I don't even know where to begin with the latest Colby Rasmus trade rumor, which has him going to the White Sox for a package centered around oft-injured corner outfielder Carlos Quentin. Quentin is four years older than Rasmus; he was a worse hitter last season, and received some horrible marks on the PBP defensive statistics; he's an injury prone player who also derives an outsized amount of his value on offense from being hit by a lot of pitches.
↵He might be a great player again some year, but Colby Rasmus was a great player last year. So that the White Sox would be wiling to give Quentin up for Rasmus is a little like reporting that SB Nation would be willing to trade me straight-up for Joe Posnanski. This is the kind of trade rumor, like Ryan Howard for Albert Pujols, that requires the kind of bemused incredulity only Sir Mix-A-Lot can muster: "36-24-36? Ha, ha—only if she's five three!" Carlos Quentin? Only if he's the "center" of a package involving Gordon Beckham.
↵Reporters from other cities seem unaware of just how good Colby Rasmus was last season. Among players who played 50% of their games at center last year, Colby Rasmus had the highest OPS+ in baseball. Only Josh Hamilton and Carlos Gonzalez spent any time at all at the position and outhit him. Colby Rasmus is a year younger than Carlos Gonzalez.
↵The White Sox will need to try much harder than Carlos Quentin, even if Colby Rasmus and Tony La Russa have tied their left hands together and begun knife-fighting in an abandoned warehouse.
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