It’s not like the Yankees signed him to a long term FA contract or are paying him to be the centerpiece of their offense. They were within striking distance of the playoffs and lost Matsui to injury, so their acquisition of Nady at the time was fairly justifiable. They paid handsomely by giving up some very useful prospects, but at $3.35M last year he certainly earned his paycheck.

And considering he’s been traded for Mike Cameron and Oliver Perez in the past 3 years, I don’t think the Yankees are the only team “lame” enough to acquire him. He has consistently put up league-average or better OPS+ numbers for the past 4 seasons, so he’s not some albatross that will drag a team down. If another team suffers a corner OF injury in the first half of the season, I can promise you they’ll be calling Cashman about Nady.

Minor point, but the Yanks can’t sign Ramirez, as they cannot sign any more Type A free agents this offseason.

It seems to me that especially if the Yankees decide to live with poor OF defense and start Swisher in CF, there is plenty of room on the roster for Nady. He may have peaked last year, but he should still be a pretty damn good 4th outfielder going forward.

Still does not answer the question about Ramirez. Better question is what do the Yankees do with Phil Hughes? He has some value but Swisher and Nady are a couple of cheap parts for the financially challenged after the Yankees pick up payroll. Matsui and Damon cannot be traded. Don’t cry for the Yankees! They have money to burn in this market. At least with Texeira they have one guy who is familiar with defense.

initially have it Damon CF, Swisher LF, Nady RF, Matsui DH, with a bit of rotation and Gardner/Cabrera/Jackson picking up ABs in the absence of production.

of an offensively average, defensively mediocre corner OF.

Rivera, Marte, Bruney, Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and David Robertson is a pretty solid core group returning from last year. They’ve Phil Coke as a solid lefty arm they can put in the pen if they so choose, and there are a couple other lefty arms on the 40 man roster with some upside as LOOGY types in Dunn and De La Rosa. Plus Mark Melancon should be ready for big league action in 2009, and Humberto Sanchez is a big wildcard that could be a factor as well. I can’t see Wright doing much more than the sloppiest of mop-up duty.

Nady would have to be considered Type A, which is remote under the current ranking system, and be offered arbitration. In the unlikely event that happens, what makes you think anybody will offer him a contract? In that case, the yankees would have him for another year. Just out of curiosity, have you noticed a big demand this offseason for corner OFs, especially type As?

I assume you have carefully selected his career RF stats since he is nowhere near .800 OPS for his career.

He has a total career .793 OPS (all positions played). I rounded up .007. Also, the reason for the lack of interest this year is the supply and demand. There are a bunch of slugging OFers on the market, and only a few teams looking to buy. Next year will be a different story, as it’s Matt Holliday and…..

He was the last person not to make the type A cut this year for AL 1B/OF/DH, which means he’s in the top 20% of ALL AL 1B/OF/DH based on performance in 2007 and 2008. Also, if he’s signed by a club that signs two type As, he would only cost that team a 2nd rounder. Likewise, if one of the 15 worst clubs sign him, the Yankees would again get the comp pick and the 2nd rounder.