Cubs sign Xavier Nady

[A.E]

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports reports that outfielder Xavier Nady has agreed to a one-year contract with the Cubs.
Nady will serve as a fourth outfielder in Chicago behind Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd and Kosuke Fukudome. He had a second career Tommy John surgery last season but he's expected to be fine by the start of spring training. The 31-year-old hit .305/.357/.510 with 25 home runs and 97 RBI between the Pirates and Yankees in 2008, his last fully healthy season. Jan. 26 - 12:41 pm et

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, Xavier Nady will receive a $3.3 million base salary from the Cubs with a chance for $2 million in incentives based on games played.
The contract is contingent upon Nady passing a physical, which isn't a given after his second Tommy John surgery. The 31-year-old Nady is a .280/.335/.458 lifetime hitter and crushes lefty pitching, so he'll be a nice option for manager Lou Pinella if he passes. Jan. 26 - 2:00 pm et

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.j...sp&c_id=chc

Didn't see the Cubs as a possible destination and you know what...they can have him. Nady's power was heading downhill before he was injured, he's not that great defensively, and he's got no speed. I actually hate this move for the Cubs and unless Fukudome struggles again, Nady will only consistently see time on the field when Chicago is up against lefties.

 

[The Guid]

I don't think it's that bad of a signing. He's been able to produce in the NL before and he's a great righty bat off the bench. He'll also challenge Fukudome for an everyday spot and, hopefully for the Cubs, motivate Fukudome a bit.

 

[elcheato]

Low risk signing, doesn't seem that bad.

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

Good move to help out the bench. Nady provides a backup at 1B and the corner spots in the OF, so it looks like Micah Hoffpauir probably won't stick with the team this year. It's unlikely that Nady will platoon with Fukudome in RF, because he actually hits RHP better than he does LHP. I don't see how anybody could say this was a bad move, since he's going to be nothing more than a 4th OF and before this move the 4th OF was Sam Fuld... They'll probably be a time however than somebody goes down with an injury and I feel much better knowing Nady will step in to replace a Soriano or Fukudome than having Sam Fuld step in. The Cubs also signed Chad Tracy to a minor league deal today, so the bench is looking pretty decent, at least it's a lot better than it was a week ago.

Koyie Hill C
Xavier Nady 1B/OF
Chad Tracy 1B/3B
Jeff Baker 2B/3B
Andres Blanco 2B/SS
Sam Fuld OF