FEB. 7: Coghlan’s contract comes with a $3MM major league salary and $1MM in incentives, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman.
FEB. 2: The Phillies and utilityman Chris Coghlan have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Todd Zolecki of MLB.com (Twitter link). The deal includes an invitation to spring training.
[RELATED: Updated Phillies Depth Chart]
Coghlan is settling for a minors pact on account of a subpar 2016 spent between the Athletics and Cubs, with whom he won the World Series. The 31-year-old hit a meager .188/.290/.318 across 300 plate appearances (and went hitless in eight postseason PAs), which represented a sharp decline from his output with the Cubs from 2014-15. Coghlan combined for a quality batting line of .265/.346/.447 and 5.7 fWAR over that two-year, 935-PA stretch.
Prior to his first of two stints with the Cubs, Coghlan spent the initial five years of his career as a member of the Marlins, who selected him in the first round of the 2006 draft. The lefty-swinging Coghlan won the National League Rookie of the Year with the Fish in 2009 on the strength of a .321/.390/.460 showing in 565 trips to the plate, though he never came close to replicating that success over his final four years in Miami.
Defensively, Coghlan has primarily been an outfielder during his career – mostly left field – but he does bring some infield experience. Despite his versatility, he’ll seemingly face an uphill climb in securing playing time with the Phillies. While Coghlan’s a more established option than reserve outfielders Aaron Altherr and Tyler Goeddel, the team is all set in center field with Odubel Herrera, and it has added a pair of somewhat pricey corner outfielders this offseason in Howie Kendrick and Michael Saunders. Philadelphia also has Maikel Franco and Cesar Hernandez locked in at third and second base, the two infield spots where Coghlan has most frequently lined up, and Andres Blanco as a backup infielder.
Possible lh bat with position versatility for the bench.
Didn’t work in Beane’s town. Sorry!
Philly ain’t Oakland.right now our lh bench bat possibilities are him,Nava and Stassi.his career 268 average in the nl could definitely be useful on Phillys bench.
Worked out fine for him in Chicago…
I expect him to be back in the Cubs by June.
Lol. I’d rather have sam fuld. If he does return to the cubs it could be Jon Jay for coghlan. I don’t think he will return. They already have a cluster**** of outfielders. Why add more?
It was a joke …
Okay that’s great but I was serious I’d take sam fuld over coghlan all day.
I like it
No
Good depth move. Can’t argue with this.
A who cares move. Organizational depth
Jays should have signed him and brought him to camp. If Pompey is unable to win the job in the spring a Coghlan / Upton platoon would look reasonable according to historical splits.
Ya I think so as well. Almost every jays fan is staring at the left-handed side of the outfield platoon in LF trying to figure out why it hasn’t been addressed.
good now i can boo him in person.
i’ll take it.
This is fine
(Since 2010)
Coghlan’s WAR with Cubs: 5
Caghlan’s WAR rest of MLB: -5
I didn’t know Coghlan won ROY in 2009, TMYK!
They only mentioned it a thousand times in Cubs broadcasts when he first signed with them.
He places 1b too.
Good sign for the Phillies as long as long as last season wasn’t a sign of anything.
You have to look at last season in 2 different parts.he struggled badly in Oakland,and then hit better after he went back to Chicago.
You got to figure Coghlan was severely bummed to be traded to Oakland (where the sewage backs up in O.co.) when the Cubs pulled Dexter’s surprise return in spring training. Even though he got more playing time, most of it was in the infield where he is truly challenged defensively.
What happened after he won ROY, why did Marlins give him less playing time.
Because he’s not that good.
Chris Coghlan would be better served on a contending team as a platoon option or 4th outfielder. He has some defensive versatility as an OF and can also play 2B, 3B and 1B in a pinch. On offense, Coghlan possesses some left-handed pop, can steal a base and is not afraid to draw a walk or get hit by a pitch in order to reach base. In short, a winning type “grunt” useful for a team with postseason ambitions.
Good
Being a Cardinals fan, if they enter the season with Tommy Pham as the only backup OF with experience I’m gonna be pissed. I was really hoping they’d get coghlan to fill that 5th OF role