Last week the Chicago Cubs ended their month-long search for a fourth outfielder by landing a guy who would probably be a starter on many other teams, Xavier Nady. But for Tommy John surgery, his second, Nady almost certainly would be starting somewhere in 2010. Clearly, that makes him a very attractive target, and it would be understandable if he was the Cubs’ top choice for fourth outfielder.
But he wasn’t.
According to one anonymous MLB executive, before offering Xavier Nady a $3.3 million, one-year deal, the Cubs made the exact same offer to Jermaine Dye, who turned it down. If the Cubs offered the exact same deal to Dye first, that means, regardless of what they say now, Dye was the Cubs’ first choice. As the year goes on, it will be interesting to see how Dye and Nady end up playing – will the Cubs regret not landing Dye, or will they have been saved by chance?