Xavier Nady, whom the Chicago Cubs signed earlier this week, passed his physical yesterday, and officially inked his one year, $3.3 million deal with the Cubs. The physical, typical for all signings, was a slight concern this time, as Nady is recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, and essentially did not play last year.
Apparently he’s physically satisfactory to the Cubs, but commensurate with the news that he’d passed the physical came the news that he might not be fully-recovered to start the season – we hadn’t heard that before.
Nady’s status for the start of the season is uncertain as he’s only currently throwing 120 feet in a graduated recovery from the elbow injury that limited him to nine games in 2009.
Nady, who was cleared by Cubs doctors after spending Thursday undergoing exams at Northwestern, says he feels no pain taking batting practice and is encouraged about his chance to contribute in April.
“I’m pretty excited,” he said during a conference call. “The elbow’s been doing well, progressing … I feel like my best years are yet to come. I feel like I’ve improved every year, have a better understanding of what I need to do.” …
Hendry said the Cubs will be careful with Nady in spring training. “We’re in no rush at all for him to put excess effort into throwing in spring training,” he said. “We just want to do the best things to assure he can be health not just this year but the rest of his career.” Chicago Breaking Sports.
You have to wonder if this means that, for the first part of the year, Nady will largely serve only as a pinch hitter. You can be assured that, whenever he does get into the starting lineup, teams are going to run on him like crazy until he proves he can throw.