Regarding the Jack Cust Interest

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 17, 2009 5:29 PM EST Comment 44 comments

Jerry Crasnick reported this nugget earlier:

The Rays have expressed some interest in Cust, but probably can't make a move until they trade Pat Burrell.

You can sum this interest up in two points:

1) Due diligence.

2) Making the Cubs nervous.

Cust is defenseless, slow, and on the wrong side of 30 for someone with old player skills. For whatever reason, his power absolutely faded in 2009 and combined with an increase in price tag and a number of similar options, the A's felt Cust was no longer worthy of tendering arbitration. All told, he's not a horrible option at DH if the Rays have a non-Cubs taker for Burrell and simply dump the one year left on the contract. Cust is certainly going to make fewer dollars in 2010 and barring a collapse should be an above average hitter.

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Allow me to rosterbate...

If trading Burrell to a non-cub team free’s up space for Cust, and say Escobar, then by all means do it. I think we need some fake Burrell to Giants rumors to help Mr. Hendry make up his mind on how much he’s willing to eat on Bradley’s deal.

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by Tommy Rancel on Dec 17, 2009 5:34 PM EST via mobile reply actions

My sources just sent me this little nugget

There is a mystery team in the NL showing interest in Pat Burrell

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 17, 2009 5:37 PM EST up reply actions

Cust?

Rather hear that they are interested in Vlad for RF/DH

by Blue or CONKZILLA on Dec 17, 2009 6:15 PM EST reply actions

Vlad's not a right fielder.

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 17, 2009 6:25 PM EST up reply actions

Really?

He’s played most of his career there. I know his knees are bad, that’s why I also said DH. Losing about 25 lbs, probably would help him.

by Blue or CONKZILLA on Dec 17, 2009 11:24 PM EST up reply actions

He was basically a -10 defender from 06-08 out there and his knees have gotten worse.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Dec 17, 2009 11:29 PM EST up reply actions

Even as a DH

he would be better than either Burrell or Bradley. At this point he might even cost less.

by Blue or CONKZILLA on Dec 18, 2009 6:03 AM EST up reply actions

I disagree.

by rglass44 on Dec 18, 2009 9:22 AM EST up reply actions

I can stand in right field too. That doesn't make me a right fielder in the sense that teams should pay me to play there.

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 18, 2009 12:42 AM EST up reply actions

I played SS for a game.

WEEEEE

by SRQman on Dec 18, 2009 1:03 AM EST up reply actions

If anyone was ever built to play catcher....

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Dec 18, 2009 12:26 PM EST up reply actions

I would rather have the follow players rather than Mr. Cust...

Garret Anderson, Rick Ankiel, Garrett Atkins, Rocco Baldelli, Aaron Boone, Hank Blalock, Russell Branyan, Coco Crisp, Johnny Damon, Ryan Garko, Eric Hinske, Austin Kearns, Chad Tracy, Randy Winn, and Dmitri Young…

Blah!

by thebaddancingraysfan on Dec 17, 2009 6:30 PM EST reply actions

I like Blalock as a platoon player

Aaron Boone? That’s funny

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 17, 2009 6:31 PM EST up reply actions

Why?

It can’t be strikeouts if you’re listing Branyan.

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 17, 2009 6:49 PM EST up reply actions

you'd be better off with sonnanstine than 1/2 the players you listed

Dmitri Young doesn’t even want Dmitri Young.

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by Tommy Rancel on Dec 17, 2009 6:50 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

I never said I liked HALF of the players

I just said I would have the following players then Cust. I think Cust is a VERY stupid idea. give the at bats to willy aybar or Ben Zobrist, and keep the DH spot open for someone the Rays might pick up in late July.

Who knows maybe Burrell wakes up and realizes, “oh no, I just sucked for a whole season.” Who knows maybe we’ll get lucky.

Blah!

by thebaddancingraysfan on Dec 17, 2009 9:35 PM EST up reply actions

I don't understand the hatred for Cust.

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 17, 2009 10:42 PM EST up reply actions

Me either.

by rglass44 on Dec 18, 2009 9:22 AM EST up reply actions

Guy would ball as a Yankee.

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by PlayOnWords on Dec 17, 2009 6:49 PM EST via mobile reply actions

All they have to do is find all the lefties on this list

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=2&season=2009&month=0

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 17, 2009 7:31 PM EST up reply actions

Don't even need those.

