MVN - Most Valuable Network

Emil Brown: Beane’s latest bargain

As Kool and the Gang’s hit song blared out of the McAfee Coliseum speakers, telling fans to “Celebrate good times, come on!”, the Oakland Athletics embraced outfielder Emil Brown, whose walkoff single had just delivered a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

After a single by rookie Daric Barton put the winning run on-base with two out in the tenth inning, reliever Jim Johnson — who hadn’t allowed a run in over fifteen innings of work this season — issued a no-no, four-pitch walk to Frank Thomas, advancing Barton into scoring position. As they often do, the two-out free pass came back to bite Johnson, whose ERA jumped to 0.50 when Brown lined a first-pitch fastball into center-field, plating Barton from second, and leading the home team to victory.

The win was Oakland’s 20th of the year, keeping the A’s a game out of first place in the unexpectedly competitive AL West. It also established the 33 year-old Brown as GM Billy Beane’s latest bargain.

Emil Brown’s professional career began as a member of the Athletics organization when he was drafted in the sixth round, out of Indian River Community College, way back in 1994. He was selected by the Pirates in the 1996 Rule 5 Draft and, after failing to produce in a couple of brief stints in the majors, bounced around the minor league systems of several teams, before finally landing a full-time job with the Royals in 2005.

Brown made the most of his first everyday chance at The Show, batting .286 with 17 homers in 545 at-bats. His success carried over into the 2006 season as well, when the right-handed Chicagoan hit .287 with 15 homers and a career best .815 OPS, earning Royals Player of the Year honors for his efforts. Unfortunately, Brown — due in part to the emergence of top prospect Billy Butler — saw his playing time reduced last year, appearing in just 113 games, and recording just 366 at-bats. Meanwhile, the pop was seemingly sapped from his bat, as Brown watched his slugging percentage tumble 100 points, leading to a mediocre .647 OPS, nearly 150 points lower than it was the previous two seasons.

After earning $3.45 million during the off-year, Brown was non-tendered by the Royals last winter, joining a free agent class loaded with middling outfielders. He was eventually picked up by the A’s — on a one-year, $1.45 million pact with $1.5 million in performance bonuses — returning to his first professional home with the opportunity to secure a full-time job as Oakland’s starting left-fielder.

Perhaps Billy Beane’s biggest reason for adding the veteran Brown to an otherwise youthful roster was his ability to produce with runners in scoring position. In 2007, the A’s had trouble plating runs, largely because they were seldom able to come up with “money hits”, stranding far too many runners at second and third. One of Brown’s greatest assets during his three years with the Royals was his knack for driving-in runners; he batted .316 with RISP in 2007, becoming the only Royal other than Carlos Beltran to lead the team in RBIs for three consecutive years. Considering that the A’s average with runners in scoring position last year was a lowly .243, the reunion seemed a match made in heaven.

And indeed, it has been, at least through the first 34 games of the season. Brown has come to bat 129 times so far in 2008, compiling a .287 average and a .725 OPS. Those numbers are rather nonplussing, but the winning run he knocked in on Monday night was Brown’s 27th RBI of the season, placing him in the American League’s top-five in that category, ahead of the likes of Manny Ramirez, Magglio Ordonez, and Torii Hunter. For pennies on the dollar, Brown has given the A’s a tremendous .444/.500/.704 effort with runners in scoring position, singlehandedly curing Oakland’s worst 2007 malady.

Brown may be unlikely to keep up that torrid pace, but he has been among the best clutch hitters in baseball to date, and has already proven worth the $1.45 million Billy Beane invested in him this winter. If not for his timely hitting, the A’s would not be within a game of the AL West lead, and within spitting distance of the best record in baseball.

There’s a reason A’s fans hold firmly to the motto “In Billy We Trust”, and the Emil Brown signing epitomizes it perfectly. He’s just another addition to the Shannon Stewart, Jack Hannahan, and Co. heap of low-cost players who have helped the A’s win ballgames during their stints with the team.

If Brown maintains his clutch hitting for another month or two, and the A’s end up being sellers at this year’s Trade Deadline, Brown may yet fetch Beane a pretty penny.

In the meantime, he’s been nothing short of a bargain basement boon for an A’s team that sorely needed one.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 1:46 am and is filed under Emil Brown, Baseballistic, Oakland Athletics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.