Free Agent Focus: Jack Cust

As of right now Daniel Murphy is the Mets starting first baseman. Though I’m a big fan of Murphy, he doesn’t exactly hit a ton of home runs, which is general are characteristic of a first baseman.

The Mets have had interest in acquiring a new first baseman this off season. The idea of signing Adam LaRoche, Carlos Delgado and a few other players has been thrown around. One interesting option for the Mets to look at would be Jack Cust, who was non-tendered by the Oakland A’s this off season.

Now, right away the thought of “he’s never played first base” comes to mind. But when you look at how he has done in the outfield fielding wise, its hard to believe he would be worse at first. Plus, we’ve Delgado there the past 4 years and he’s no Gold Glover.

The main attraction about Cust is the power he brings. Over the past 3 seasons in the pitch friendly park at Oakland he’s jacked 84 home runs. These numbers would mostly likely go up when he leave Oakland, even playing at Citi Field.

Another good quality about Cust is his on base percentage with a  career .374 OBP. So although he strikeouts a ton (might be an understatement) he also gets a lot of walks.

Cust could probably be had on a one year deal which would be enough time for Ike Davis to develop and be ready for the 2011 season.

Bill James expect Cust to hit .253/.385/.464 with 25 HR, 153 strikeouts and 95 walks. Certainly would be a great bat in the line-up but can he play 1st base well enough to be worth it?

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