12-31-2009, 03:19 PM
http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2009/...-all-along.html
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Marlon Byrd was excited to join the Cubs on Thursday, saying it's where he wanted to be all along.
"I was really hoping this would be my landing ground," Byrd said, adding that the Cubs were his "No. 1 choice."
The 32-year-old Byrd was one of two free agent centerfielders the Cubs honed in on this offseason, along with Mike Cameron, who signed a two-year deal with Boston. Rick Ankiel and Scott Podsednik were also on the Cubs radar, though Byrd was their top choice.
"We felt like we explored every avenue, free agency and trade-wise, and it kept coming back to Marlon was the right guy,'" general manager Jim Hendry said.
Hendry credited Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo as part of the reason why Byrd was so attracted to Chicago. Byrd called Jaramillo the "best in the business."
The Cubs signed Byrd to a three-year, $15 million deal on Thursday, exactly one year to the day of the cost-cutting trade of Mark DeRosa to Cleveland for three pitching prospects. DeRosa was dealt to help clear salary space for Milton Bradley's three-year, $30 million deal.
Bradley turned out to be a huge bust, and Byrd is basically replacing him in the lineup, though he'll play centerfielder while Kosuke Fukudome moves to right.
Byrd was friends with Bradley in Texas, but Bradley's experience in Chicago did not dissuade him from signing. The two share the same agent, Seth Levinson.
"The big thing about me and Milton is we had a relationship off the field," he said. "I love Milton Bradley, so I'm a little biased when it comes to him. I think he's a great guy, and I'm sure I'll talk to him today about me coming here. But I'm sure he's happy to start in another place and get a fresh start and try to put that in the past."
Hendry believes that Byrd, like DeRosa, began to "get it" at the plate under the tutelage of Jaramillo. He's hit.295 and averaged 29 doubles and 71 RBI the last three seasons under Jaramillo, and is a .282 career hitter against right-handed pitching.
The addition means the Cubs will have seven right-handed hitters in the everyday lineup, assuming Jeff Baker starts at second. Last year the Cubs wanted to get more left-handed, a strategy that didn't exactly work.
Hendry said he isn't concerned that the Cubs lineup will lack balance in 2010.
"We won 97 games two years ago with a lineup that was predominantly right-handed," he said.
If Hendry had stuck to that philosophy last winter, the ill-fated Bradley experiment would never have played out in the first place.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Marlon Byrd was excited to join the Cubs on Thursday, saying it's where he wanted to be all along.
"I was really hoping this would be my landing ground," Byrd said, adding that the Cubs were his "No. 1 choice."
The 32-year-old Byrd was one of two free agent centerfielders the Cubs honed in on this offseason, along with Mike Cameron, who signed a two-year deal with Boston. Rick Ankiel and Scott Podsednik were also on the Cubs radar, though Byrd was their top choice.
"We felt like we explored every avenue, free agency and trade-wise, and it kept coming back to Marlon was the right guy,'" general manager Jim Hendry said.
Hendry credited Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo as part of the reason why Byrd was so attracted to Chicago. Byrd called Jaramillo the "best in the business."
The Cubs signed Byrd to a three-year, $15 million deal on Thursday, exactly one year to the day of the cost-cutting trade of Mark DeRosa to Cleveland for three pitching prospects. DeRosa was dealt to help clear salary space for Milton Bradley's three-year, $30 million deal.
Bradley turned out to be a huge bust, and Byrd is basically replacing him in the lineup, though he'll play centerfielder while Kosuke Fukudome moves to right.
Byrd was friends with Bradley in Texas, but Bradley's experience in Chicago did not dissuade him from signing. The two share the same agent, Seth Levinson.
"The big thing about me and Milton is we had a relationship off the field," he said. "I love Milton Bradley, so I'm a little biased when it comes to him. I think he's a great guy, and I'm sure I'll talk to him today about me coming here. But I'm sure he's happy to start in another place and get a fresh start and try to put that in the past."
Hendry believes that Byrd, like DeRosa, began to "get it" at the plate under the tutelage of Jaramillo. He's hit.295 and averaged 29 doubles and 71 RBI the last three seasons under Jaramillo, and is a .282 career hitter against right-handed pitching.
The addition means the Cubs will have seven right-handed hitters in the everyday lineup, assuming Jeff Baker starts at second. Last year the Cubs wanted to get more left-handed, a strategy that didn't exactly work.
Hendry said he isn't concerned that the Cubs lineup will lack balance in 2010.
"We won 97 games two years ago with a lineup that was predominantly right-handed," he said.
If Hendry had stuck to that philosophy last winter, the ill-fated Bradley experiment would never have played out in the first place.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->