Cubs give Nady one-year contract to platoon with Fukudome … for now
Jan 26, 2010, 1:45 PM EDT
Xavier Nady’s one-year deal with the Cubs is worth $3 million plus another $2 million in incentives and sets him up to platoon with Kosuke Fukudome in right field, which is a good fit for a right-handed hitter coming off Tommy John surgery in that he’ll face mostly left-handed pitching and won’t be asked to play every day.
At least not initially.
Nady is a career .308/.383/.471 hitter against lefties, which is good for an .854 OPS that easily tops his .769 mark against righties. Fukudome is the exact opposite in that he’s a left-handed hitter who’s batted .262/.372/.417 versus right-handers compared to just .242/.343/.324 versus southpaws.
Assuming that Nady and his surgically repaired elbow pass the pre-signing physical exam they’ll make for a prototypical and very productive platoon, although given Fukudome’s propensity to fall into prolonged slumps there’s a good chance Nady will also claim plenty of his starts against righties at some point.
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- moreflagsmorefun - Jan 26, 2010 at 1:50 PM
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is he playing for free ??
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- salvo - Jan 26, 2010 at 2:29 PM
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Interestingly enough, in Nady’s last two full seasons—which also happen to be his two best seasons—he had huge reverse platoon splits: significantly better than league-average OPS vs. RHP, while barely better than league-average (2007) or significantly WORSE than league average (OPS+ of 88 in 2008) vs. LHP.
