Chris Coghlan

[sneakypower]

is currently 2nd in wRC+ amongst all qualified MLB hitters this year, and is hitting .287/.357/.471 overall as a Cub

 

higher fWAR than Castro over that period (and every other non-Rizzo position player)

 

maybe there's something there? ZiPS isn't so hopeful, but his spotty, injury-ridden track record helps to explain that

[Guest]

I seriously want SSR to hate everybody on the Cubs

[Guest]

I seriously want SSR to hate everybody on the Cubs

You want him out of the lineup more than anyone.

[seanimal]

is currently 2nd in wRC+ amongst all qualified MLB hitters this year, and is hitting .287/.357/.471 overall as a Cub

 

higher fWAR than Castro over that period (and every other non-Rizzo position player)

 

maybe there's something there? ZiPS isn't so hopeful, but his spotty, injury-ridden track record helps to explain that

 

"serviceable"

[Guest]

I seriously want SSR to hate everybody on the Cubs

You want him out of the lineup more than anyone.

 

want? no

 

i would love it if kris bryant weren't actually a bad 3B

[Guest]

I seriously want SSR to hate everybody on the Cubs

You want him out of the lineup more than anyone.

 

want? no

 

i would love it if kris bryant weren't actually a bad 3B

In spite of his errors yesterday, he's not.

[SouthSideRyan]

I seriously want SSR to hate everybody on the Cubs

 

Compared to most other things in life, I barely even hate Coghlan.

[ConstableRabbit]

I [expletive] love Coghlan but also have an irrational fear that he's going to Brant Brown some [expletive] in a huge game down the stretch.

[Guest]

anyway, having coghlan as our 4th OF at some point is a pretty good spot to be in if that's where it ends up

[UMFan83]

Is it too early for advanced defensive stats to mean anything?

 

I'd be interested to see how much his offense negates his issues in LF. I am assuming he's a safe net positive right now.

[Guest]

I [expletive] love Coghlan but also have an irrational fear that he's going to Brant Brown some [expletive] in a huge game down the stretch.

 

Coghlan's bad defense is sneakier than that, he handles balls he gets to relatively well, he just plays the outfield like he's in cement shoes.

 

I think Coghlan is an ideal 4th OF and a good platoon option for this year. I'm (somewhat irrationally) skeptical that his bat will continue to hit at 2014 levels(which it needs to for him to be a starting option), but his start is tempering that somewhat.

[Cubswin11]

I [expletive] love Coghlan but also have an irrational fear that he's going to Brant Brown some [expletive] in a huge game down the stretch.

Well hopefully this can be mitigated by taking him out later in games with a defensive minded replacement, which Maddon seems to have done a few times already.

[sneakypower]

Coghlan's bad defense is sneakier than that, he handles balls he gets to relatively well, he just plays the outfield like he's in cement shoes.

but this is so much less of an issue in Wrigley than it is in spacious LF like Coors/PNC/Petco

 

i'm a little bit excited by the idea of completely reversing course on the defense-first craze of the last 5? years in baseball and putting out a (relative) murderer's row lineup where nobody but Rizzo is a plus fielder

 

Fowler CF

Soler RF

Rizzo 1B

Bryant 3B

Coghlan LF

Castro SS

Montero C

P

Alcantara 2B

 

also, to your point, he was a completely neutral rating to UZR last year for some reason i'm curious about, but yeah, DRS wasn't so kind

[OleMissCub]

I don't think his offense is going to suddenly start being below average. Him hitting poorly is the exception not the norm. He seemed to struggle a lot coming back from his knee injury several years ago, but other than that he's always hit pretty well. How much damage can he really do in LF? Would it ever be enough to negate a .280/.350/.460 line over a season?

[abohnhoff]

Coghlan's bad defense is sneakier than that, he handles balls he gets to relatively well, he just plays the outfield like he's in cement shoes.

but this is so much less of an issue in Wrigley than it is in spacious LF like Coors/PNC/Petco

 

i'm a little bit excited by the idea of completely reversing course on the defense-first craze of the last 5? years in baseball and putting out a (relative) murderer's row lineup where nobody but Rizzo is a plus fielder

 

Fowler CF

Soler RF

Rizzo 1B

Bryant 3B

Coghlan LF

Castro SS

Montero C

P

Alcantara 2B

 

also, to your point, he was a completely neutral rating to UZR last year for some reason i'm curious about, but yeah, DRS wasn't so kind

 

Let's say Baez gets hot in Iowa and comes up this summer as the everyday 2B. He is less than ideal in the 9 hole, who goes there instead...Montero? Would rather have someone with more speed, Castro makes sense but it also makes no sense at all the more I think about it. Does Maddon scrap the pitcher batting 8th lineup?

