Bad Wax

I know, I know, you are thinking Xavier Nady? Really? The answer is yes. If you have followed his career over the past few seasons, you know what I am talking about. Sure he has been on three teams so far in his career, but he is a pure hitter. No he’s never going to hit over 35 homers, but what you are going to get is a consistent 0.300/25/80 guy if you just let him playe everyday. Plus his first name starts with an X how cool is that?

Let’s take a snapshot of his career. He was drafted by the Padres in the 2nd round of the 2000 draft from the University of California. He started grinding out his minor league career in Lake Elsinore of the California league in 2001 where he went 0.302/26/100, which should have made him rocket through the Padres system. So midway through 2002 he was sent right up to AAA Portland Beavers where he hit a combined 0.281/23/80. So far two minor league seasons, two nice seasons. In 2003 he was promoted to the Padres midway through the season and ended up with a 0.267/9/39 rookie season with 371 at bats. In 2004 he spent most of his season in Portland (AAA) where he went 0.333/22/70. So the Padres take a gamble in 2005 and allow him to start. Unfortunately he puts up a 0.261/13/43 in just over 300 at bats, never really establishing himself as a threat.

In 2006 he was traded to the Mets for Mike Cameron (another undervalued king). But he was never a starting kind of player for them either and midway through the season he was unloaded for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez. Finally in Pittsburgh he had a home where he could start everyday. In 2006 he went 0.280/17/63. In 2007 he went 0.278/20/72. Now in 2008 he is surrounded by a lot of talent (Jason Bay, Nate McLouth, Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Doumit). His number represent that he is being pitched to a lot. In 2008 through 7/4/08 he has hit 0.326/12/53, meaning that with a full season he might be able to go 0.300/25/100, which would be tremendous for a guy that had to work so hard to get where he is today.

His rookie cards are from 2000 and 2001 and you can find them on eBay for anywhere from $0.25 – $0.50. As far as his relic cards, none should cost more than $1. For his autograph cards, it might run you as high as $4 for the extremely limited edition stuff, but for $1.50-$2.50 you should be able to get any of them. I don’t think for investment purposes this would be good, but to own an autograph of a consistent 0.300/20/80 guy then why not?

Some of his autograph cards: