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Tuesday, January 26, 2010Nady’s now a CubPosted by Satchel Price at 1:27pmThe Cubs made what's likely to be their final major position player acquisition earlier today, reportedly coming to an agreement on a one-year deal with outfielder Xavier Nady. Nady seems likely to become Chicago's fourth outfielder and the right-handed part of a right field platoon with Kosuke Fukudome. He missed all of last season while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, but he posted the best numbers of his career in his last healthy season. Nady, 31 for next season, was coming off of four consecutive seasons of above average offensive production, peaking in 2008 with a .374 weighted on-base average and a 4.0 WAR split between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees. Once a top prospect in the San Diego organization, Nady seemed to take some legitimate steps as a hitter in 2008. He emerged with good power, hitting 25 home runs and posting a .205 ISO, and he also set career high marks in walk rate and walk-to-strikeout ratio. A big catalyst for Nady's improvement may have been a change in his approach in the plate, as he became more geared towards hitting the ball in the air beginning with the 2007 season. He hit about 45% of his batted balls on the ground during the 2005-2006 seasons, but that mark dropped closer to 39-40% in 2007-2008. This coincided with a major increase in his line drive rate, from 17.0% in 2006 to 24.6% in 2008. The change in approach would seem to help to explain the increases in Nady's BABIP and power output, as he began to get under the ball more and take advantage of his solid power. What seems most likely to hold Nady back is health. In Chicago's outfield, which has numerous question marks, Nady would seem likely to get 400-500 at-bats necessary to be a fantasy option, especially because he's capable of filling in for Derrek Lee at first base if necessary as well. He's a guy that could be appealing, given that he's a good batting average guy with HR/RBI upside as he'd likely bat in the 5-7 range in Chicago's lineup. Although he's never been particularly durable, his only season with over 515 plate appearances was 2008, and there surely will be questions surrounding Nady's elbow for next season. But Nady appeared to take a very legitimate step forward in 2008 as a hitter, so if he's healthy going into 2009, which is obviously a big question mark, then there's reason to believe that he could be a pretty solid late-draft option for NL-only leagues. Satchel is a proud Cubs and White Sox fan, and if you squint really hard, it almost looks like his name is Satchel Paige. He also writes for Beyond the Box Score and can be reached for questions or comments via e-mail. Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Next Post: Oakland A's Sign Ben Sheets>> <<Previous Post: Ball On a Budget League | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
