What do we do with Cust? ← FREE KRAUT!

What do we do with Cust? 47

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

47 thoughts on “What do we do with Cust?

  1. andeux Sep 22,2009 11:28 am

    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).

    TINSTAAFK
    • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 11:35 am || Up

      I’d basically agree with all that. I’d be open to throwing Powell into the mix more often at DH as well.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • nevermoor Sep 22,2009 11:57 am || Up

        Me too. Except I prefer to have Powell catch slightly more (which removes the need to DH him some).

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
        • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 12:15 pm || Up

          DH/C/1B — no reason he shouldn’t be able to get 300 PAs while minimizing the health impact.

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
          • nevermoor Sep 22,2009 12:52 pm || Up

            I seriously hope that Barton lays enough of a claim to 1B that Powell doesn’t really get ABs there.

            "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
          • mikeA Sep 22,2009 12:53 pm || Up

            I don’t see any particular reason to give him 300 PAs.

            • Leopold Bloom Sep 22,2009 1:54 pm || Up

              Wha? For why, my good man?

              • mikeA Sep 22,2009 2:10 pm || Up

                Most signs point to a mediocre bat.

                • Leopold Bloom Sep 22,2009 2:14 pm || Up

                  Are you, pray tell, a magic eight-ball?

                • Leopold Bloom Sep 22,2009 2:41 pm || Up

                  (Excitedly)

                  Should I leave Florida and trek west and camp outside MB’s house until he lets me in?!

                  (shakes Mike A’s head)

                • mikeA Sep 22,2009 2:46 pm || Up

                  wait a couple days until the heat wave passes.

                • Leopold Bloom Sep 22,2009 3:25 pm || Up

                  It’s like 90 here. With about 75% humidity.

    • mikeA Sep 22,2009 12:52 pm || Up

      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.

      • mk Sep 22,2009 5:44 pm || Up

        Carter and/or Wallace will probably get MLB playing time next year as well, no?

        • mikeA Sep 22,2009 6:44 pm || Up

          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.

          • mk Sep 22,2009 7:23 pm || 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.

      • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 5:46 pm || Up

        various iffyish players who may or may not be part of the plan after 2010 like … Powell?

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
        • mikeA Sep 22,2009 6:45 pm || Up

          Powell is decidedly not iffy as a backup C, or even as an injury-prone starting catcher.

          • nevermoor Sep 22,2009 6:55 pm || Up

            Is that an official position these days?

            "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  2. nevermoor Sep 22,2009 11:56 am

    That’s the brand/style of knife I registered for. They are awesome.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • sslinger Sep 22,2009 12:09 pm || Up

      You want to carry one of those concealed?

      • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 12:16 pm || Up

        … in his Chuck low-top.

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • nevermoor Sep 22,2009 12:53 pm || Up

        Nope. Just wanted to carry (and, perhaps brandish like a samurai sword). San Francisco has tough laws.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 12:14 pm || Up

      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.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • nevermoor Sep 22,2009 12:54 pm || Up

        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.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  3. mikeA Sep 22,2009 12:55 pm

    Barton missed last night’s game with a sore heel. He is the next Mcgwire!

  4. monkeyball Sep 22,2009 2:18 pm
    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • Poppy Sep 22,2009 2:41 pm || Up

      1) Is “hosting a Slovakian film crew” anywhere in the euphemism dictionary?
      2) I’m so tempted to buy that.

      There's a wild thing in the woolshed and it's keeping me awake at night.
  5. monkeyball Sep 22,2009 2:54 pm

    {snerk}

    New Ellis nickname: MOTU

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • Poppy Sep 22,2009 3:13 pm || Up

      …with phantom power!

      There's a wild thing in the woolshed and it's keeping me awake at night.
    • nevermoor Sep 22,2009 3:16 pm || Up

      What percentage of your day is surfing craigslist?

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 5:00 pm || Up

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 5:08 pm || Up
        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  6. monkeyball Sep 22,2009 4:39 pm

    Not especially impressive overall, but the line at 1:31 is great.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  7. monkeyball Sep 22,2009 4:48 pm
    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  8. sslinger Sep 22,2009 5:28 pm

    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.

    • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 5:41 pm || Up

      Beane should cryogenically freeze him, and thaw him out once MLB finally adopts robot strikezone umps.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • andeux Sep 22,2009 6:41 pm || Up

        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.

        TINSTAAFK
  9. monkeyball Sep 22,2009 5:46 pm

    Enjoyable rant from Slusser:

    Geren didn’t even rule Hairston out for tomorrow night, and I just don’t get it. Matt Carson and Travis Buck are here, along with Eric Patterson, who is in left tonight. Let those guys play, let Hairston get fully healthy. There is a week and a half left, the team is in last place, we’ve seen what Hairston can do, it’s nonsensical to run him out there when he isn’t 100 percent. He said, “Well, if I come in in five days and I feel fine….” What is the rush? Hairston has got a job for next season, or the team send three pitchers to San Diego for no reason. If he’s got a job, he’s got some value, and why risk a more significant problem?

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • andeux Sep 22,2009 6:21 pm || Up

      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.

      TINSTAAFK
  10. mikeA Sep 22,2009 7:21 pm

    George Zimmer looks exactly like the Dos Equis guy.

    • mk Sep 22,2009 7:36 pm || Up

    • FreeSeatUpgrade Sep 22,2009 7:38 pm || Up

      He wishes.

      And Travis Buck appears to again be trying the close-cropped Manson look, perhaps hoping we’ll think he’s someone else.

      "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
      • nevermoor Sep 22,2009 9:58 pm || Up

        In unrelated news, he’s an Athletic again.

        Perhaps it worked.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • monkeyball Sep 22,2009 10:43 pm || Up

        Did he carve “AAAA” into his own forehead?

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  11. Poppy Sep 23,2009 9:13 am

    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 …”

    There's a wild thing in the woolshed and it's keeping me awake at night.

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