I'm tired of hearing people complain about Jack Cust.

I was at the game Wednesday, and one insufferable fan behind me insisted on airing his discontent with every member of our organization, including the legitimate bright spots (Billy Beane, Brett Anderson, etc.).  In particular he wouldn't stop whaling on Cust and his strikeouts.

Here's why it bothers me: through all of his strikeouts and bad defense, Jack Cust is still a productive member of our team, and a bargain at $2.5 M.  It gets overlooked all too often.

Is Cust a flawed player?  Absolutely.  But he also posts the highest OPS on our team by a lot, and his contract is really quite modest.  Via FanGraphs, consider that Cust has already posted 1.6 Wins Above Replacement this year, which is "worth" $6.3 M - meaning he's already given us $3.8 M more in production than what we're paying him for the year.  That makes him a valuable commodity, people!

Our team has plenty of legitimate weaknesses to criticize, but Jack Cust is not one of them.  Stop complaining about him.