Jack Cust and Vinnie Pestano: Deep League Waiver Wire

by
June 6, 2011

Today’s look at a couple of Deep League Waiver Wire pickups is admittedly not as good as yesterday’s French Open final.

Jack Cust | 1% Owned (Y!) | 0% Owned (ESPN)
After signing with the Mariners and getting everyday at-bats, Cust looked absolutely dreadful during the first month of the season. Watching Cust everyday was hard, as he wasn’t making great contact with balls and was hitting below the Mendoza Line. Even still, a ridiculously high walk rate allowed Cust to have an OBP of .350, over 150 points higher than his batting average.

Cust has looked much better recently, hitting balls harder and for power. Cust hit over .275 in May thanks to a very high BABIP, but the stroke is back, and there is no denying that. Cust may only have two homers on the season, but he hit eight doubles in May, and even legged out a triple.

You know what you’re getting with Cust: strikeouts, walks, and the occasional homer. Cust has been one of the best definitions of a three-true-outcomes guy for the last five years, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. If you’re looking for a lot of pop, you’ll be out of luck, but Cust still has one elite skill and owners should take advantage of it. If you’re playing in an OBP league and are in need of an on-base guy, Cust is your man.

Vinnie Pestano | 1% | 0%
Pestano, a right-handed reliever with the Indians, throws from a high sidearm slot, allowing him to get absolutely nasty movement on his slider. His fastball is no slouch, as he throws it around 93 mph and has gotten a ton of whiffs with it. Pestano’s SwStr% is currently sitting around 17%, second best among qualified relievers. Thanks to his arsenal and release point, Pestano has some troubles with left-handed hitters, but he has done a good job this season of not issuing them free passes.

Pestano had a little tightness in his back while warming up to come into Saturday’s game, so you probably shouldn’t read this and go right out and pick him up, but keeping an eye on him seems like a fair proposal. If your league counts holds, he can be a help.

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Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.

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Dandy Salderson
14 years ago

The problem with Cust is the power. Even OBP leaguers cant take a two homer player at UT (with zero speed as well). His obp is 367 and his zips ROS is 369 – not even close to making up for the lack of counting stats.

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