Extend him? Offer him arb? Cut him loose? If we keep him, do we consider the DH role filled, or do we platoon him? Do we even consider letting him get more than a spot/emergency start in the OF?
you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
If I were more of a tea-leaf reader, I might think that all of the recent articles on the subject were a prelude to a non-tender.
My vote (do I get a vote?) would be keep him around for another year with an arbitration offer as essentially a full-time DH. In practice, I’m sure he’d still play a little OF, and also might sit a fair amount against left-handed starters. But DO NOT get another DH type as a platoon partner. I like having one lead-gloved slugger around as a DH (Durazo, Thomas, Cust), but using multiple roster spots on players like that is a waste, especially when they don’t actually slug (Piazza, Sweeney, Giambi, Nomar).
I’d basically agree with all that. I’d be open to throwing Powell into the mix more often at DH as well.
Me too. Except I prefer to have Powell catch slightly more (which removes the need to DH him some).
DH/C/1B — no reason he shouldn’t be able to get 300 PAs while minimizing the health impact.
I seriously hope that Barton lays enough of a claim to 1B that Powell doesn’t really get ABs there.
I don’t see any particular reason to give him 300 PAs.
Wha? For why, my good man?
Most signs point to a mediocre bat.
Are you, pray tell, a magic eight-ball?
yes.
(Excitedly)
Should I leave Florida and trek west and camp outside MB’s house until he lets me in?!
(shakes Mike A’s head)
wait a couple days until the heat wave passes.
It’s like 90 here. With about 75% humidity.
Non-tendering him might make a certain amount of sense with the goal of “seeing what they have” with various iffyish players who may or may not be part of the plan after 2010 like Sweeney, Buck, Rajai, Cunningham, Barton, maybe more of Patterson… It would definitely project to hurt the team next year, though, and I’d be surprised if they non-tendered him.
Carter and/or Wallace will probably get MLB playing time next year as well, no?
Wallace will probably not be in the 1B/DH mix next year unless they sign a 3B or trade Barton or Barton gets hurt.
I mentioned the above guys in the “see what they have” group, because both Carter and Wallace are very likely to be in 2011-forward mix, and the performance of the guys I listed will determine where on the field they end up.
Right. I just meant that if Carter (and possibly Wallace, depending on the position he’s playing), forces his way up, that further squeezes Cust.
various iffyish players who may or may not be part of the plan after 2010 like … Powell?
Powell is decidedly not iffy as a backup C, or even as an injury-prone starting catcher.
Is that an official position these days?
That’s the brand/style of knife I registered for. They are awesome.
You want to carry one of those concealed?
… in his Chuck low-top.
Nope. Just wanted to carry (and, perhaps brandish like a samurai sword). San Francisco has tough laws.
I got me a Wusthof Grand Prix Mark II for $20 OOP — in-laws gave me a Williams-Sonoma gift certificate for my bday, and W-S had a crazy online clearance on the 6″ chef knife.
We’ll need to do the post-wedding Gift Certificate/Return cash-in one of these weekends. I think it’s the closest I’ll ever get to the “shopping spree” cliche.
Barton missed last night’s game with a sore heel. He is the next Mcgwire!
I hosted a slovakian film crew whose project’s funding ran out…so they left me with some equipment instead of the money they were planning to give me
1) Is “hosting a Slovakian film crew” anywhere in the euphemism dictionary?
2) I’m so tempted to buy that.
{snerk}
New Ellis nickname: MOTU
…with phantom power!
What percentage of your day is surfing craigslist?
The perfect gift for mikeA
Not especially impressive overall, but the line at 1:31 is great.
Goodman introduces his espn-esque Power Rankings!
I can’t get excited about Cust either way. He remains one of our few power threats, though his production in Aug/Sep has been pretty pathetic. I am getting tired of that look, the one that says “I can’t believe he called that a strike! Doesn’t he know I know the strike zone better than he does?” If he stays, fine, if they let him go I won’t really miss him.
Beane should cryogenically freeze him, and thaw him out once MLB finally adopts robot strikezone umps.
To me, maybe the most interesting finding from all the PitchFX analysis is the fact that the size and shape of the called strike zone are different for LHB and RHB, with lefties taking more called strikes on pitches off the plate on the outside. Cust seems to get rung up on that pitch quite a bit.
Enjoyable rant from Slusser:
I generally like Slusser, but (as I think I’ve mentioned before) it seems like her (and Urban’s) complaints about Geren this year have less to do with the decisions he makes than with his failure to feed inside information explaining those decisions to the beat reporters.
George Zimmer looks exactly like the Dos Equis guy.
He wishes.
And Travis Buck appears to again be trying the close-cropped Manson look, perhaps hoping we’ll think he’s someone else.
In unrelated news, he’s an Athletic again.
Perhaps it worked.
Did he carve “AAAA” into his own forehead?
I’m fine if Jack Cust stays, I’m fine if Jack Cust goes… but if he stays, PLEASE make the RF bleacherfolk work out a different beat for him. I’m so sick of that inane, irritating “cust-cust-cust … jaaaaaack cust-cust-cust … jaaaaaack cust-cust-cust …”