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“It goes up and down for even the best.” Thank you for understanding the point, almost a full day late and more than a dollar short. If great pinch hitters have bad years, what sort of person would Cust definitely can’t do it after only 23 at-bats? Based on his major league record, which you’re hanging your hat on, he couldn’t possibly have hit 6 HR in 26 at-bats. Maybe we’re living in the Matrix and Cust is Neo. No way a guy with that major league record could do anything like hit 6 HR in 26 at-bats. And surely he couldn’t get on base or hit for power as a - gasp! - pinch-hitter.

Cherry picking? I listed 5 of 13 seasons to show that your own anointed great pinch hitter could have below-average, even terrible, seasons. 5 seasons out of 13 isn’t enough of a sample to show that randomness affects a hitter, but 23 at-bats is enough to prove that Cust can’t do the job?

You know what 30 points of batting average in 150 at-bats equals? 4 and a half hits. 4 and a half hits over a 6 month season. Smart people call that “nothing.”

I’m not refusing to list any error, I just don’t see why I need to follow your dictates. You’re neither my mom nor my dad. Despite your attempts, you’re not the Ducksnorts Behavior Police. Remember when you told me I was “killing conversation” here? In the middle of a HUGE thread that continued for days after I supposedly delivered the lethal blow? Don’t you get tired of saying what a bad influence I am……and being proven wrong day after day after day? You’re a fairly lonely voice bemoaning my sour and nasty ways.

If I was going to throw out a guess as to why you’re so proud of the Padres, who 8 years after swearing to develop a top-notch farm system have one of the worst in the game, and who promised that Petco would support a higher payroll but now rank in the bottom third, it would be a suspicion that you’re being paid by the Padres to feel that pride and to express it publicly. But that’s only a stab in the dark.

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If you think that pinch hitting is not a special skill set, I would love to see you try to prove that. Your first task would be to explain away the 30-50 point yearly batting average difference between overall hitting and pinch hitting from 2001 to the present.

Funny also how you ignore all of the other admissions I have made to focus on the low-hanging fruit that is Geoff Blum. I said I’ve been wrong on several occasions - I’ll add a few more (1) the Giles re-signing; and (2) letting Hernandez and Olivo go. You still refuse to admit any error. Must be nice to be as perfect as you.

And if you could come up with pom-pom smilies, I would love to add them to my posts, particularly after I follow a dour wallowing in negativity courtesy of you. I am very proud of what the Padres have managed to accomplish in the last 12 years, despite being routinely outrevenued by $30-50 million dollars each year.

However, I can live with your sour and nasty ways, provided you can live with my relatively cheery optimism and willingness to give the team the benefit of the doubt.

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Mark Sweeney’s 1st four ML seasons, in OPS+: 92, 102, 93, 56 (StL), then traded to SD and went off for 117. In later years he would dip all the way to a 30 - yes, a 30 - and would mix in an 82, 76, and 81. And he’s one of your paragons!

Most players don’t hit worse as pinch-hitters. They just don’t have the plate appearances to compensate for an unproductive at-bat. Again, look at the wild year-by-year swings for a Sweeney or a Manny Mota and then try to rationalize them with your claim that pinch-hitting is some special skill that Cust couldn’t possibly possess. Two of the best pinch-hitters of the last forty years had some crap seasons.

You’ve done everything but invent pom-pom smilies for the Padres. Question the Geoff Blum signing? My, what a fair-minded, objective observer you must be. He’s only been one of the worst major leaguers in the game the last few years, to doubt the wisdom of that signing is truly an indication of a deep thinker.

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You can fantasize about Cust being a PH on the Padres, but the odds of him doing it well are slim at best, and not borne out by his track record. Of course there will be a small sample size for PH, because it is an infrequent role.

For a counterpoint, Geoff Blum was quite good at it in 2006, but has been miserable at it most of his career. There are very few Mark Sweeneys, Olmedo Saenzes, John Vanderwals of the world. Jack Cust is not one of them.

Cust’s career PH numbers are consistent with most regular players’ career PH numbers, i.e. a HUGE drop off, and they are consistent with the league averages for PH.

I also have no problem questioning the Padres’ really bad moves - I didn’t like the Blum signing at all, and I was dubious about whether Wells had anything left in the tank or whether this was the year he was done - so your hyperbole is matched in its ridiculousness only by your arguments about Cust. There also have been several moves over the past few years that I haven’t like, as well as several draft picks. Fortunately for the Padres, and I guess unfortunately for naysayers like you, more of their major league moves have worked out for them, even some of those with which I have disagreed.

Props to John for having the intellectual honesty to admit that he may have been wrong about some of the moves he didn’t like. I don’t recall having seen that from you here.

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I always liked Knott and thought they should have given him a shot in 2004 over Terrence Long- but then again I was a big Ben Johnson fan and didn’t like the trade for Heath Bell.

Bell’s been pitching well for the Padres and Johnson is back in AAA with New Orleans - so I can definitely be wrong.

I’m glad you liked the list, but it was mainly for people who didn’t know the system as well as you do. The top 60 was a little more insider oriented and you may enjoy it more

http://padres.scout.com/2/588093.html

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Most bench guys are going to have some flaws. A guy like Mark Sweeney has a simple swing, but he’s had some terrible seasons as a pinch-hitter. Then he’ll bounce back. It’s more sample size than anything, IM.

The team always seemed so focused on what Knott couldn’t do (hit hard stuff from RHP) that they overlooked what he could do. Most of our team can’t hit hard stuff from RHP. I’d rather have Knott give Agon a day off every three weeks than Blum or Branyan.

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As you pointed out in an earlier post there wasn’t a huge difference between PMac’ OPS numbers and Cust’s, and Sledge in his last two month in Portland in ‘06 and in spring training killed the ball. I would have taken both of those guys over Cust because I think they are better overall players.

In my opinion, I just would have been reluctant to bring up another Klesko clone whom I have questions about his ablity to make consistent contact, is a defensive liablity and is a left-handed pull hitter in PETCO.

But Tom you definitely make a good point, and right now, based on what Cust has done with the A’s he does look like he could have helped the Padres; I just didn’t think so at the time. I’ve always thought he was a good hitter, he just needed to be in the right place at the right time. I don’t visit Ducksnorts that much so I must have missed your posts on him.

Also I forgot to thank you for the nice words that you wrote about Madfriars Top 20 prospects rankings. They were appreciated.

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