Even if not for the presence of Anthony Rizzo locking down first base, it was always pretty clear that if Dan Vogelbach were going to make a contribution to the Chicago Cubs, it would have to be through some atypical route. A big, big lefty with tons of offensive potential, very few thought Voglebach could be more than a well-below-average defensive first baseman, and many thought he was the rare minor league prospect who flat out could *only* become a DH in the future.
So, for the Cubs, that meant he either would become a pure bench bat – pretty hard to actually carry, let alone develop – or a trade piece. We knew it for years. It became a running joke around these parts to measure trades in how many Vogelbachs it would cost. That’s how certain everyone was that, eventually, he’d be traded.
Which, of course, he was in 2016 as part of the deal for Mike Montgomery. That deal, in turn, helped the Cubs win a World Series. Montgomery, himself, was later traded for Martin Maldonado, who was later traded for Tony Kemp, who was this offseason traded for first base prospect Alfonso Rivas. Ah, the trade tree.
Circling back to Vogelbach. The now 27-year-old got a chance to be the Mariners’ full-time DH last year, and although he put up good numbers – .208/.341/.439, 111 wRC+ – those numbers weren’t great for a dedicated DH, and as you can surmise from the slash line and his body type, he basically HAS to hit for enormous power and take a TON of walks in order to produce at even a league-average level, because he’s not gonna net a lot of hits. If you can’t unlock another level of power from him, then the value is extremely limited. Oh, also, he absolutely cannot hit lefties. Oh, also, his numbers have actually been terrible going all the way back to May of last year.
I mention all of this because Vogelbach has been DFA’d by the Mariners, and because of the name and the history, that means a lot of Cubs fans want to dream on bringing him back to the Cubs organization. After all, there is a DH spot now!
Well, I tend to think that even if you could get past his brutal start to this year (let’s say it’s a small sample fluke), you’re talking about using a roster spot on a guy who can literally only DH against righties. That’s it. For as unproductive as they’ve been, at least guys like Albert Almora and Josh Phegley give the Cubs flexibility in other ways.
Heck, if the Cubs wanted a lefty bat to crush righties, they could’ve just kept Derek Dietrich, who can also play defense in several positions. (Yeah, I mean, separately: they really shoulda kept Dietrich.)
If Vogelbach were a guy who could mash lefties, then maybe the Cubs would take a brief flyer, given the absence of Steven Souza, Jr., the struggles of Phegley, and the concerns about Ian Happ and Victor Caratini from the right-handed side. But adding another lefty, who can only hit righties, to the DH mix? It seems pretty unlikely to me.
Still fun to watch when the big rowdy boy does stuff like this, though, and I hope he finds a job somewhere:
Daniel Vogelbach – Seattle Mariners (2) 2-run
Distance: 441 ft
Exit Velocity: 108.1 mph
Launch Angle: 27°
pic.twitter.com/EW4IiVz7xO— MLB Home Runs (@HomeRunVideos) August 14, 2020