Report: Orioles sign Jack Cust to minor-league deal
Click here to access our MLB Tracker, which includes every offseason rumor, trade and signing.
The Orioles are taking a chance on 35-year-old Jack Cust. They've signed him to a minor-league deal, tweets MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko. Cust won't be at big-league camp this spring. He's going to work on his game in the minors and go from there.
Cust didn't play in 2013, and spent 2012 in the minors. He had a 97 wRC+ in his last big-league season with the Mariners, in 2011, with three home runs and 23 RBI.
Cust has a career 123 wRC+. He's always had an above-average bat, and hit 84 home runs for Oakland in three seasons from 2007 to 2009.
He's old now, though, in baseball years, and he's giving it one last shot to see what's left in the tank. A left-handed hitter, Cust has a career .849 OPS against right-handed pitching, and a .383 on-base percentage. He could help as a platoon player.