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#Cubs select contracts of 4 to add to 40-man roster: RHP Trey McNutt, IF Christian Villanueva, IF Logan Watkins & RHP Robert Whitenack

Bryan LaHair designated for assignment. #Cubs say they are pursuing opportunity for him in Japan.

Also, RHP Carlos Gutierrez cleared waivers & assigned to Minor Leagues. #Cubs

Man, it woulda been great to trade him when he carried value over the summer instead of sending him to Japan.

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formerly known as PriorPower

Penn State Class of 2010

Still can't believe he doesn't have some value as a platoon DH/1B.

TT's gonna need a change of pants.

Writer at obstructed view really seems to like Watkins. Thinks he's the 2B of the future core.

I can, mostly because he's not good

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"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game."
- Jacques Barzun

Lefties weren't what kept his OPS below .660 for a 5 month stretch.

He clearly didn't have any value, otherwise I'm sure they would have traded him.

I'm thinking that some AL teams would be willing to take fliers out on LaHair on a minor league contract, or even a big league deal at around a mil, but Japanese teams seem to highly covet Bryan LaHairs, so the opportunity could be a more attractive one.

I'm more interested in the Struck snubbing. Casey Coleman's had 3 years to prove that he's horrible. Should have set him free and given Struck an opportunity to prove whether or not he is. This being said, there's only so much sleep to be lost over a potential 4-5 starter. If it came down to Struck vs. Whitenack, they made the right choice.

Also, isn't Peralta Rule 5 eligible? There's a guy I'd hate to see someone pick and stash at the end of their pen for the season.

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Chicago Club has gone back on us. Please Send Expenses. Am Broke

40-man roster is at 40.

He never had any value.

Sadly, this is the only bit of Cubs-related good news we've had in a while.

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worst all-star ever

Joe Girardi's phone just rang and he answered it. He didn't have any plans this weekend.

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Team Theo.

Obviously nobody's going to give up a top prospect for LaHair, but I still think some ML team could find a spot for him as a platoon DH/1B.

LaHair vs. RHP - .291/.362/.503/.865
Soriano vs LHP - .260/.342/.489/.831
Rizzo vs RHP - .318/.383/.508/.892
Dunn vs RHP - .211/.348/.469/.817
Chris Davis vs RHP - .271/.333/.502/.836
Doumit vs RHP - .288/.335/.488/.823

These are examples of batters who much better facing one type of pitcher over the other.

How many players made the all star team and then DFA'd all in the same season/offseason.

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If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, set it on fire.

LaHair signing a contract to play in Japan would beg to differ.

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The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn't exist.

I think he might just prefer making more money and playing everyday in Japan. How do Japanese salaries compare to MLB?

@BleacherNation: Good for all sides. RT @sahadevsharma
Hearing LaHair to Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks is a done deal. Cubs reportedly got $950k in the deal.

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Chicago Club has gone back on us. Please Send Expenses. Am Broke

No clue what kind of money LaHair may make over there, but its pretty telling we're sending him to Japan for 950k. That basically means theres not a single team in MLB would even give a top 30ish type prospect for him. That would mean more to the org than a tad under a million bucks. I'll totally admit I had his value pegged wrongly. In the end, teams evidently see him as another Jake Fox type and nothing more.

They might have just been doing him a favor and letting him make some money and actually play over there.

That said, you're probably right.

For reference, Jake Fox, whose situation you mention transpired in 2009, is several months younger than Lahair.

I think this is what happened. Theo is the one who apparently talked him out of going to Japan last year, so he probably felt like he owed him a shot to make millions of dollars, which would not have happened for a long time in the United States. I bet there would've been a deal out there, but the return would've been uninspiring, so Theo chose to help a guy out.

LaHair is 30 years old, can only play 1B, and was awful at the plate once pitchers had a couple weeks of tape on him. Maybe the FO chose to sell him to Japan instead of trading him for a minor leaguer, but that minor leaguer would have been no one of consequence(read: not top 30 or Top 50). He didn't have any value.

Yeah, our FO has no allegiance to him. If we could have gotten something meaningful for him, we would have. If he was going to net us the equivalent of Eric Jokisch, then helping the guy out instead prevails.

Christ, this isn't sending the family dog to go live on grandma's farm or something. Well, maybe it is, since that story was always bull [expletive] and it means the beast was mercifully being put down.

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