**OFFICIAL CUBS REGULAR SEASON THREAD**

[ssckelley]

LaHair is an interesting story, he has hit at every level in the minors and did not do that badly when called up with Seattle. From what I understand is Seattle was going to give LaHair a shot at DH in 2009 before they signed this guy named Ken Griffey Jr. Back to the minors he went where he has tore it up.

IMO, now is the time to trade him. Tm is right, major league pitchers have not figured him out yet and when they do he will come back down to earth. LaHair is as hot as he will ever be and at 29 years old he does not fit into the long term plans for the Cubs as Rizzo is going to be at first base. They cannot find anyone to dump Soriano on and they say he is to expensive to sit on the bench. The beauty about LaHair is that he can be traded to just about anyone. AL teams will love that production at DH and small market teams will love the fact that LaHair cannot be a free agent until 2018 when he is 35 years old. I am a big LaHair fan but an even bigger Cub fan and they need to sell high. You wait for him to cool off and you may not get as much.

 

[thejumper5]

You people are old. Here's my favorite Cubs closer from my childhood:

RIP

 

[Section136]

You people are old. Here's my favorite Cubs closer from my childhood:

RIP

Nice call on "The Shooter". Towards the end of his career he was playing at AAA Iowa and camped in an RV somewhere on Principal Park's property. There was a story about how if the outside lights of his RV were on after a game anybody was welcome to come in and have a beer with Rod Beck.

 

[bcl20]

Pitchers are where you get into more trouble with that. LaHair should have been in the majors 2 years ago. Instead they left him down there to age. Which is fine if you have someone producing in the bigs, but they didn't.

The Cubs had Derek Lee at first base. You don't replace Derek Lee, who came off of a very, very good year and stick some random guy who you signed from Seattle, who was unproven, and play him at first. That makes no sense.

Also, the idea of putting LaHair in the outfield is terrifying unless he continues his MVP like success (he won't) so I have a hard time arguing that his production would have been good enough in 2010 to justify him replacing Soriano (who had a good 2010), Tyler Colvin who was a first round pick or Fukudome, who also had a good year and can play defense. Playing an unproven, older rookie over any of those guys really wouldn't have made sense at all.

 

[bcl20]

LaHair is an interesting story, he has hit at every level in the minors and did not do that badly when called up with Seattle. From what I understand is Seattle was going to give LaHair a shot at DH in 2009 before they signed this guy named Ken Griffey Jr. Back to the minors he went where he has tore it up.

IMO, now is the time to trade him. Tm is right, major league pitchers have not figured him out yet and when they do he will come back down to earth. LaHair is as hot as he will ever be and at 29 years old he does not fit into the long term plans for the Cubs as Rizzo is going to be at first base. They cannot find anyone to dump Soriano on and they say he is to expensive to sit on the bench. The beauty about LaHair is that he can be traded to just about anyone. AL teams will love that production at DH and small market teams will love the fact that LaHair cannot be a free agent until 2018 when he is 35 years old. I am a big LaHair fan but an even bigger Cub fan and they need to sell high. You wait for him to cool off and you may not get as much.

I don't think they'd get much anyways. Most MLB front offices aren't dumb enough to trade for a player just because he's on a hot streak. There isn't that much upside to LaHair really so it might just be a better idea to keep him. Though there really wouldn't be anywhere to play him because his defense in the outfield would likely be really, really bad.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

The Cubs had Derek Lee at first base. You don't replace Derek Lee, who came off of a very, very good year and stick some random guy who you signed from Seattle, who was unproven, and play him at first. That makes no sense.

Also, the idea of putting LaHair in the outfield is terrifying unless he continues his MVP like success (he won't) so I have a hard time arguing that his production would have been good enough in 2010 to justify him replacing Soriano (who had a good 2010), Tyler Colvin who was a first round pick or Fukudome, who also had a good year and can play defense. Playing an unproven, older rookie over any of those guys really wouldn't have made sense at all.

First off, if you want to see unproven, look no further than Tyler Colvin. Not sure what a first round pick means at all. If that's what you want to go by, then you are right up there with the Cubs old management.

Second, if your idea of a "good year" is .258 and 24 HRs for a gazillion dollars, then that's fine. You are fitting right in.

Your 3rd outfielder, Fukudome, came over and batted .260 for 3 straight years, which I suppose is....good?

Maybe if these guys were at positions like SS or 2B where you don't need as much run production, but your OF batted .260! .260! If you can't plug a guy in there then I don't know when you can!

