Is Bryan LaHair legit?

[javy knows my name]

Just wondering, but why doesn't anyone talk about having LaHair as a solid bench player if he happens to continue to produce? There is nothing wrong with having a quality pinch hitter and a guy who could spell Rizzo at times if Rizzo turns out the way we hope.

 

Not everybody has to be used as a starter to get really good value from them. If we can't get anything for LaHair, and Rizzo is ready to come up, so be it.

 

Because if he has the ability to hit well enough to be a starter, and he costs next to nothing, he holds more value as a trade chip than a bench player.

 

Why would you put a guy on the bench who can hit for a reasonable average and mash 30 homers a year if given full playing time. It's a waste of resources. if you have that guy and he's NOT in your plans, then he likely is a viable option for someone else. You find out who that is and you milk LaHair for all he's worth. You ruin his value by benching him.

 

Or maybe he won't hit well enough to be a starter.

 

Oh Jesus Christ

[ctcf]

Kevin Goldstein essentially declares LaHair to be "for real":

 

Kevin Goldstein ‏

Well, he's not 1100+ OPS real, but he's legit 1B bat. RT @war2d2: @Kevin_Goldstein Is Cubs' LaHair for real?

[Guest]

This made me look up Rizzo's numbers so far in the minors to see if he was off to a slow start at all...

 

Holy [expletive].

 

I just checked out the Iowa stats and saw that Tony Campana has a home run this year. And apparently it actually went over the fence.

[Guest]

I'm going to go out on a limb here...

 

If he keeps striking out in 40% of his at bats, his numbers are going to get really bad before long.

[biittner77]

Just wondering, but why doesn't anyone talk about having LaHair as a solid bench player if he happens to continue to produce? There is nothing wrong with having a quality pinch hitter and a guy who could spell Rizzo at times if Rizzo turns out the way we hope.

 

Not everybody has to be used as a starter to get really good value from them. If we can't get anything for LaHair, and Rizzo is ready to come up, so be it.

 

Because if he has the ability to hit well enough to be a starter, and he costs next to nothing, he holds more value as a trade chip than a bench player.

 

Why would you put a guy on the bench who can hit for a reasonable average and mash 30 homers a year if given full playing time. It's a waste of resources. if you have that guy and he's NOT in your plans, then he likely is a viable option for someone else. You find out who that is and you milk LaHair for all he's worth. You ruin his value by benching him.

 

The problem there is that his age is working against him. If he was 25, a team might be willing to give something up for him. He's not. A low budget "rebuilding" team might be able to use him as a stop gap. That's not going to get much more than what Lahair already is: a bench bat. So there's really not much point unless they could get someone that could also back up another position like 3rd or corner OF.

[Fred Hornkohl]

I'm going to go out on a limb here...

 

If he keeps striking out in 40% of his at bats, his numbers are going to get really bad before long.

 

Aw, come on Tim..... you're not telling us that his .538 BABIP is unsustainable, are ya ???

 

04/05 - 04/18      AB    R    H   2b   3b   HR  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS  BABIP  P/PA     RC   IsoD   RBI%
LaHair             25    2    9    2    0    2    6    4   10  0.360  0.448  0.680  1.128  0.538  3.55    7.6  0.088  0.267

[jwmann2]

How happy were you with Derek Lee as a first baseman? He deserves a shot but if you look at all of the successful playoff teams they have first basemen with huge contracts and they all will hit for 32+ home runs per season. Will Bryan give the Cubs that? I doubt it.

[KingCubsFan]

How happy were you with Derek Lee as a first baseman? He deserves a shot but if you look at all of the successful playoff teams they have first basemen with huge contracts and they all will hit for 32+ home runs per season. Will Bryan give the Cubs that? I doubt it.

By the time we're a playoff team, hopefully Rizzo will be our first baseman and hitting 32+ home runs without the huge contract.

[dew1679666265]

How happy were you with Derek Lee as a first baseman?

