Chicago Cubs: The case for signing free agent Chris Coghlan

Here’s a crazy idea. The Chicago Cubs should sign free agent Chris Coghlan. I’m serious.

Chris Coghlan and the Chicago Cubs are a match made in Heaven. Before you mock me, just hear me out. It makes some sense. And it would come with relatively no risk on Chicago’s end. Just give him a one-year minor league deal. If he performs well enough, bring him up for added outfield depth on the cheap.

Here’s my best pitch. Two words: front flips.

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The man does front flips over Yadier Molina. What more could you possibly want? On a more serious note, there seems to be something about the Cubs that made Coghlan play at a higher level.

Whether it was coaching or the environment is anyone’s guess. But the fact remains, he played well on the North Side.

Struggled most years, except in Chicago

His best season in the majors was his rookie year with the Marlins. In fact, he won the NL Rookie of the Year of Award in 2009. But the years after weren’t pretty. Leaving out his rookie season, he slashed .242/.307/.352 with just 12 home runs from 2010 to 2013 in Florida.

Then he went to the Cubs for two years. In 273 games with Chicago, he posted a slash line of .265/.346/.447 to go along with 25 home runs. He improved in just about every category after joining the team.

Coghlan was then traded to the Oakland Athletics before the 2016 season began. With the A’s, he slashed .146/.215/.272 in 51 games. Needless to say, Oakland pulled the plug on that experiment. The Cubs found themselves in need of another outfielder at that point, though, and they got him back. Once he was in a Cubs uniform, he started playing well again, getting on base at a .391 clip in 48 games.

The 32-year-old started the 2017 season with the Toronto Blue Jays. That’s when he pulled off that fantastic airborne play at home plate, but otherwise, he had an awful season.

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We’re less than a month away from the regular season, and Coghlan remains unsigned. The Cubs have nothing to lose. Think about the front flips.