Assuming he isn’t traded, of course… LaRoche’s breakthrough year came just as pretty much everyone was giving up on him. He looked just awful through April of last year, reaching his low point on May Day with a .195/.295/.442 line. Two weeks later he was at .221/.328/.451 when he lollygagged on his way to first base on a routine grounder, allowing Nick Johnson to beat him to the bag, sparking a Natspos rally that turned a close game to a blowout.
At about that time, LaRoche apparently started taking his ADD medication again. He also was shifted from fifth in the order to seventh (on May 9). He’d been hitting for power all year but was doing essentially nothing else, and at the end of a pretty decent May he was still mired at .239/.335/.497. On June 16th, Brian Jordan played his last game (ever, I devoutly hope) at first base for the Braves. LaRoche finally got to play every day, if only by default. At the end of June he was hitting .242/.323/.483. At the end of July, it was .268/.336/.533, LaRoche hitting .341/.372/.671 for the month. And in August, LaRoche was even better, .375/.464/.775.
Can he continue? I am generally suspicious of any chemically-aided improvement, whatever the chemical’s status is. That being said, I don’t know that the medication had any effect, and it’s not unusual for a player of LaRoche’s type to bust out a couple of years into his career. Baseball Prospectus ranked Tino Martinez as a similar player to LaRoche going into 2006, and Martinez broke out at just about the same point in his career. Mo Vaughn, who ranks as LaRoche’s most-similar player through Age 26 by Sim Scores, broke out at 25, in the third year of his career, then surged again at 26.
LaRoche had a pretty poor defensive year. As I remarked in last season’s comment, probably his biggest strength as a defensive player is as a receiver of throws, and the change from Furcal (strong arm, but erratic) to Renteria (The Rangeless Wonder, but steady) robbed that of most of its value… 0-4 career as a basestealer, but had his second career triple last year. Another reason to not move LaRoche up in the order (in addition to the lefty-lefty thing) is that you’d have two really slow guys back-to-back, clogging up the basepaths. Not that being on the basepaths ever came up much with the guy between them.
And he hit a clutch grand slam in the playoffs season before last.
When he hits a slam, we loose
I don’t see the logic in saying that taking ADD medication for a specifically diagnosed condition is a chemically-aided improvement. It was simply restoring him to a more “normal” condition. It’s not making him stronger than he ordinarily would be like steroids. It’s more like someone wearing glasses so they could see the ball better. I wouldn’t consider that to be mechanically-aided improvement.
LaRoche will probably have a pretty good career, but first base shouldn’t be a difficult position to fill if they could make a good trade–except for the Braves it has been.
It’s pretty obviously a chemical aid. I am of the belief that many people — including many drug addicts — are self-medicators. Many players at first get better when they start doing drugs regularly, and I’m not just talking about steroids but cocaine as well. And lots of players fell off a cliff when they stopped using coke. Now, LaRoche is presumably under a doctor’s supervision for this, but drugs are drugs.
Eric Campbell – Underrated:
Ten Prospects to Watch in 2007 — The Hardball Times
I have an Adam LaRoche homerun ball — he hit it two years ago off of John Lackey — that I caught and he later autographed for me. I’m a fan.
Eric Campbell will be in Atlanta at the start of the ’08 season playing second (anyone think THIS is the real reason we havent found a replacement for Giles yet?) or left field.
the guy can flat out rake it.
Also, not to put too fine a point on it, ADD medication IS speed. Yes, it’s medically prescribed speed, and it’s speed to restore a chemical imbalance, but a rose is a rose is a rose.
From the Wikipedia article on ADD:
Amphetamines and Dexedrine, yup. Antidepressants are also used (full disclosure: I had ADD and used to take both Ritalin and later antidepressants for it) but my understanding is that LaRoche takes Ritalin or another stimulant.
Maybe he hooked up Bonds:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2727325
Can Cambell play center field?
But, Mac, it seems to me there is a big difference between taking something to correct an abnormality and taking something to enhance your natural physical capabilities. Presumably, if LaRoche didn’t have ADD, he would not have suffered the symptons that might have hindered his performance. If that’s the case, there is no reason to think that his improvement is a one-time phenomenon; as I said before, it seems more akin to a hitter improving after putting on glasses or contacts to correct his vision. The effect is going to be long-lasting IF the vision problem is the reason for the lack of performance. Now, maybe there are other reasons LaRoche was struggling, but if his struggles were related to the ADD, I see no reason why his performance shouldn’t remain at a higher level as long as he stays on his medication. Whether the ADD medication can be called “speed” or not doesn’t change the fact that he needs it, not to enhance his natural physical ability, but to compensate for a condition that is inhibiting his natural physical ability.
Speaking of speed…
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/shared-gen/ap/General_Baseball_News/BBN_Bonds_Amphetamines.html
And what a teammate Bonds is. Good thing his locker wasn’t next to Adam LaRoche.
I doubt he has the arm to play in the OF. Otherwise they’d have him at SS. (I imagine….)
Marc, you’re playing definitional games. One could as easily argue that LaRoche’s “natural” physical ability is whatever his ability is in an unmedicated state. That all seems irrelevant to me … LaRoche’s use of prescription drugs for his condition should be applauded (assuming they are properly prescribed and used) and may have helped his performance last season. Great! Whether the drugs will continue to help, if they help, is another issue altogether — an issue, I assume, no one here is really qualified to opine on.
This is funny…
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2726797
What type of reasonable production could we receive if we traded LaRoche and installed Thor as the main man at 1st? I’d be happy with .275, 15-20, 50-65 rbi line out of him. Or something similar to what LaRoche had his first season.
I question whether Thorman can hit .260-.265.
