Baseball - Nixon Signs To A One Year Deal With Trib

Trot Nixon signed a one year deal with the Indians worth $3 million. He also got his five year old son, Chase, to pick his jersey number. Initially, Chase selected 32 and when Trot reminded him that he would be turning 33 in April, Chase immediately changed the jersey number to 33.

Nixon was happy with the jersey number as it was the same as what he had while playing baseball at high school.
Nixon started his professional career with Red Sox who took him in the 1993 draft as the seventh overall pick and he spent his entire professional career with the Red Sox till now. By signing the contract with the Indians, Nixon brings experience to a team of young players.
A week ago when general manager Mark Shapiro studied the roster for Spring Training, he realized that the Indians have a young lineup prone to strikeouts and the team needed more consistent on base presence. This led to Nixon being signed. However, Nixon’s presence could mean that 24 year old Shin-Soo Choo would be out of a role. Earlier Choo was slotted in right field against right-handed pitching and now he is likely to bat in the two hole.
In 2003, Nixon scored 28 home runs. However, in the last 3 years he has hit just 27 homeruns. This is could be due to the amount of time he has spent being injured. Nixon is not afraid to run into walls or dive for balls. He played just 48 games in the 2004 season because of a herniated disk in his back and a strained left quadriceps. In 2005, he was out for a month because of a left oblique muscle strain. While in 2006, he was out for more than a month because of a right biceps strain followed by staph infection on his elbow.
The main question at this point is whether Nixon, who is 32 years old, has the ability to hit for power and stay healthy at this stage of his career.