Rich Harden of the Oakland Athletics will be activated to start the final game in the series against the Minnesota Twins today.  Harden was sidelined with a strained back muscle and was placed on the disabled list on April 27th and was brought along slowly in hopes of letting the muscle heal as much as possible.  Before getting injured, Harden was 3-0 with a 4.06 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, .189 BAA, with 28 strikeouts in 31.0 IP.

Harden is thought to be one of the better pitchers in the league with an assortment of pitches and a tenacious attitude.  At only 24 years of age, Harden shows a lot of upside still and can only blame injury for him not reaching his full potential at this stage in his career.  Harden is a Cy Young caliber pitcher and should contend for the award every season for the next several seasons.  In fact, if Harden remains healthy, he should contend this year.