 

DLee was 22 when he struck out 38% of the time in 22 games his first year. LaHair is 29. That's a huge qualifier in that comparison.

[Guest]

How happy were you with Derek Lee as a first baseman? He deserves a shot but if you look at all of the successful playoff teams they have first basemen with huge contracts and they all will hit for 32+ home runs per season. Will Bryan give the Cubs that? I doubt it.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2000.shtml

[Little Slide Rooter]

If LaHair were to win the NL ROY, would that make him the oldest ever? He is eligible, right?

[bcl412]

If LaHair were to win the NL ROY, would that make him the oldest ever? He is eligible, right?

 

He had 150 PA's in 2008 so I don't know if that makes that his rookie season technically.

 

Sam Jethroe won the award when he was 32 though.

[Little Slide Rooter]

If LaHair were to win the NL ROY, would that make him the oldest ever? He is eligible, right?

 

He had 150 PA's in 2008 so I don't know if that makes that his rookie season technically.

 

Sam Jethroe won the award when he was 32 though.

 

While Jethroe did play several seasons in the Negro Leagues before his "rookie year", looking over his short big league career, it's kind if interesting how his career seems similar to guys like Ludwick and McGehee who had a breakout at an older age. He had 1 more good season The following year, then took a significant dip the next and then was essentially out of the league.

[RynoRules]

12 pitch walk in the 9th tonight .

[sweetpeteman]

If LaHair were to win the NL ROY, would that make him the oldest ever? He is eligible, right?

 

He had 150 PA's in 2008 so I don't know if that makes that his rookie season technically.

 

Sam Jethroe won the award when he was 32 though.

 

 

The cut-off is 130 PA, so, yeah, he's out.

[Schwarber Fan]

Didn't stop Volquez

[Guest]

RT @BenBadler: We're now up to 119 PAs the last two years of Bryan LaHair hitting .323/.420/.586 in MLB. I'm telling you, the man can hit.

[sneakypower]

RT @BenBadler: We're now up to 119 PAs the last two years of Bryan LaHair hitting .323/.420/.586 in MLB. I'm telling you, the man can hit.

since everybody likes to compare him to Hoffpauir, i feel compelled to mention in his first 119 121 PA, he hit .336/.388/.536, 30 K, .429 babip

 

LaHair's sitting at 34 K, .435 babip currently

 

do with that info what you'd like

[MWV]

RT @BenBadler: We're now up to 119 PAs the last two years of Bryan LaHair hitting .323/.420/.586 in MLB. I'm telling you, the man can hit.

since everybody likes to compare him to Hoffpauir, i feel compelled to mention in his first 119 121 PA, he hit .336/.388/.536, 30 K, .429 babip

 

LaHair's sitting at 34 K, .435 babip currently

 

do with that info what you'd like

 

Since I want to be optimistic, I'll point out that the respective walk rates of LaHair and Hoffpauir were 16% and 7.4% over the samples of PA referred to.

[champaignchris]

The Rizzo issue is tied up with the LaHair issue. If Rizzo weren't destroying it down on the farm, there'd be no reason at all not to just let LaHair play it out and see what he can do. But as it is, sooner or later, there's simply not going to be any point in having the guy you envision being your first baseman for the next 10 years still down in Iowa City.

 

Now, the Cubs did play LaHair 14 games at right or left field last year. I neither remember him embarrassing nor distinguishing himself. If the Cubs think he can hack it in left, it'd make the most sense to play him and let Soriano sit. If the Cubs don't think he can hack it in left, you have to decide if trading him gives you more value than using him as a left handed ph. Given that the Cubs apparently weren't able to trade Pena for a box of used balls last year, the later might be the case.

[Guest]

The Rizzo issue is tied up with the LaHair issue. If Rizzo weren't destroying it down on the farm, there'd be no reason at all not to just let LaHair play it out and see what he can do. But as it is, sooner or later, there's simply not going to be any point in having the guy you envision being your first baseman for the next 10 years still down in Iowa City.

