TCust and Mike Wilson,
that's the platoon I would like to see! (Assuming Milton is elsewhere...which Z seems to be discounting now)
My problem with the Cust signing is that it was only ONE year. It should have been two.
This year will be nice...but if for only one year he just impedes PA's I would like to see go to guys who might actually be around in '12. Cust should have been signed to '12, too. That's our window.
Anyway...I just did a quick search. Here were the parameters. In MLB history, any single season, minimum: 500 PA's, .400 OBP, 30K/100AB's, 25 HR.
It has happened 13 times. Names?
1. Mark McGwire 1X ('98..the 70 tater year)
2. Jim Edmonds 2X (This was the one name that surprised me)
3. Ryan Howard 1X
4. Jack Clark 2X (The first guy to do it--'87 with the Cardinals)
5. Jim Thome 5X
6. Adam Dunn 1X ('02, ironically when he hit only 26 homers)
7. Jack Cust 1X ('07)
Pretty lofty company.
I've written, BTW, about those '87 Cards. If the M's are in that mold (not a lot of dingers) we have to remember that the Cards were a team with plenty of pop. It is true that they only had one guy with more than 12 homers (Clark, 35..Willie McGee was next with 12), they still hit a bunch of x-base hits. Clark and McGee both had 69, Terry Pendleton had 45 and Ozzie had 44. We need Smoak to turn into a 30 double and 20 homer guy and Ackley to become a 40 and 12 player. That kind of pop makes up for Figgins and Guti.
BTW, if you expand that previous search by dropping the OBP to .380 you find that it has been done 25 times. Three new names appear: Stargell once, J. Bay once, Jay Buhner once
All the other names remain the same. Cust is still on the list just once (and the least "valuable" of the seasons because he only had 507 PA's in '07), but you get the idea.
Cust is Adam Dunn (7X on the list) and Jim Thome (6X on the list) light.
Rarefied air. Granted that was one season for Cust, but he remains in that same mold. It should have been a 2 year deal. The M's may regret that!
moe
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