 

[woodyk1]

You people are old. Here's my favorite Cubs closer from my childhood:

RIP

Acknowledge the old! Rod Beck was a good Cub (MLB and AAA). It was a shame what happened to him health wise.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

I don't think they'd get much anyways. Most MLB front offices aren't dumb enough to trade for a player just because he's on a hot streak. There isn't that much upside to LaHair really so it might just be a better idea to keep him. Though there really wouldn't be anywhere to play him because his defense in the outfield would likely be really, really bad.

Why would his defense be that bad? Could you enlighten me here? I have yet to see where he struggled so bad in the OF.

 

[bcl20]

First off, if you want to see unproven, look no further than Tyler Colvin. Not sure what a first round pick means at all. If that's what you want to go by, then you are right up there with the Cubs old management.

Second, if your idea of a "good year" is .258 and 24 HRs for a gazillion dollars, then that's fine. You are fitting right in.

Your 3rd outfielder, Fukudome, came over and batted .260 for 3 straight years, which I suppose is....good?

Maybe if these guys were at positions like SS or 2B where you don't need as much run production, but your OF batted .260! .260! If you can't plug a guy in there then I don't know when you can!

Fukudome had an OPS of .809 and an OPS+ of 114. I'd say his 2010 was just fine. First round pick means he was a prospect with upside, LaHair never was so it takes longer for player of his stature to get a major shot at the bigs even if they put up good stats.

When evaluating talent, the gazillion dollars doesn't matter. If there is evidence to suggest that Soriano would have the better season you pick him. Going into 2010 it was more likely that Soriano, who had had an ops of over .850 every year since 2002 (aside from 2009, where at the time it was his first down year in a long time) than some guy who had some off an on good years in the minors at the time.

And, please, if your going to go snark on me, please have your go to stat be something other than batting average, thank you.

 

[bcl20]

Why would his defense be that bad? Could you enlighten me here? I have yet to see where he struggled so bad in the OF.

He's an unathletic first baseman that would play outfield at Wrigley. It's not hard to see why he would struggle, hell, he's struggled defensively at first base. If you're basing it off of errors (I'm not seeing anything on his minor league fielding stats) that doesn't mean much for an outfielder at all. If a dude can't get to a fly ball he should easily catch than that's not an error but he still sucks at fielding.

 

[ssckelley]

I don't think they'd get much anyways. Most MLB front offices aren't dumb enough to trade for a player just because he's on a hot streak. There isn't that much upside to LaHair really so it might just be a better idea to keep him. Though there really wouldn't be anywhere to play him because his defense in the outfield would likely be really, really bad.

A couple of prospects, possibly even a bullpen guy that the Cubs desperately need. A left handed power hitter who hits for a decent average is a trade-able commodity. The Cubs are building for 2014, not 2012. I want to see the Cubs win a World Series some day not fool around with this season with the hopes of finishing in 3rd place. If you have something other teams want then get make a deal. In June Rizzo is going to be the first baseman, it would be stupid to keep him at Iowa where he is tearing the cover off the ball because you have a 29 year old rookie in his way. You are not going to put him in right field, he cannot play center, and Soriano is in his way in left. Basically you have from now until June to do something with him.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

Fukudome had an OPS of .809 and an OPS+ of 114. I'd say his 2010 was just fine. First round pick means he was a prospect with upside, LaHair never was so it takes longer for player of his stature to get a major shot at the bigs even if they put up good stats.

When evaluating talent, the gazillion dollars doesn't matter. If there is evidence to suggest that Soriano would have the better season you pick him. Going into 2010 it was more likely that Soriano, who had had an ops of over .850 every year since 2002 (aside from 2009, where at the time it was his first down year in a long time) than some guy who had some off an on good years in the minors at the time.

And, please, if your going to go snark on me, please have your go to stat be something other than batting average, thank you.

And all you are throwing at me is OPS! Fukudome had 44 RBIs and 45 runs! That's it! I mean, come on. That is not that good. Plus he had 3 years of the same before that.

Soriano, they knew, was basically worthless in 2010. He was never going to be the player he was in DC.

And for the love of god, you cannot tell me you bring up someone JUST because they are a first round pick. You just don't do that. When was he drafted? When he was 20? Brought up a few years later. OK. So who's potential was greater at that point, Colvin or LaHair?

And the Cubs do have bench spots. Bring him up and play him every 3rd day. I'll tell you one thing, I'd rather have a 27 yr old who has been raping in the minors rather than a career .260 hitter that is 33 going on 60.

And, sorry, I won't be snarky any longer.

