Contemplating Brown and Cust

The A's have continued their recent success, and remain in 2nd place in the West with 20 wins, 1 behind the League leading Angels and Red Sox. Two players in particular stick out in my mind--Jack Cust and Emil Brown. Even though the pitching has been the real source of the wins, these two position players polarize different arguments for value on the baseball field. Let's outline each player's credentials.

Jack Cust leads the position players in Value Over Replacement Player, a Baseball Prospectus statistic designed to evaluate how much more value a player gives a team than a generic fringe player (Think Todd Walker last year) or a perennial Minor Leaguer (Lou Merloni) would provide. Cust is a walking machine, and has generated an impressive .426 OBP despite a .244 Batting Average. He's hit 4 home runs and recovered from a shaky start to look very impressive, gaining AL Player of the Week honors.

On the downside, Cust is a liability in the field. When the A's acquired Frank Thomas, they made a commitment to using Cust in the field if they want his bat, which will cost them runs in the field. This was no more obvious than in the Angels game wherein he dropped a ball without realizing it, prolonging an inning which lead to 5 runs. He strikes out a lot as well due to his propensity to work deep into counts looking for his pitch/looking to walk, leading to 30 strikeouts to his 25 walks.

Emil Brown leads the team in RBIs with 26, giving him the label of "clutch." The A's brought him in against Left Handed Pitchers, which he has done to the tune of 333/350/436 against them. More interesting though is the 18/26 RBI against RHP. Even though he has an 85:40 plate appearance ratio for at-bats against RHP:LHP, he is still producing RBI's nonetheless against the Right Handed Pitchers. Brown lead the Royals last year in RBIs with 88, and is keeping that label now nonetheless. With Travis Buck out, he has stepped up his game to keep himself as a starter instead of a Pinch Hitter.

On the flip side, he only has four walks on the season, leading to a paltry .296 On Base Percentage. He's already grounded into 4 double plays, more than on pace for his ~14 yearly average. He also is in the top 30 in Baseball in Runners On Base, suggesting he has a high amount of RBI Opportunities (although he ranks behind teammates Mark Ellis and Bobby Crosby,) possibly meaning his high RBI count is merely a product of circumstance.

The question this brings up is, who gets the short end when Buck comes back? Assuming Travis Buck (with his plus defense and 5 tool ability) warrants a starting position when healthy, one of these men will have his time reduced and become mostly a pinch hitter. The answer I believe is in the platoon. The A's will probably carry both of them, letting Chris Denorfia or Rajai Davis (the winner of which battle I'll refer to as Denorvis) get sent down when Buck comes back. This will lead to Denorvis starting in Center, Buck in Right, Cust/Brown platooning in Left, and Sweeney being the super outfielder, filling in for Denorvis and Buck as necessary. Barton/Thomas/M. Sweeney will keep up their little dance, as will Crosby/Ellis/Hannahan/Murphy, and Suzuki/Bowen. That leaves 11 pitchers, 5 of which are starters (Blanton/Smith/Duke/Gaudin/Eveland) and 6 of which are relievers (Street/Embree/Foulke/Casilla/Brown/Devine.)

Next on Wednesday: What to do with Rich Harden when he's healthy, considering the strength of the pitching right now.