Breaking News: Cubs sign Marlon Byrd
December 31st, 2009 | by Mark |According to ESPN Chicago, the Cubs have filled their center field void by signing Marlon Byrd to a 3 year $15 million deal.
Thanks to Jim Hendry dragging his feet on dealing Milton Bradley, the Cubs missed out on Curtis Granderson and Mike Cameron and now have to settle for Byrd.
What exactly does Byrd provide the Cubs? Well, Byrd’s offense can be seen as a product of playing in Texas’ Arlington Park, a notorious hitters park. Over the last 3 years, Byrd has a .897 OPS at home versus a .742 OPS on the road. He has hit 25 homeruns at home during that span, versus only 15 on the road.
So, if he’s not the best hitter away from Texas, then Jim Hendry must have got him for his defense, right? Think again. According to Fangraph’s Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) fielding ratings, which measures the amount of runs above or below an average defender the player would have given up or saved, Bryd came in at a -2.3 (that’s a negative 2.3!), compared to Mike Cameron’s 10.0 rating and Granderson’s 1.6 rating.
Well, at least Hendry didn’t give him $10 million a year.
Tags: Curtis Granderson, Marlon Byrd, Mike Cameron
By Nick on Jan 2, 2010
Not too happy about this signing! Considering that Theriot is our only true base stealing threat in the starting lineup and given that Byrd isn’t a major threat to steal as well as the fact that he hit soo poorly on the road (away from Arlington), I truly think that between Byrd, Podsednik and Ankiel, that Podsednik would of been the better fit. Also, Byrd’s defensive ratings have him ranked as an average defensive player. I certainly hope the $15 million over 3 year deal turns out to be a good one, but, I’m not excited about this signing at all! Reed Johnson would of been a better and cheaper signing.
By Hurling Derv on Jan 2, 2010
It’s not that bad a signing. He’s likely to outproduce Fukudome or Fuld and at 3/$15M he’s worth the gamble. Better signing than Jason Bay.
By Mark on Jan 4, 2010
I think the Cubs still lack a true leadoff man and may be forced to use Fukudome again this year. It would have been nice if they had gotten a leadoff man to play center, but they missed out on their best option (Granderson).
By Mark on Jan 4, 2010
I think Fuld would have been a better option and he could have possibly led off.
Comparing a signing to Fukudome kind of speaks for itself.