Random Links

Some random thoughts and links...

• Jacob Jackson has an absorbing article up over at The Hardball Times. Jackson tries to find the next Jack Cust in the minor leagues.  Cust is a fascinating story this year.
• I don't know how one gazes in awe at a radio show - but I will be appearing on Sportszilla Live this Sunday evening.
• I agree with Fire Joe Morgan - come on.
• Random thought: I love when a baseball TV broadcast accidentally picks up something a player says.  I just heard Jeff Kent curse at an umpire in Toronto.  By the way, why did I wait so long to sign up for MLB.TV?
• Cool idea over at Baseball Prospectus - Will Carroll is soliciting for the best realistic trade offers from BP readers.

Comments

[SoxWin]

How is Cust a fascinating story this year? He got hot for about 10 or so games and has been garbage since. A guy getting lucky doesn't qualify as fascinating to me.

[RotoAuthority]

I don't know about that...he is hitting .333/.424/.529 in June. The fact that a player so widely ignored could post a .900+ OPS in the Majors is fascinating to me.

[Zonis]

He's heating up again, getting homeruns, doubles and hitting breakingballs!

[schellis]

What I find amazing is that no team could open a DH slot to give Cust a chance. If memory serves he's always hit AAA pitching well.

[purduerowdie]

steve phillips is an idiot. whatever he says, if you think the opposite you're probably right.

[darkstar1661]

Roto,

Two things...
What do you have as far of a list of similar players who came into their own overnight like this? I can think of Marty Cordova in 2001 but that was more of a rebound type thing for him. Also thinking maybe Matt Stairs with Oakland about 96 or so, and he actually ended up sticking for a while, but I'm not sure about his history before just kinds showing up overnight.

Also, not really that news worthy but Roberto Hernandez was released by Cleveland today. Puts on more reliever on the market for nothing really and if in the NL he might be able to help a bit (he was afterall ok last year in NY)

[gatling]

Darkstar1661, Stairs is a good example I think. He had three good years in AAA without getting a shot, then he has three excellent years with the A's, followed by 3 very good years as a bench player/platoon man in the NL, and then basically 2 league average years in KC. That's a nice 8 year run for a guy who didn't get his shot until age 28 or 29. Oakland actually seems to be in the business of developing these type players, as before Matt Stairs there was Geronimo Berroa. He came in and had a solid run in 1994, then had a good year in 1995 and a great 1996 season, followed by a very good first half of 1997 before he was dealt to Baltimore. He pretty well fell apart after that at age 32, but he had a nice three-four year run there.

[Droptop]

Cust = Jaha '99. No, he wont finish with THOSE type of numbers by the end of the year but for A's fans, or atleast this one, what Cust did and is now doing again this month, is very much like Jaha '99. As for Cust being hot and then cooling off and now hot again, simply look at the A's schedule and it speaks for itself. (His break out games, the A's played Devil Rays/Royals/Devil Rays/Indians; he hit there bullpen/Giants). Cust isn't "hitting breaking balls" in the sense he's hitting a good curve, he's hitting bad pitchers with barely average at best breaking balls. He still swings on top of down and in fastballs, he still swings over good curveballs and sliders, he still can't recognize a change-up, he simply hits bad pitching and/or mistake fastballs. Nothing wrong with that, MOST solid hitters make there living doing it. (I do like that for a lefty, his power is L/CF.)

As for MLB.TV.....it is the GREATEST.

He didn't put up a .900+ OPS but the Giants backup catcher Alfonzo last year came out of nowhere and had a very productive (look at his numbers and if you look at when in the game he was hitting them, VERY clutch) half to 2/3 of a season for the Giants. He played himself right into the everyday role last year, then they signed Bengie Molina this year. He caught Jason Schmidt's 16K outing last year and Jason said he shook him off only 6 times.

[Droptop]

*Alfonzo earned the everyday catcher position after Matheny got hurt...the Giants figured Alf to simply catch a game here and there.

[darkstar1661]

Thank you Gatling… I was going nuts trying to remember Berroa’s name! All I could think of was Orestest Destrade (or whatever his name is) and knew it wasn’t who I was looking for… Destrade came from oversees from what I remember, and also had maybe only one mixed season for the Fish. Berroa is the one Oak pulled out of Atlantas casts off right?
Also, it wasn’t Cordova that I meant to say for Cle but rather Bill Selby. I think Cordova actually played the entire time between his Good and Rebound years. At the same time, I don’t think Selby ever had the success at the majors like he did in AAA but he was who I was really thinking earlier and kinda meshed the two together in my mind…
Thinking back to those Tribe teams, what about Dave Roberts? Shoot, I remember him being ancient when we brought him up in like 99 or 2000; and although I’m not sure if he had the instant success, I do know he put up ok numbers one year for the Tribe.

Ah, mind isn’t what it used to be… :\

[gatling]

Droptop,

Cust isn't really anything like John Jaha. Jaha had been a productive MLB player when healthy from 1995-1997 for the Brewers. From 1993-1998, Jaha was able to play more than 88 games in a season only twice. He came to Oakland as a cheap reclamation project in 1999, was healthy and had a great year. He was hurt again after that and his career was over by 2001. Jaha had over 2100 career MLB AB's before coming to Oakland. Cust is a guy who killed in AAA 5 of the last 6 years, yet only had 144 MLB AB's coming into this year.

Believe me, I appreciated what Jaha did in 1999 for us, Cust is much more like former A's Matt Stairs and Geronimo Berroa than he is John Jaha.

darkstar1661,

Yes, Berroa had played in the Braves system at one point. He had actually played for three other organizations between Atlanta and Oakland, putting up great AAA numbers for Cincy, Colorado, and Florida from 1991-1993 yet only got 49 MLB AB's in that stretch.

[vegasneedsbaseball]

Orestes Destrade, now there's a name I haven't heard in forever. I remember him playing for the Marlin's their inaugural year.

[Not Joe Morgan]

Kevin Maas.

And the facinating part about this is that a ton of sabermetricians have been carrying the Cust flag for years and are now being proved correct. I wonder if Billy Beane will write another book soon.

[worldcupfever]

I really think "the Next Jack Cust" could be reality TV gold.

[bobo]

How ironic, Not Joe Morgan (for those that don't know, Morgan is semi-infamous for thinking that Beane wrote Moneyball).

[bobo]

We should really be talking about Jack Custing being the next Roberto Petagine. It's a crime that he never got a chance.

Maas was actually a pretty highly-regarded prospect, and wasn't that bad at 1B either when he played there with Mattingly out. I wouldn't compare him to Cust.

I think Stairs is a great comparison - all you heard about when he was in the minors in Montreal is what a good hitter he was, but didn't get a chance until much later.

How about Ken Phelps?

[Not Joe Morgan]

"How ironic, Not Joe Morgan (for those that don't know, Morgan is semi-infamous for thinking that Beane wrote Moneyball)."

I never decided which was worse, that Joe ripped the book without reading it or that he really thought a current GM wrote a book but didn't think that would qualify as a must read for any informed commentator.