Commentary: Emil Brown is more than a spare part

OAKLAND – Billy Beane is about to be called a genius … again.

"I've been called a moron, too," the A's general manager said with a laugh. "I sort of ignore both things."

But it's hard to discount what the A's have accomplished through the first five-plus weeks of a season supposedly cluttered with so many "Pardon our dust while we remodel" signs. And it's impossible to disregard the contributions of Beane's latest find.

Picked from the scrap heap of the Kansas City Royals, one of the game's most moribund franchises over the past two decades, Emil Brown is the driving force behind the A's scrappy offense. Oakland is tied with the division favorite Los Angeles Angels for the second-best record in the A.L., one-half game behind the Boston Red Sox.

"It's just a byproduct of the way I play and just being in a position where guys are on base and I'm batting; I'm being humble," deadpanned Brown, who bats fifth and plays one of the corner outfield positions after signing a one-year, $1.45 million free-agent contract Jan. 11. "Really, though, I get a lot of chances. I give a lot of credit to my teammates."

Señor Clutch, Marco Scutaro, might have been dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays as part of Trader Billy's Winter of Wheelin' and Dealin'. But Brown has ably filled Scutaro's white cleats as the team's new Mr. Clutch, despite having next to none of the core offensive values revered so much in Beane's Moneyball Era.

Brown has walked only five times. His on-base percentage is a pedestrian .309. He has hit but three home runs. But, oh, does he clean up well after the table setters. He is on pace to drive in 131 runs, the most for Oakland since Miguel Tejada had 131 RBIs in 2002.

Plus, 11 of Brown's 29 RBIs, the second-most in the A.L., either have tied the score or put the A's ahead. And after Wednesday's sweep-completing victory over Baltimore – in which Brown drove in the game's first run with a first-inning, bases-loaded groundout – Brown's eight go-ahead RBIs were second in the league behind Manny Ramírez's nine.

Brown also was batting .469 with runners in scoring position, second to the Royals' John Buck's .478.

Longtime Mr. Royal Mike Sweeney spent the previous three seasons in baseball purgatory with Brown in Kansas City and is not surprised by Brown's Q Score on RBIs.

"He plays the game hard, and he plays the game right," Sweeney said of Brown, who led the Royals in RBIs the previous three years. "When he's up at the plate with guys in scoring position, he's thinking about two things – Bentleys and Rolexes. He knows when he drives them in, he can afford to buy those things. … Gucci. Prada. Louis Vuitton."

Sweeney laughed. He was joking – we think. Because Brown, who grew up in a rough part of Chicago, howled for what seemed an eternity at his teammate's take.

"This," Brown said with a pause, "is nothing I've ever experienced before."

He meant playing on a winning club with a loose clubhouse. Brown, 33, is with his ninth organization, including Campeche of the Mexican League, since the A's began his professional odyssey by making him a sixth-round draft choice in 1994 out of Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Fla. Pittsburgh pilfered him in the Rule 5 draft in 1996, and San Diego, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Houston also have owned his rights.

And until making the Royals' Opening Day roster in 2005, Brown had not played in the major leagues since August 2001, with the Padres.

The classic tale of a late bloomer? "I don't care what you call it," Brown said with a shrug. "Call it a hit. How about that?"

Beats being called a moron.

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