Colby Rasmus Is Actually Hitting Pretty Well Again, All Of A Sudden

Edwin Jackson's First St. Louis Cardinals Start: How To Express Your Colby Rasmus Agony

MLB Trade Rumors: St. Louis Cardinals Still Hunting Heath Bell Post-Colby Rasmus

24 hours after the St. Louis Cardinals' worrying trade of Colby Rasmus, word has gotten out that they're still interested in trading for even more replaceable veteran free agents: They're still in on Heath Bell, according to Joe Strauss, who seems to suggest the Cardinals might trade one of their best relievers--who is still free and under team control--to pick up their white whale of a closer.

The Rasmus trade can be defended, as terrible a defense as it is; I find it impossible to mount a defense for trading Heath Bell for Jason Motte. In addition to minimizing how much better the bullpen gets, by replacing one of its best relievers with a slightly better reliever, they also do even more to damage their 2012 and 2013 prospects, a day after dropping their top young pre-free-agent for a guy who's a free agent after 2011. Rasmus can be blamed on Tony La Russa, who turned a toxic situation positively poisonous with his late-night comments. But if a Heath Bell trade gets made at this point, with Kyle McClellan and Octavio Dotel in the bullpen at a great cost, John Mozeliak is just making a terrible decision.

Toronto Blue Jays Fans: Care And Maintenance Of Your New Colby Rasmus

Coilby Rasmus Trade Hinges On Marc Rzepczynski

For the remainder of 2011 the St. Louis Cardinals' difficult-to-fathom trade of Colby Rasmus will depend on Edwin Jackson's performance in the Cardinals' rotation and the way their beleaguered bullpen reacts to an infusion of last year's set-up man, Kyle McClellan, and Octavio Dotel as well as LOOGY Mark Rzepczynski. But in 2012, with Jackson a free agent and Dotel another year older, the future of the trade will hinge on whether or not Marc Rzepczynski is returned to the rotation, where he showed flashes of excellence in two half-seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Rzepczynski's numbers this year make him look like a prototypical lefty specialist--he strikes out seven-ish batters per nine innings, he has decent but unexceptional control, and he has great numbers against left-handers. But before this year Rzepczynski made 23 starts with the Jays in two seasons, showing off a strikeout rate near a batter an inning.

Undersized and with a reliever's repertoire--he's got a high-80s fastball and a slider he throws constantly--Rzepczynski is no sure thing to escape lefty-relieverdom, especially considering how little depth the Cardinals have at that pseudo-position. But if this trade is going to be anything but a long-term disaster for the Cardinals, they'd be wise to give him a long look as a starter in Spring Training.

St. Louis Cardinals Make Huge Mistake, Trade Colby Rasmus For Edwin Jackson

The St. Louis Cardinals made a huge mistake Wednesday, trading center fielder Colby Rasmus to the Toronto Blue Jays for two pieces of short-term pitching help--starter Edwin Jackson, lately of the White Sox, and reliever Octavio Dotel--and LOOGY Mark Rzepczynski. Jackson, 27 and a free agent after the season, will improve the Cardinals' rotation immediately, replacing overtaxed ex-reliever Kyle McClellan, while Dotel and Rzepczynski will provide significant relief to a bullpen that can't offer much of it. But by trading Rasmus the Cardinals have hamstrung themselves for 2012 and on in exchange for a better chance in a crowded division in 2011.

Rarely does a team looking to stay in contention trade a center fielder who finished last season with an OPS+ of 132, but Tony La Russa's drastic managerial failure with Colby Rasmus and Jon Jay's hot start as third-and-a-half outfielder left him vulnerable to trade rumors all season. With the Blue Jays, who never met a one-dimensional slugger they didn't like, Cardinals watchers will have a chance to see whether Rasmus's development really was impeded by an organizational desire to see him as a speedy line-drive hitter.

The rest of the trade is an odd mix of spare parts--the Blue Jays take struggling LOOGY Trever Miller and gimmick-changeup artist P.J. Walters, while the Cardinals get replacement-level ex-Cubs-prospect Corey Patterson to replace Rasmus on the roster.

The Cardinals may yet recoup some of their losses on the trade by looking at Rzepczynski in the rotation in 2012 or signing Jackson to an affordable extension, but for the moment this trade is mostly a monument to how poorly the Cardinals handled their onetime star of the future.