Nomar Garciaparra played the first nine years of his career for the Boston Red Sox. He was a rare mix as a shortstop. He hit for average and power. Power hitting shortstops were rare at the time. He consistently batted over .300 with between 20 and 35 home runs and RBIs over 100.
For his Red Sox career Garciaparra batted .323, hit 178 home runs, with 690 RBIs. He made the All Star team 6 times. He was lovingly known as “Nomah” in Boston.
Even with decreasing skills, and at age 32, the Cubs thought it would be good to give him a 1 year $8.25 million contract. Batting .157 at the beginning of the year, he injured his groin and went on the disabled list. He played only 62 games with 9 home runs and 30 RBIs for the Cubs in 2005 but got paid $8.25 million.
To make the investment even worse, the Cubs gave up and watched Garciaparra go to the Dodgers where he made the All Star game and won Comeback Player of the year in 2006. After that he started to age and his numbers dropped. By 2010 he retired from baseball.
This was a great player with a great and successful career. However, in 2005 the Cubs took a chance on an injured player who couldn’t play very much. Then they compounded the error by letting him go and then watch him hit .303 with 20 home runs and 93 RBIs the next year with the Dodgers. The Cubs signed a ONE YEAR SWING BADDER CONTRACT.