 

[bcl20]

A couple of prospects, possibly even a bullpen guy that the Cubs desperately need. A left handed power hitter who hits for a decent average is a trade-able commodity. The Cubs are building for 2014, not 2012. I want to see the Cubs win a World Series some day not fool around with this season with the hopes of finishing in 3rd place. If you have something other teams want then get make a deal. In June Rizzo is going to be the first baseman, it would be stupid to keep him at Iowa where he is tearing the cover off the ball because you have a 29 year old rookie in his way. You are not going to put him in right field, he cannot play center, and Soriano is in his way in left. Basically you have from now until June to do something with him.

I'm not disagreeing with the trade him sentiment. This is the best he'll ever be, he's currently on pace to having a better year than Pujols ever had and that won't keep up. He's also 29 and his decline will likely start in a couple of years.

Basically any trade would be made with the other team knowing this and taking the risk that he'll be very productive for that couple of year (he's barely played the majors so who knows when he'll slump) because of that, it's hard for me to see him getting much in return. But it's tough because once Rizzo is up here, what do you do with him?

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

He's an unathletic first baseman that would play outfield at Wrigley. It's not hard to see why he would struggle, hell, he's struggled defensively at first base. If you're basing it off of errors (I'm not seeing anything on his minor league fielding stats) that doesn't mean much for an outfielder at all. If a dude can't get to a fly ball he should easily catch than that's not an error but he still sucks at fielding.

I doubt he would excel, but the only reason Soriano is decent at outfield is because they run on him every chance they get.

Also, didn't they get rid of Lee in 2010? When he was really struggling? That could have been a time to bring him up.

 

[DuffMan]

he's got 5-6 years of quality offensive production. in limited time he proved not to be a liability in the of, he might even be an upgrade over Soriano. id be shocked if lahair doesn't transition to a corner of spot next year.

 

[bcl20]

he's got 5-6 years of quality offensive production. in limited time he proved not to be a liability in the of, he might even be an upgrade over Soriano. id be shocked if lahair doesn't transition to a corner of spot next year.

Honestly, what is this based on?

 

[bcl20]

And all you are throwing at me is OPS! Fukudome had 44 RBIs and 45 runs! That's it! I mean, come on. That is not that good. Plus he had 3 years of the same before that.

Soriano, they knew, was basically worthless in 2010. He was never going to be the player he was in DC.

And for the love of god, you cannot tell me you bring up someone JUST because they are a first round pick. You just don't do that. When was he drafted? When he was 20? Brought up a few years later. OK. So who's potential was greater at that point, Colvin or LaHair?

And the Cubs do have bench spots. Bring him up and play him every 3rd day. I'll tell you one thing, I'd rather have a 27 yr old who has been raping in the minors rather than a career .260 hitter that is 33 going on 60.

And, sorry, I won't be snarky any longer.

Runs and RBI (honestly haven't looked at RBI in years) are a team dependent stat and don't really speak to a players worth. I'm not arguing that Fukudome was great but he was always a solid player with the Cubs, just not what was expected when signed.

Soriano was never going to be as good as he was with DC. His contract was horrible and that was an awful signing but he has had value with the Cubs.

Teams play prospects all the time based on the upside that the scout team feels, a lot of first rounders shoot up the minors because they were first rounders. It makes sense to me, even if they struggled, see what they have before trading them.

I agree though, if there was a time to try him out it was after the Lee trade, come to think of it, I don't remember why they didn't. Probably like Xavier Nady too much, or something weird. I'm going to end this though because I'm sounding like I'm defending Jim Hendry, gross.

 

[DuffMan]

Honestly, what is this based on?

Based on his limited time playing outfield.

 

[ssckelley]

I doubt he would excel, but the only reason Soriano is decent at outfield is because they run on him every chance they get.

Also, didn't they get rid of Lee in 2010? When he was really struggling? That could have been a time to bring him up.

I agree, LaHair was in the middle of a pretty good season at Iowa and was 27 years old at the time. Instead of putting Xavier Nady at first base they should have called up LaHair to see what he had.

Cubs were notorious for making stupid moves like this to please the fans and try to win now versus doing what is best for the team and its future. There are many examples of where the Cubs held on to their star players way past their prime instead of trading them or giving someone else a chance once it was obvious the season was tanking.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

Runs and RBI (honestly haven't looked at RBI in years) are a team dependent stat and don't really speak to a players worth. I'm not arguing that Fukudome was great but he was always a solid player with the Cubs, just not what was expected when signed.

Ok, then look at his 35 extra base hits all year. If you are going to look at OPS, at least look at OPS+, which takes into consideration the ballparks they play in and what not. There is not one single stat that you can judge a player on, but when you bat .260 for 3 straight years, I'm guessing you are a .260 batter. You aren't getting any better.