What It Means:

The deal was initially reported by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Nathan is 41 years-old and coming back from his second Tommy John surgery, but he managed to land a guaranteed major-league deal. Recent reports suggested that he's hoping to be game-ready by the start of July. It's a low-risk flyer for first-place Chicago.

Nathan pitched just 1/3 of an inning in 2015, and prior to that pitched 58 innings in 2014, posting a 4.14 xFIP. His 20.9 strikeout percentage that season was just above 2015's league average of 20.4 percent, and well below his career average of 25.8 percent. There's no guarantee Nathan returns to his old form.