What happened to Chris Coghlan?

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I've always been a fan of Chris Coghlan, he sort of burst onto the scene of the MLB and then he quietly slipped out of the limelight,

It didn't seem that long ago that Chris Coghlan was named the Rookie of The Year. It was the time that the Phillies were already World Champions and for the season that Coghlan won, 2009, the Phillies were already stocked with a deep lineup that would return to the World Series in that year against the Yankees.

Coghlan looked on paper like he was going to be the next big player in baseball. Everytime the Marlins visited Philadelphia, it seemed like Chris Coghlan was really making things happen on the field for a Marlins team that really wasn't a competitive team. (They did finish 2nd in the NL East in '09 though).

After the 2009 season, Coghlan leveled off and floated back to earth. His numbers that he produced in the season that he was voted on for being the best, just weren't there. He apparently injured his knee delivering a pie in the face after a Marlins walk off win in 2010 in July. He only played for the Marlins sparingly in the 2011,2012, and 2013 seasons.

Chris signed with the Cubs for the 2014 and 2015 season as a Free Agent, for $7.3M, he looked to be part of the Cubs rebuild and it seemed like he was back to great health in the first year of the contract, putting up 9 HR and 41 RBI in 125 games for that season. For the '15 season, he put up 16 HR and 41 RBI in 148 games with the Cubs but by this time, the Cubs had gone out and really picked up some missing pieces to their ballclub, and the Cubs traded him off in February (after awarding him $4.8M in Jan. of '16) before last season started to the Oakland A's. The A's then sent him back to the Cubs in June of last year to finish up the season with the Cubs. He was on the roster in the playoffs and World Series but didn't get much action, he had 19 AB and struck out 7 times and produced an .053 BA, had he done much better in the playoffs, I think his name wouldn't be on a Phillies uniform in 2017, his stock would have risen.

The Phillies signed Coghlan to a minor-league deal with a chance at a bench position with the team. Coghlan is still fairly young at 31 years old, and if he impresses coaching in Spring Training, the Phillies may have an issue as they appear over stocked in the outfield department as far as a 25-man roster is concerned.

Of the players that the Phillies have picked up this off-season, I think Coghlan has a lot of potential for this team. He's not a franchise player but he's a good spark plug and a positive force.


Coghlan's numbers:

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	Awards
2009	24	FLA	128	565	504	84	162	31	6	9	47	MVP-28,RoY-1
2010	25	FLA	91	400	358	60	96	20	3	5	28
2011	26	FLA	65	298	269	33	62	20	1	5	22
2012	27	MIA	39	105	93	10	13	1	0	1	10
2013	28	MIA	70	214	195	10	50	10	3	1	10
2014	29	CHC	125	432	385	50	109	28	5	9	41
2015	30	CHC	148	503	440	64	110	25	6	16	41
2016	31	TOT	99	300	261	35	49	12	2	6	30
2016	31	OAK	51	172	158	14	23	5	0	5	14
2016	31	CHC	48	128	103	21	26	7	2	1	16
8 Yrs			765	2817	2505	346	651	147	26	52	229
162 Game Avg.			162	597	530	73	138	31	6	11	48
MIA (5 yrs)			393	1582	1419	197	383	82	13	21	117
CHC (3 yrs)			321	1063	928	135	245	60	13	26	98
OAK (1 yr)			51	172	158	14	23	5	0	5	14
NL (8 yrs)			714	2645	2347	332	628	142	26	47	215
AL (1 yr)			51	172	158	14	23	5	0	5	14

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/6/2017.