Three Years Of Byrd Droppings Coming To Wrigley Field

Friends and family of TBDS sure know how to throw a welcome home party.  The drinks were flowing freely as we listened to tales of how Uncle Hawk and Carl Yastrzemski saved America from the Soviets in 1978.

Cubs GM Jim Hendry came over too and according to sources had a few too many, resulting in today's signing of Marlon Byrd.

At least, that would be the only way I could justify a three-year back-loaded deal for a hitter with a career OPS of .762 that will be 35 by the time his contract ends in 2012.

Byrd had an OK year in 2009, posting a .283/.329/.476/.808 slash line with 20 home runs and 71 runs batted in.  That is one of the two nice things I have to say about this deal.  The other is that in his three years with the Texas Rangers under the tutelage of newly minted Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, Byrd averaged a .295/.352/.468/.820 slash line with 13 homers and 70 ribbies.

Now, here comes the kick to the crotch that comes with signing Byrd.

With a .340 career on-base percentage and a 59-percent success rate in the stolen base department, the Cubs can't put him at the top of the line-up where the team has had its most gaping hole since Kenny Lofton was not brought back.  He hit 20 home runs last season, but only after hitting 20 total dingers in the two seasons before his contract year.  So, he's not really a protoypical middle-of-the-order hitter.

He is an above average defender.  That's all he's got.

Three years, $15 million for catching the ball.  Sam Field does that for the league minimum.  Not that Fuld is deserving of an everyday job at the major league level, but Hendry's latest deal is a harsh reminder that the Cubs have the dumbest general manager in baseball.

That nice .283/.329/.476/.808 line Byrd posted in 2009 marked only the second season of Byrd's eight-year career in which he played at least 130 games and the first since his rookie year in 2003 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

If the Cubs wanted a durable outfield option after watching Milton Bradley miss his fair share of games due to various nagging injuries, Byrd was not the guy.

In the 845 plate appearances in the 223 games (188 starts) played in the day time, Byrd posted a .255/.311/.403/.714 line.  It is an eye-opening drop in production from the .289/.351/.429/.781 line in 2,124 plate appearances in night games.  It doesn't get better (in fact, it gets worse) when you examine Byrd's numbers at Wrigley Field, where he owns a career .206/.341/.206/.547 line in 10 games (42 plate appearances).

So if the Cubs were looking to add a guy who was familiar with success at Wrigley Field and during day games, they failed.  Miserably.

Did I mention that Byrd is on board for the next three years?  As Tom Ricketts tries to dig out of the hole Hendry dug in the first place at the end of the Tribune Co.'s reign of terror, the task becomes a little more difficult as the Cubs GM lets the ink dry on the team's most recent back-loaded contract to a player past his prime.

And to think, I thought it couldn't get worse than signing Aaron Miles on New Year's Eve a year ago.  We've got to keep that man away from the champagne when the holiday season rolls around in 2010.