The Tale of Jack Mother F-ing Cust

The one or two of you who were reading our site last year may remember my love affair with one Jack Cust. His out-of-nowhere performance earned him the nickname Jack Mother Fucking Cust. For the purpose of last year, I based that on his sometimes out-of-this-world performances. His 13-game stretch that introduced him to fantasy players everywhere that included eight homers and 20 RBI. His seven RBI outburst against the Tigers. His .912 OPS, 26 homers and 86 RBI in just 395 at-bats.

But, as we all know, it wasn’t all roses for JFMC. He managed to lead the league in strikeouts (164) and had several long bouts of complete ineffectiveness (two RBIs over one 24-game stretch, another eight-game stretch with 0 RBI and two other 6-plus game stretches without an RBI).

Which brings us to today. Cust has 5 RBI, just five hits and one homer so far this year. After opening the season as an everyday player, he appears to at least temporarily be stuck in a platoon, which obviously diminishing his value even further. As much as I love this guy’s game, I don’t have him in either of my leagues and can’t in good conscience recommend stashing him on your bench, unless your roster is huge. I hate to admit it, but it’s more than possible that last year he peaked and he’ll never approach fantasy relevance again.

Still, JFMC is a great case study, you know, the guys who you are simply forced to take the good with the bad because the good is just so darn … good.

1. Adam Dunn: Affectionately called the rich man’s Jack Cust by me, he is the epitome of a player that you simply have to play no matter what. Will he frustrate you to no end with those 0-for-4, 3K games? Yes, but he’ll just as often bust out with games like Wednesday when he went 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, two runs and a walk. He’s going to finish the season among the league leaders in HRs, runs, RBI and OBP.

2. Pat Burrell: For a moment, imagine 2003 never happened. Here’s a guy who’s basically averaged 100 RBI, 30 homers and a .386 OBP over the past five seasons. Again, he can be a very frustrating player, but he’s on a tear right now, plays in a great hitter’s park and can probably be acquired for pennies on the dollar.

3. Paul Konerko: Has there been a more consistent performer over the past eight years who gets less respect? All he does is slug 35-40 homers, drive in around 100 runs and hit a solid .280 while doing it. So why no love? It’s that propensity for slow starts (he was hitting below .200 in mid-May in three of the past five seasons) and the the fact that his numbers are consistent, but relatively unspectacular (he’s never hit more than 41 HRs or driven in more than 117). At the same time, he’s a guy you can plug in at first and forget about.

4. Adrian Beltre: Like Burrell, pretend one of the past six years didn’t happen. But in this case, imagine it was his best, not worst, season: the 2004 aberration that saw Beltre produce 48 homers, 121 RBI and sky-high expectations. Because of that year and the subsequently less impressive seasons he’s turned in since then, he’s seen largely as a bust. A closer look reveals that while he has long bouts on unproductivity, you can basically count on 25 RBI, 90 RBI and 10 SBs. You’re not going to dominate with him as a cornerstone, but he won’t kill you either.

5. Felix Hernandez: I’ve been high on him even before he made his big-league debut. That also means I’ve been forced to live through his numerous struggles. He’s started great this year, and maybe it’s the season he keeps his hot start going, but be prepared to tolerate frustrating growing pains. Last year he started 2-0 and looked like the most dominant pitcher in baseball before getting hurt. He came back and was largely ineffective until finally putting it all back together over the last couple months (yet still managed to allow six runs twice his final eight starts). The point, the good will outweigh the bad and he’s a potential stud.

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