Chicago Cubs Sign Cuban Pitcher Juan Yasser Serrano

The Chicago Cubs lately have preferred to focus on Pacific Rim scouting when it comes to stocking the minor leagues outside of the draft, obviously while keeping their toes dipped in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere in Latin America. But now, the Cubs have finally reached into Cuba to make a minor league free agent signing.

The Cubs have reached an agreement with Cuban right-handed pitching prospect Juan Yasser Serrano. However, the deal is not expected to be finalized for another month.

The team has not confirmed the report.

Serrano, who defected from Cuba in April 2009, still needs to undergo a physical before he can join the Cubs. There also is additional paperwork that must be completed before the deal is finalized, a baseball source said Wednesday. cubs.com.

The price tag is somewhere around $250k, which would place Serrano at the equivalent value of a 3rd-ish round pick in the draft (caveat: international free agent signings tend to have extreme signing bonuses in both directions - super high on the top end, skewed low on the low end). Serrano is 21, and will probably head to High A Daytona after minor league camp breaks.

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Cubs Make Huge International Splash - Sign Korean Youngster

The Chicago Cubs continue to dominant the Far East international free agent market. Going back to the days of Hee Seop Choi, the Cubs have clearly made inroads in South Korea, and aren’t giving up any time soon.

Yesterday, the Cubs signed 18-year-old pitcher Kim Jin-Yeong tor a whopping $1.2 million bonus, making him - by my quick mental count - the highest paid international signee in Cubs history. He reportedly hits 92 on the gun, and is just out of high school.

He’ll join other Korean prospect studs in the Cubs’ system, including shortstop Hak-Ju Lee and pitcher Dae-Eun Rhee, both of whom make me think the new kid’s name is probably Jin-Yeong Kim, as opposed to Kim Jin-Yeong. But we stick with the reported ordering for now.

Another interesting side note to the impact of Korean culture on these signings - that is to say, another, in addition to the ordering of names -  in South Korea, my understanding is that kids are typically considered age “one” at birth. So a kid who we’d say is 17 would be said to be 18 in Korea. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but this could impact these signings in the opposite way that signings out of the Dominican Republic turn out to be surprises - some of the Korean prospects could actually be younger than we think.

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Cubs and Sean Marshall Avoid Arbitration

Unsurprisingly, given they were only a few hundred thousand bucks
apart ($1.175 mill versus $800k), today the Chicago Cubs signed Sean
Marshall to a one-year deal, thus avoiding arbitration.

UPDATE: Looks like they settled for $950k, which is just about the mid-point.

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After a Physical, Xavier Nady Will Be a Chicago Cub

Yesterday, the Chicago Cubs agreed to terms with outfielder Xavier Nady on a one-year, $3.3 million deal, which also offers some $2 million in incentives for games played. Nady, 31, essentially did not play last year after elbow problems led to his second Tommy John surgery. Now fully-recovered, the Cubs hope Nady can be a good platoon-mate for Kosuke Fukudome in right field, and can back-up Alfonso Soriano in left field and Derrek Lee at first base. Nady is expected to take his physical later this week, and because of the two Tommy John surgeries, it is less perfunctory than others might be.

In his last full season - the 2008 season, split between the Pirates and the Yankees - Nady was excellent: .305/.357/.510, with 25 homers, 97 RBI, and 37 doubles. Had Nady put up those numbers last year for the Cubs, he would have been the best outfielder, and second best hitter on the entire team. His career line is a very solid .280/.335/.458. The guy can hit.

If Nady starts putting up those 2008 kind of numbers, it will be hard to keep him out of the starting lineup. However, expecting a return to top numbers is probably a bit ambitious - but not for the reason you might think. I am much less concerned about any lingering elbow issues, which should have a minimal effect on Nady at the plate. Instead, I am more concerned with the fact that he has not faced Major League pitching in over a year. Hopefully he’s completely healthy in Spring Training, and can take that time to see a whole lot of pitches.

In the field, of course, Nady’s elbow will be something of a concern. Positional players who return from Tommy John surgery are less impacted than pitchers, but usually there is a visible impact. Prior to this second surgery - the first was almost ten years ago - Nady was considered an average defender in the corner outfield spots, and a below average defender in center field, where he hasn’t played in a few years. He hasn’t played at first base much in the past few years, but presumably his defense there is nothing special.