But, Mac, it seems to me there is a big difference between taking something to correct an abnormality and taking something to enhance your natural physical capabilities.
What is that exact difference? As it is apparently “big” I assume it won’t be hard to name and define. Yet, I’ve thought about this somewhat thoroughly and I have not named it or defined it, personally. A guy is born with ADD/ADHD. That is his “natural” condition, by definition. He either plays through it or takes chemical supplements to change his body’s natural state. How is that categorically different from a guy taking HGH to improve his musculature? Is there some fundamental difference between either of those examples and a guy having Lasix eye surgery to medically improve his vision? Contacts? Glasses?
It seems to me, we draw arbitrary distinctions between acceptable technological enhancements to the body (Lasix, Ritalin) and unacceptable technological enhancements to the body (HGH, steroids.) I have yet to figure out where the obvious moral distinction lies, much less the pragmatic distinction.
s/
I take Zoloft to change my natural state. I don’t want simple things of music or movies I haven’t seen in a while making me cry. 😛
I would assume the difference is between legally diagnosed/ prescribed treatments and illegally obtained substances used with no diagnosis or legitimate medical supervision.
Off topic,
I just saw Children of Men with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore…it was great, I highly recommend it.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0206634/
I am not really a stat-junkie or anything, so my opinion is more based on feel, but I really like LaRoche and would hate to see him traded. Normally, I think it’s ok to trade a guy while his value is at a peak, but I really think LaRoche can keep his production up. I really think the meds are helping him, and I think they wil continue to help him. I watched that episode of Outside The Lines about his medications, and I thought it was pretty interesting. Wherever he plays, I expect him to be a big asset this season. Plus, he hits some of the prettiest home runs I’ve seen. Looks effortless.
I guess I’m prtetty naive about drugs and am very blessed not to have required any to function. My wife is the most active person I know, but she can’t pick up rake in the yard without Celebrex for her arthritis. At age 42!
I assumed Huckleberry’s quality of life was improved by his ADD medicine and was degraded if he didn’t. If that’s performance enhancement, there’s room in my philosophy for that.
Obviously, I can’t spell “pretty.”
But I still think Huck deserves a break here.
I just watched Gremlins 3….it was a pile…
Braves’ analysis:
http://www.rototimes.com/article.php?article_id=2884
Looks like LaRoche will be a Brave in 2007:
The Pirates finally are turning seriously toward options other than Atlanta’s Adam LaRoche for their coveted left-handed power bat, two sources said yesterday.
That does not mean LaRoche is out of their sights, the sources said. Rather, it is a sign that neither the Pirates nor Braves are budging much from their positions to make a trade and that, with spring training a month away, time is ticking for Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield to add what is seen as an essential piece.
“Pittsburgh still wants to make that trade,” one of the sources said. “But you wonder how long they can afford to wait.”
For most of this offseason, Littlefield has focused on LaRoche, the Braves’ 27-year-old first baseman who hit 32 home runs last season. He has done so to the point of telling agents who represent hitters through free agency that the Pirates will make no move until they know for certain if they can land LaRoche.
From accounts on both sides, the Pirates and Atlanta never have gotten as close to a deal as they did Dec. 6, when Braves general manager John Schuerholz backed away from a proposal to swap LaRoche for closer Mike Gonzalez.
Since then, the sides have exchanged other proposals, with Atlanta’s wish being Gonzalez plus another player, possibly center fielder Chris Duffy. The Pirates’ position on that, as one team official put it, was that “we’d be creating two holes to fill one.” The Braves also might entertain taking a starter for LaRoche, but the Pirates are highly reluctant to part with any of their top four: Zach Duke, Ian Snell, Paul Maholm and Tom Gorzelanny.
As someone inside the industry but outside either organization put it, “Doesn’t look like there’s a match.”
Another sign: Atlanta management this week has been telling all concerned that it is planning to go to spring training with its current roster, LaRoche included.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07012/753238-63.stm
@27
I’m am 100% ok with Roachy being a Brave. Unless we can still get Ray/Penn for him. 🙂
If we were able to do that, then maybe we could package Penn with say Escobar and try to get Baldelli to play left. Just a thought.
Me too, Jay. I’m way down with LaRitalin (sorry) manning the bag in ’07.
Same here. This is encouraging news. Of course, this probably means he’ll be dealt later today.
I think the important thing to keep in mind about Adam is that he is at the age now where he should be close to his peak, yet it was only about the middle of last season before he got to the point where everyone agreed we were happy with him.
I predict a similar season to 2006 for Adam in 2007, and hopefully 2008, but I’m afraid when he begins his decline phase, that it will be quick. In other words, his peak will be short.
Jeff K,
I pretty much agree with you that there is not that much of a “moral” difference between taking a drug to treat a condition and taking steroids to improve performance–except that the former is legal and the latter is a felony, which seems a pretty big point to me. And I guess it’s true that what is “natural” is whatever someone was born with. But what I was getting at was Mac’s statement that he was suspicious of chemically-aided performance improvements and it seems to me that taking medication to treat a condition (essentially restoring oneself to “normality”) is different than taking steroids–although assuming steroids were legal, it’s not clear to me why the improved performance wouldn’t be permanent. If you took some medication that, say, improved your hand-eye coordination, but the effect weakened over time, that would be one thing. But LaRoche’s improved ability to focus (if that is actually what caused his improvement) is going to remain as long as he takes the medication. And, frankly, you can say the same about steroids–the guy will be bigger and stronger at least until the guy’s testicles shrink and he commits suicide or something. Legal or illegal, the effect will not be temporary. The point is, I don’t see any reason to think that LaRoche’s improved performance, to the extent that it was “caused” by the ADD medication, would change unless the medication’s effect weakens.