 

Now, the Cubs did play LaHair 14 games at right or left field last year. I neither remember him embarrassing nor distinguishing himself. If the Cubs think he can hack it in left, it'd make the most sense to play him and let Soriano sit. If the Cubs don't think he can hack it in left, you have to decide if trading him gives you more value than using him as a left handed ph. Given that the Cubs apparently weren't able to trade Pena for a box of used balls last year, the later might be the case.

 

Rizzo needs to stay in AAA and continue to mash there, regardless of what LaHair is doing.

[Tracer Bullet]

The Rizzo issue is tied up with the LaHair issue. If Rizzo weren't destroying it down on the farm, there'd be no reason at all not to just let LaHair play it out and see what he can do. But as it is, sooner or later, there's simply not going to be any point in having the guy you envision being your first baseman for the next 10 years still down in Iowa City.

 

Now, the Cubs did play LaHair 14 games at right or left field last year. I neither remember him embarrassing nor distinguishing himself. If the Cubs think he can hack it in left, it'd make the most sense to play him and let Soriano sit. If the Cubs don't think he can hack it in left, you have to decide if trading him gives you more value than using him as a left handed ph. Given that the Cubs apparently weren't able to trade Pena for a box of used balls last year, the later might be the case.

 

I don't think there's ever been a reason to have Rizzo in Iowa City.

[Guest]

The Rizzo issue is tied up with the LaHair issue. If Rizzo weren't destroying it down on the farm, there'd be no reason at all not to just let LaHair play it out and see what he can do. But as it is, sooner or later, there's simply not going to be any point in having the guy you envision being your first baseman for the next 10 years still down in Iowa City.

 

Now, the Cubs did play LaHair 14 games at right or left field last year. I neither remember him embarrassing nor distinguishing himself. If the Cubs think he can hack it in left, it'd make the most sense to play him and let Soriano sit. If the Cubs don't think he can hack it in left, you have to decide if trading him gives you more value than using him as a left handed ph. Given that the Cubs apparently weren't able to trade Pena for a box of used balls last year, the later might be the case.

 

I don't think there's ever been a reason to have Rizzo in Iowa City.

 

haha, didn't even notice that.

[SouthSideRyan]

The Rizzo issue is tied up with the LaHair issue. If Rizzo weren't destroying it down on the farm, there'd be no reason at all not to just let LaHair play it out and see what he can do. But as it is, sooner or later, there's simply not going to be any point in having the guy you envision being your first baseman for the next 10 years still down in Iowa City.

 

Now, the Cubs did play LaHair 14 games at right or left field last year. I neither remember him embarrassing nor distinguishing himself. If the Cubs think he can hack it in left, it'd make the most sense to play him and let Soriano sit. If the Cubs don't think he can hack it in left, you have to decide if trading him gives you more value than using him as a left handed ph. Given that the Cubs apparently weren't able to trade Pena for a box of used balls last year, the later might be the case.

 

I don't think there's ever been a reason to have Rizzo in Iowa City.

 

You could say that about anyone.

[MSG T]

The Rizzo issue is tied up with the LaHair issue. If Rizzo weren't destroying it down on the farm, there'd be no reason at all not to just let LaHair play it out and see what he can do. But as it is, sooner or later, there's simply not going to be any point in having the guy you envision being your first baseman for the next 10 years still down in Iowa City.

 

Now, the Cubs did play LaHair 14 games at right or left field last year. I neither remember him embarrassing nor distinguishing himself. If the Cubs think he can hack it in left, it'd make the most sense to play him and let Soriano sit. If the Cubs don't think he can hack it in left, you have to decide if trading him gives you more value than using him as a left handed ph. Given that the Cubs apparently weren't able to trade Pena for a box of used balls last year, the later might be the case.

 

I don't think there's ever been a reason to have Rizzo in Iowa City.

 

You could say that about anyone.

 

Iowa City is great, but I doubt Rizzo has ever been there.