The Cubs still aren’t done shopping on the free agent market as Hendry is actively shopping the flooded outfield market. Several prominent names have be linked to the Cubs of late, including Xavier Nady, Jermaine Dye, Rocco Baldelli, and Eric Byrnes. All have their drawbacks but all do have high upsides as well. Also not out of the running is the return of Reed Johnson although that does seem like a long shot.
It’s good to see Jim not settling for the likes of Micah Hoffpauir or Sam Fuld to round out the bench and is looking at an experienced discount bat off the bench. For more keep reading…
The Cubs fourth outfielder is a key role on the ballclub as Soriano has been hampered by the injury bug the last three seasons and Fukudome has trouble with lefty pitching, along with Lee needing relief spells at first. The money is becoming limited and the available position spots are lessening with adding a fourth outfielder and a reliever at the top of the Cubs’ leftover want list. Personally, I feel we have plenty of bullpen arms and don’t need to spend it on another; I’ll take a potential low risk high reward offensive bat that comes at a discount.
One of those rumored bats is the 31 year old outfielder Xavier Nady, who missed all of the 2009 season due to Tommy John surgery. Before his injury last year, Nady had put up three consecutive seasons of strong offensive numbers. Xavier can play both the corner outfield spots along with first base and has a good history of hitting left handed pitching. Nady has a good likelihood to rebound next season and have a strong offensive showing. If he didn’t injury himself Xavier would have been looking at a good paydaythis offseason of something around 2-3YR at about 8M per instead he’s looking at a 1YR deal with an option at about 2-4M with incentives.
Another name linked to the Cubs has been the 36 year old outfielder Jermaine Dye who has spent the last five years playing on the Southside of Chicago. Reportedly Dye would love to stay in Chicago and is close friends with Derrek Lee. Jermaine doesn’t have many options out there and would have to take a pay cut and a role off the bench. Dye’s 2009 season was day and night, in the first half he posted a line of .302/.375/.567/.942 in 291 at bats as compared to his line of .179/.293/.297/.590 in 212 at bats in the second half. Despite losing some of his contact ability, there is still some power left in that aging bat as well as plate discipline and a strong history of hitting southpaws. There is the possibility that Dye’s 2009 was a sign that his career is at an end or a switch to the NL could rejuvenate him, no matter what Dye shouldn’t cost more than 3M or so.
The Cubs had looked into both Scott Posednik and Rick Ankiel as possible fourth outfielders but both signed with the Royals thinking they’d be able to start there more often. Since then the Cubs have kicked the tires on 28 year old Rocco Baldelli who spent last year with the Red Sox. Baldelli is one of those great young potential talents that has never fully developed into his full capability; much of this can be blamed on his continual injury bug year after year. Still the Cubs seem willing to take a chance on the youngster given his great all around attributes and attempt to sign him to a cheap base contact with escalating incentives just as he did last offseason with the Red Sox.
One name that has only been whispered around the Cubs’ organization is former Diamondback star outfielder Eric Byrnes, who has missed most of the last two seasons due to lower back and hamstring injuries. Before that Byrnes had showed off great overall game abilities the years prior, he could hit for average, power, played strong defense and was a threat on the bases. Arizona finally pulled the plug this offseason granting Eric his free agency after releasing him and paying his 11M 2010 contract that he was owed. Thus the soon to be 34 year old Byrnes will come to his signing team at the MLB minimum of 400K and will likely be guarenteed nothing but a shot at spring training.
Of all of the options, Hendry seems swaying towards signing Jermaine Dye who wants to stay in the Windy City and could see a big season in the National League. By waiting as long as Hendry has done, he’s waited til the prices have gone down significantly to where the teams have the upper hand and not the player, something he’s never done in the past. It’s quite possible that Jim is able to get his bat in Dye along with picking up his ideal reliever in 35 year old righty Kiko Calero.
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on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 12:53 am and is filed under Bob's View, Cubs News.
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