You could sort it by lefties that hit the most fly-balls.

by rglass44 on Dec 18, 2009 9:24 AM EST up reply actions

You can't sort by handedness

That is sorted by fly ball percentage

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 18, 2009 9:39 AM EST up reply actions

Well it was, and that was my point

Thanks a lot Fangraphs.

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 18, 2009 9:39 AM EST up reply actions

Oh.

It was HR/FB rate when I clicked on it.

by rglass44 on Dec 18, 2009 10:22 AM EST up reply actions

Yeah I didn't realize the link didn't save my filter parameter, glad we're on the same page

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 18, 2009 11:00 AM EST up reply actions

I rather trade Burrell to dump salary

Sign Gomes and Escobar and move forward.

by raysrule44 on Dec 17, 2009 8:22 PM EST reply actions

In for Cust/Gomes TTO DH-platoon.

by twenty5psi on Dec 17, 2009 8:24 PM EST up reply actions

So two guys that can't play the field

Sounds like P Brady and SRQ

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 17, 2009 9:40 PM EST up reply actions

DH Platoon with 2 guys who can't field is a waste of money

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Dec 18, 2009 12:27 PM EST up reply actions

And a roster spot.

by rglass44 on Dec 18, 2009 12:36 PM EST up reply actions

you had me at dump Burrell

but I would want to sign Kelvim Escobar and use the DH slot to split Zobrist, Joyce, Puffy and Brignac all over the place.

Sounded dirtier than I wanted.

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by joeybw on Dec 17, 2009 8:33 PM EST up reply actions

No DH split

especially with the young players you mentioned. Love to see Brignac get 300 AB’s in 2010 but probably won’t happen unless someone gets hurt or if Maddon has had it with Burrell and chooses between Aybar, Brignac, Kapler (NO) and Rodriquez as DH later in the season.

by rickrays on Dec 17, 2009 8:53 PM EST up reply actions

Whats wrong with Kapler DH'ing against lefties sometimes?

Over the last three years he has a .957OPS versus lefties and ~.400wOBA

His 09’ BABIP looks pretty unlucky too.

by twenty5psi on Dec 17, 2009 9:35 PM EST up reply actions

With Zobie in RF and Sean Rod at 2B?

I could come around to this idea.

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 17, 2009 9:43 PM EST up reply actions

makes sense

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by raysfan81 on Dec 17, 2009 9:52 PM EST up reply actions

Jack Cust, Kelly Shoppach?

Are the Rays trying to shatter the MLB team K total this year?

by sternfan1 on Dec 17, 2009 9:54 PM EST reply actions

You forgot to mention Longoria, Upton, Pena, and Sean Rodriguez

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 17, 2009 10:33 PM EST up reply actions

Oh and Burrell since he is clearly going nowhere

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 17, 2009 10:33 PM EST up reply actions

It's clearly the new market inefficiency.

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by Tommy Rancel on Dec 17, 2009 10:44 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

We wouldn't ground into very many double plays.

Outs are bad, doesn’t matter what form they are in.

I wonder if there is any correlation between a high-K rate team and offensive variance(hot/cold streaks).

by twenty5psi on Dec 17, 2009 11:44 PM EST up reply actions

Man on 3B, less than 2 out

by sternfan1 on Dec 18, 2009 11:11 AM EST up reply actions

So 5.7% of the time it sucks, that's the number of opportunities/total PA over MLB in 2009

MLB struck out at a 15.8% clip in those scenarios. The Rays were slightly higher in both at 6.3% of all PA were in that situation, while they struck out in that situation 18.8% of the time. As a team, the Rays struck out 19.7% of their PA’s on the year. It seems they were doing a better job in that situation than normal.

I'm a writer.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 18, 2009 11:46 AM EST up reply actions

Getting back to Kapler to DH if Burrell poops out

Gabe had one amazing month in June but other than that not much from him. The obvious choice on the roster is Aybar to take over for Burrell. Mixing say a Rodriquez and Brignac might sound good stat wise but not good if your goal is to develop them into everyday players. I’m a big Brignac fan and have faith the Rays will get him into games in 2010 like the way Zobrist got into play in 2008.

by rickrays on Dec 17, 2009 11:56 PM EST reply actions