Cubs sign OF Xavier Nady

[FedEx227]

That's definitely a decent deal for them. Nady is solid. Good value as well.

[Leftwich]

If the O's didn't already have Adam Jones, I'd love to see him in our organization.

[zack54attack]

Good move for the Cubs, and it was cheap too. A one year deal..



But we will see how this plays out

[FedEx227]

Yeah, Reed Johnson is pretty terrible. He's a hustly, grindy white guy, but he's really not very good at baseball. Nady is a HUGE upgrade.

[zack54attack]

I never liked Reed.. He made a couple good defense plays here and there, but the offense was never really there.

[FedEx227]

He made that RIDICULOUS play to rob Prince Fielder of a homer, but no Cubs fan should miss him.

.255/.330/.412, 89 OPS+, 0.4 WAR... he's easily replaceable.

[FedEx227]

That is if he can throw the ball more than 7 inches.

[FirstTimer]

That is if he can throw the ball more than 7 inches.

Can't wait for the Cubs to have to use the "double cut off"

[USCChifan]

I could honestly see him being the Cubs' starting RFer over Fukudome, who can't lefties at all.

[WrightStuff]

If Fukudome cant hit lefties than Nady will definitely get many chances to start. Nady's got a reputation for tearing up lefties.

[FedEx227]

Am I mistaken or was that a grand slam he robbed him of?

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/2009/04/video_reed_johnson_robs_prince.html

Video: http://www.indavideo.hu/video/Reed_J..._of_Grand_Slam

[FedEx227]

Oh it was, on ESPN too. Anyways, Reed will be missed by me because of his hardworking attitude. The Cubs have lost that aspect of the game since the 2003 season. There have seemed to be no gritty players that I have admired even though he wasn't the best statistically.

[FedEx227]

Instead of facepalming... how about a counter point?

Counterpoint is he's a well below average baseball player and your team has upgraded tremendously by replacing him with Nady.

If you want to love all those non-tangible "grindy" "grit" aka white dude with facial hair things, that's cool, but on the field Johnson was easily replaceable and the Cubs have done that.

While he was hurt for a good portion of last year he still put up pretty replaceable numbers...

Johnson 2009: .255/.330/.412, 89 OPS+

Even in a real good 2008, he was still just average.

Johnson 2008: .303/.358/.420, 98 OPS+

Nady on the other hand is a career .280/.335/.458, 108 OPS+

The big question with Nady is obviously health, but Johnson wasn't that big of a deal. He got the infamous grindy, grit label, made a couple of sweet defense plays but overall wasn't all that great for you guys.