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Remember my take on Langerhans?  In summary, I said ... "nice bat, WILDLY inconsistent."
Great job in pegging LaRoche as an Ibanez clone "in the aggregate".  The problem with LaRoche is that he makes DC politicians look consistent by comparison.
In truth, I hadn't followed him much after he left Atlanta, but that was my impression of him in Atlanta.  So, I (of course), went to examine his more recent split charts.
For his career, he pegs as a slow starter: .773 first half, .909 second.  But it's such a BIZARRE split - because it's driven almost exclusively by a .289 to .342 BABIP difference.  That's with over 1400 PAs from each side.  ?!?!
The truth is, there is likely not a more Jeckyll/Hyde player in baseball at the moment.  On a given day he is EITHER Adam Dunn or Richie Sexson, (the bad one).  Take a look at his 2009 monthlies:
April .916
May .650
June .983
July .502
Aug. 1092
Sept. .844
For more detail -- in June he had a 15/18 BB/K split.  In July, 2/20. 
Oddly enough, my memory said he was wildly inconsistent.  But, the last SEASON where he didn't post a .500-something OPS for at least one month was 2006, (his last season with the Braves, before returning in late 2009).
This does NOT mean I'm saying he is to be avoided.  I'm saying that the fact that he looks, in the aggregate similar to Ibanez does not mean they are going to "feel" remotely similar.  Ibanez seemed to be almost a machine with his consistency.  His slumps were rare, and his hot spells, (outside of Philly in 2009), were solid, but not earth-shattering. 
LaRoche is *THE* master of inconsistency.  Spin the wheel of destiny each month to see if you get Dunn or Ronnie Cedeno.  THAT is the LaRoche Experience.