Xavier Nady being Pursued by the Angels

Yesterday, I speculated that the Los Angeles Angels, who lost their first baseman Kendry Morales for presumably 3 months, may be interested in Derrek Lee. But, it appears that instead of being interested in Derrek Lee, the Angels are actually interested in Xavier Nady. As, Mike Digiovanna reports that Nady is in fact on the Angels radar as a possible replacement at first base.

"Add Xavier Nady to the list of potential trade targets for the Angels in their quest to replace first baseman Kendry Morales, who broke a bone above his left ankle in a freak mishap while leaping onto home plate in celebration of his walk-off grand slam Saturday.Nady, 31, signed a one-year, $3.3-million deal with the Chicago Cubs after missing most of 2009 because of elbow surgery. The outfielder has started 60 big league games at first base.Nady has been eased back into action this season, hitting .263 in 38 games with three home runs and 13 runs batted in, but he is not expected to claim a starting spot in the Cubs’ outfield. He went four for four with a two-run homer Tuesday night against Pittsburgh. LA TIMES"

I am surprised that the Angels are considering Xavier Nady as a possible replacement at first baseman. Because when talking about Nady, you are talking about a guy that has already been through two Tommy John Surgeries, and is currently still not fully healed from the second one. Nady, who struggled to start the year, is starting to find his stride as he went 4 for 4 last night and his average is now up to .263.  From a financial standpoint Nady appears to be one of the cheapest solutions that are out there right now, as he is making $3.3MM, which is significantly cheaper than Lance Berkman, Adam Dunn, and Paul Konerko, who are all apparently on the Angels radar.

You can’t really expect the Cubs to get much of a return for Nady, as to be honest his value is not that great right now. However, given the Angels may be desperate to find a replacement, the Cubs could get more than what would normally be expected.  a possible player that could come to the Cubs in exchange for Nady, is reliever Scott Shields, who they have had interest in, in the past. Shields is struggling this year with a 6.48 ERA as he is coming off a year in which he was out due to injury. But, he has been showing flashes of re-gaining form, for his career he has a 3.11 ERA.