cordero, Dukes set for surgery
WASHINGTON, July 8 (UPI) -- Washington Nationals relief pitcher Chad Cordero and outfielder Elijah Dukes are scheduled to have surgery this week.
Cordero, 26, will have surgery in California Tuesday with Dr. Lewis Yocum performing the operation. Dukes, 24, is scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery on Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., with Dr. Koco Eaton performing the procedure.
Cordero is expected to be sidelined for nine to 12 months recovering from a torn right labrum while Dukes is expected to be out until late August or early September.
Cordero appeared in just six games this season. He had a 2.08 earned run average with no saves. In 305 career games, all with the Washington/Montreal franchise, Cordero has a record of 20-14 with a 2.78 ERA and 128 saves.
Dukes is batting .263 with six home runs and 20 RBI this season. In 104 career games with Tampa and Washington, Dukes is hitting .226 with 16 home runs and 41 RBI.
Safin advances, Moya ousted in Sweden
BASTAD, Sweden, July 8 (UPI) -- Jarkko Nieminen, Robin Soderling and Wimbledon semifinalist Marat Safin won, but fifth-seeded Carlos Moya lost Tuesday at the Swedish Open.
Italian Potito Starace saved a match point in a 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 upset of the former world No. 1 Moya, who won this tournament in 2002.
Nieminen, completed a suspended match from Monday by beating Sergio Roitman 6-4, 6-2, while Soderling beat Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 and unseeded Safin, playing here for the first time in 10 years, beat Marc Lopez 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
Also, Jonas Bjorkman defeated Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-1; 2002 Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson beat Filip Prpic 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Michael Ryderstedt beat fellow Swede Tim Goransson 6-1, 6-2; and Ervin Eleskovic defeated Filippo Volandri 6-4, 6-4.
Some Steeler owners trying to sell shares
PITTSBURGH, July 8 (UPI) -- Members of the Rooney family are reportedly trying to sell their shares in the Pittsburgh Steelers either to relatives or outsiders.
The team is technically in violation of National Football League rules that bar owners from having interests in gambling, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported. Three of the Rooneys are involved in the management of the Yonkers Raceway in New York, which recently added video slot machines.
The investment banker Goldman Sachs & Co. determined that the team is worth between $800 million and $1.2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper said it had seen confidential documents labeled "Project Newcastle" and that the Goldman Sachs evaluation was done because some of Dan Rooney's brothers thought that his assessment undervalued the team.
Dan Rooney is now the team's chairman, while his son, Art Rooney II, is president.
Art Rooney Sr. bought the team in 1937 with money he won at the track. His sons and grandchildren now own 80 percent of the team with the McGinley family owning the other 20 percent.
Sources told the Post-Gazette that three of the brothers would like to sell their shares to Dan Rooney or to an outside investor. Stanley Druckenmiller, chairman of Duquesne Capital Management is reported to be interested.
