The Cubs signed Marlon Byrd to a 3-year/$15 million deal on New Year’s Eve 2009, but what do we really know about the man they call Marlon Byrd?  We sent our crack investigative staff out into the field (me with a computer and Internet connection) to see what we could find.

Marlon Jerrard Byrd is 32-years old (DOB: 8/30/77).  He was born in Boynton Beach, FL, but he was raised primarily in Marietta, GA.  He attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta where he played baseball.  While at Georgia Tech, Byrd injured his right leg causing muscle damage and resulting nerve damage.  He had to undergo three operations to his leg before the damage was corrected. 

Because of the injury and surgeries, Byrd missed a lot of class time at Georgia Tech and ended up leaving school.  Once he was healed, he enrolled at Georgia Perimeter Junior College (now called simply Georgia Perimeter College) and focused his efforts on building a career in baseball.

In 1999, Byrd was the 10th round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies.  Byrd did well in the minors, moving quickly through the Phillies minor league system.  The highlights of his minor league career include a tremendous year in 2001 in the Double-A Eastern League where he was named Rookie of the Year, the League’s Player of the Year, and he was a post-season All-Star while playing for the Reading Phillies.  In 2002, Byrd was named a post-season All-Star for the Triple-A Scranton Phillies of the International League. 

Byrd was considered a top prospect in the Phillies organization (getting as high as third in the organization) and he made his big league debut at the end of the 2002 season.  He only played in 10 games that year, getting 25 ABs and compiling a slash line of .229/.250/.371 with a homerun and an RBI.

In 2003 he became a starter for the Phillies and had a very good year.  In 135 games (495 ABs), Byrd put together a .303/.364/.418 hitting line with 7 homeruns and 45 RBI.  He came in 4th in Rookie of the Year voting (Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins won the ROY award).

The Phillies had big plans for Byrd after his rookie campaign, but like so many players, he suffered through a sophomore slump.  In 2004, he hit just .228/.287/.321 with five homeruns and 33 RBI in 346 ABs.  After playing just five games with Philadelphia in 2005, he was traded to the Washington Nationals for Endy Chavez.  The change of scenery didn’t help Byrd much.  He ended the year hitting a combined .266/.323/..376 with two homeruns and 26 RBI in 229 ABs.

Byrd’s career continued to slide downhill in 2006 with Washington.  He began the year in the majors, but by July 15 of that year, the Nationals had seen enough and they sent him back to Triple-A.  While with the Nationals in 2006, Byrd hit just .223/.317/.350 with five homeruns and 18 RBI in 197 ABs.

In 2007, the Texas Rangers took a shot on the struggling Byrd and signed him to a minor league contract.  He started the year in class-AAA, but was called up to the Rangers in May after both Brad Winkerson and Jerry Hairston, Jr. went down with injuries.  Byrd played well, getting 414 ABs and hitting .307/.355/.459 with 10 homeruns and 70 RBI.  In fact, the Rangers were so pleased with Byrd’s play that they traded starting CF Kenny Lofton to Cleveland and replaced him in the line-up with Byrd.

Byrd’s work with Rangers’ (now Cubs’) hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo continued to pay off in 2008.  Byrd hit .298/.380/.462 with 10 homeruns and 53 RBI in 122 ABs.  Through much of the season, Byrd suffered with a bad knee, forcing him to spend a little over a month on the DL.  He had off season microfracture surgery in October which included repair of a torn meniscus.

In many ways, 2009 was Byrd’s career year, although some will argue that he actually had a better year in 2008.  Regardless, 2009 was a very productive year for Byrd.  He hit .283/.329/.479 with 20 homeruns and 89 RBI (both career highs) in 547 ABs (also a career high).  Following the season, the Rangers offered Byrd salary arbitration, but he declined, preferring instead to test out the free agent market and seek a multi-year deal.

Byrd’s center field defense has always been considered good, but his UZR/150 rating indicates that he is the epitome of average in CF, scoring a 0.0 career rating.  He actually has above-average ratings in both right and left field.

Byrd isn’t much of a stolen base threat.  His career high is just 11, which he achieved in 2003 with the Phillies.  During his three years with the Rangers, Byrd stole a total of 20 bases.

From a money standpoint, I was surprised to learn that Byrd actually took a pay cut to play for the Cubs in 2010.  He earned $3.06 million in 2009 with the Rangers (plus $87,500 in bonuses for hitting AB targets) and would have almost certainly received a raise had he accepted arbitration.  He agreed to play for $3 million for the Cubs in 2010, but of course he’ll receive raises in both 2011 and 2012.     

On a more personal note, Byrd is married and has two children.  In high school, he was a two sport star (baseball and football) and he enjoys golf, tennis and weightlifting away from the ball park.

I think it’s fair to say that Byrd is not the player the Cubs coveted.  They started the off season looking for a run producing middle-of-the-order bat and/or a speedy lead-off hitter with a good OBP.  Byrd is neither of those guys, although he’s closer to the former than the latter at this stage of his career.  Even so, the pickings were pretty slim and the club signed Byrd to a reasonable contract, so all is not lost. 

Bill James has projected that Byrd will hit .279/.340/.438 with 14 homeruns and 64 RBI in 480 ABs in 2010.  I’m not sure how James does his projections, but I would think they would change with Byrd moving from Texas to the Cubs.  His projection must be impacted by who he plays with, who he hits behind and in front of, and where in the lineup he hits.  My guess is that Byrd will hit 5th or 6th in the lineup for the Cubs.  If he can just repeat the success he had in Texas, I think we’ll all be happy.