Jay excited to mentor Almora, join Cubs

After striking an agreement with the Cubs on a one-year, $8 million contract on Tuesday, outfielder Jon Jay fit in his daily workout, then spent some time car shopping. He traded in his sports car for what he called a “dad car,” because his wife, Nikki, was pregnant with twins.

Jay just left the dealership when he got the call that Nikki was having contractions. Before noon on Wednesday, they were parents of two baby girls.

“It’s been a kind of surreal 24 hours,” Jay said.

Jay is a familiar name to Cubs fans because he played parts of six seasons with the Cardinals before spending 2016 in San Diego. The 32-year-old called his union with Chicago a “perfect match,” in part because the Cubs are World Series champions, with most of their core coming back to bid for a repeat in 2017.

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But there was a more personal benefit, too.

“The big thing that appealed to me was that Albert Almora is there, a young stud that’s a great center fielder,” Jay said, referring to the 22-year-old, former first-round Draft pick who got his first taste of the Major Leagues in 2016. “[I want to] help him out any way I can. I was lucky enough …

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