In the end, if healthy, Xavier Nady makes this Chicago Cubs team much better. In fact, he probably makes the team better than almost any bench signing could. But the “if healthy,” as it is with any player, is a huge caveat here. I feel strangely confident in that regard. Given the plethora of options for the Cubs - Jonny Gomes, Jermaine Dye, Reed Johnson, Rocco Baldelli - I don’t think the team would have given Nady such a relatively large guaranteed commitment if they weren’t confident about his health.

One last interesting tidbit: Nady will make more this year than the free agent “starting” outfielder the Cubs signed. Marlon Byrd’s 2010 salary is just $3 million, compared to Nady’s $3.3. Of course, Byrd’s three-year deal was heavily backloaded, and averages $5 million per year. Then again, if Nady hits his performance bonuses, he’ll eclipse that number, too.

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Details on the Chad Tracy Signing

The Chicago Cubs will announce today that they’ve signed Chad Tracy to a minor league contract, which we already knew yesterday. But now we’ve got some of the particulars on the deal.

If Tracy makes the Cubs’ big-league roster, he would earn $900,000, plus up to an additional $525,000 if he gets 450 plate appearances, a source familiar with the contract told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. The deal also contains award incentives, including a $100,000 comeback-player-of-the-year bonus. ESPN Chicago.

If Tracy gets 450 plate appearances, either he’s had a tremendously awesome season, or the Cubs’ health has had a tremendously awful season.

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Chicago Cubs Are About to Sign Chad Tracy

The Chicago Cubs will be adding to their infield depth - at least theoretically - as soon as tomorrow, when they will announce they’ve signed Chad Tracy to a minor league deal. Tracy will have a chance to earn a spot on the big club in Spring Training, and could end up as the primary backup at first base and third base - effectively bouncing Micah Hoffpauir.

Tracy is still just 29 - he’s actually two months younger than Hoffpauir - but hasn’t been effective at the Major League level since 2007, when he managed an .800 OPS in part-time duty.

Still, a minor league deal is a great low-risk move for the Cubs.

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A Couple of Minor League Deals for the Cubs

Apologies to recently re-signed minor league veterans Mark Johnson and Scott “John” McClain. They were signed to minor-league deals earlier this week, and we were remiss in reporting it. Each got a Spring Training invitation, but to the minor league portion.

The Cubs have signed a couple of familiar faces to minor-league deals and invited them to spring training but without invites to big-league camp. Catcher Mark Johnson was in big-league camp last year as nonroster guy, and he played 22 games at Class AAA Iowa.

Third baseman Scott McClain is back, too, after spending last year with Hiroshima in Japan. McClain was a spring-training sensation a couple times earlier in the decade, and it seemed like he might damn near make the club one year out of camp. He did get into 13 games with the Cubs in 2005. He went to Japan last year after opening the season with the Giants’ Class AAA club. A nicer guy you won’t meet, and it’s possible both McClain and Johnson will be starting their “second careers” (read coaches) in the Cubs system. DailyHerald.com Blogs.

It goes without saying that neither is expected to make any contributions to the big league club this year. Still, good to know the Cubs are committed to bringing in good, knowledgeable veterans to help guide the youngsters.

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Chicago Cubs Agree to Terms with Mike Fontenot, Tom Gorzelanny, Koyie Hill, Angel Guzman and Jeff Baker

Today was the last day for arbitration-eligible players and their teams to exchange their proposed salaries for the upcoming season. Unsurprisingly, it also makes for a very popular day for teams to sign the aforementioned arbitration-eligible players.

So, too, it was with the Cubs, who today signed second basemen Mike Fontenot and Jeff Baker to $1 million and $975k, respectively. The Cubs also signed a couple of pitchers: Tom Gorzelanny got $800k and Angel Guzman got $825k. The team also signed backup catcher Koyie Hill for $700k. No real surprises in those figures, save Fontenot, who was only in his first year of eligibility after a terrible 2009 campaign, and still managed to reel in the most of the group. On the whole, it appears that the Cubs got off a little light, as each of Gorzelanny, Guzman and Baker could have conceivably topped Fontenot’s $1 million mark.

The three remaining arbitration-eligible Cubs are shortstop Ryan Theriot, now-closer Carlos Marmol, and swing-man Sean Marshall.

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