Welcome back to the 'bag, which took a couple of weeks off as a result of the trip to Japan and the home opener a week later. It's back for good now, scheduled to land every other Monday throughout the 2008 season. So keep the questions coming, and away we go ...
By the end of the season, who will have more at-bats -- Jack Cust or Mike Sweeney?
-- Greg W., Phoenix
Nice to have a softball tossed at me after a brief layoff. There's no doubt in my mind that -- barring injury -- Cust will have more at-bats than Sweeney. As proven as Sweeney is, he's not going to see a ton of time at first base as long as Daric Barton is healthy, and that means the bulk of his at-bats will come at designated hitter. Cust, however, will see quite a bit of time in the outfield and at DH.
How much outfield Cust will play will be determined by the production of Emil Brown and Travis Buck, but the A's certainly aren't going to sit their 2007 home run and RBI leader very often. My guess is that Sweeney will have at least 100 fewer at-bats that Cust when it's all said and done.
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/a ... p&c_id=oak