[SouthSideRyan]

I don't think his offense is going to suddenly start being below average. Him hitting poorly is the exception not the norm. He seemed to struggle a lot coming back from his knee injury several years ago, but other than that he's always hit pretty well. How much damage can he really do in LF? Would it ever be enough to negate a .280/.350/.460 line over a season?

 

He was bad in 2010 before injuring his knee. Then it took him 3 more bad years before he was over a torn meniscus?

[George Hayduke]

I don't think his offense is going to suddenly start being below average. Him hitting poorly is the exception not the norm. He seemed to struggle a lot coming back from his knee injury several years ago, but other than that he's always hit pretty well. How much damage can he really do in LF? Would it ever be enough to negate a .280/.350/.460 line over a season?

If he could put up that slash line over a whole season, he'd be a 3+ win player even with the defense. If he could give the Cubs .270/.340/.440 he'd be a fairly solid starter and it would exceed my preseason expectations by a bit.

[RynoRules]

He'd have to be Juan Pierre bad to negate a .800+ OPS, no?

[Guest]

Coghlan's slash line last year combined with his career norms defensively over a full season would be about a 3 win player. It's unlikely he'd keep up the slash line over a full season, although he wasn't completely sheltered from LHP and improved equally from his career norms v. RHP and LHP.

 

There's certainly no urgent need to get rid of him, and with Olt and La Stella not taking advantage of early playing time and the front office's apparent belief in Bryant as a 3B, Coghlan's gonna get the chance to play LF against RHP for the forseeable future.

[sontensei]

Coghlan's bad defense is sneakier than that, he handles balls he gets to relatively well, he just plays the outfield like he's in cement shoes.

but this is so much less of an issue in Wrigley than it is in spacious LF like Coors/PNC/Petco

 

i'm a little bit excited by the idea of completely reversing course on the defense-first craze of the last 5? years in baseball and putting out a (relative) murderer's row lineup where nobody but Rizzo is a plus fielder

 

Fowler CF

Soler RF

Rizzo 1B

Bryant 3B

Coghlan LF

Castro SS

Montero C

P

Alcantara 2B

 

also, to your point, he was a completely neutral rating to UZR last year for some reason i'm curious about, but yeah, DRS wasn't so kind

 

I'd rather see

 

Fowler CF

Soler RF

Rizzo 1B

Bryant 3B

Coglan LF

Castro 2B

Montero C

P

Russell SS

[OleMissCub]

 

I'd rather see

 

Fowler CF

Soler RF

Rizzo 1B

Bryant 3B

Coglan LF

Castro 2B

Montero C

P

Russell SS

 

This ^

[rawaction]

Any chance he can play 3b better than LF and Bryant? He's really terrible in the OF.

[sneakypower]

i'd always wondered last season why they never experimented with him or Lake in the IF with the idea of having a more versatile/useful bench player in the future, but if there were ever any intentions of trying him at 3B seems like tonight would be the perfect opportunity, with Wood being so FB-heavy and you could effectively swap out Herrera for Szczur in the lineup

 

but it's exceedingly unlikely that's being considered an option at all

[Guest]

i'd always wondered last season why they never experimented with him or Lake in the IF with the idea of having a more versatile/useful bench player in the future, but if there were ever any intentions of trying him at 3B seems like tonight would be the perfect opportunity, with Wood being so FB-heavy and you could effectively swap out Herrera for Szczur in the lineup

 

but it's exceedingly unlikely that's being considered an option at all

 

With Olt PHing and playing 3B for an inning, I wonder if he'll be okay to start today.

[OleMissCub]

Coghlan played IF his whole life up until basically AAA which is probably why he looks so goofy playing OF. He was a heck of a third baseman in college and was part of the reason he was drafted in the first round. However, his IF stats in the minors, where he played mostly 2B, look to be below average for the most part. Nevertheless, it seems that the main reason he was moved to the OF was because Uggla was blocking his way.