SB Nation St. Louis - St. Louis Cardinals Make Huge Mistake, Trade Colby Rasmus For Edwin Jacksonhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49009/stl-fave.png2012-06-12T07:15:11-05:00http://stlouis.sbnation.com/rss/stream/20624712012-06-12T07:15:11-05:002012-06-12T07:15:11-05:00Colby Rasmus Is Actually Hitting Pretty Well Again, All Of A Sudden
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<p>For a certain generation of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> fan—the one I'm in, basically—<span>Colby Rasmus</span> is always going to be the superstar that got away, even if it seems increasingly clear he'll never be a superhero and even after the trade that sent him to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a> was exonerated by an entirely improbable World Series victory. Even after his <i>awful</i> start to the season, where it looked like Rasmus's 2010 would stand alone, forever, as a fluke season that only appeared to confirm his massive potential and duped fantasy baseball owners.</p>↵<p>Now: Well, he's hitting pretty well, again, all of a sudden. On the season—even after the awful start—he's hitting .248/.310/.454, with nine home runs and 29 RBI, a 24-homer/77-RBI pace. He's not walking enough, and he's striking out too much, but the power and the speed he's always flashed have come back just in time for the Blue Jays to push him up their batting order. It's a basically league-average OPS, although the low-OBP makes him a worse "average" than usual. </p>↵<p>And that's without using arbitrary endpoints to make him look better. In April Rasmus hit just .232/.281/.427; in May he drew a few more walks, pushing his line up to .237/.317/.430. It's June, however, in which he's excelled—he's hitting .302/.348/.558, with three home runs in 43 at-bats. He's even cut his strikeout rate down, making the average bump a little more organic than it would otherwise be. </p>↵<p>He may have left the Cardinals under poor circumstances, and he may not ever turn into the star I thought he'd be after he was drafted in 2005, but I'll keep rooting for him. Prospects have a way of sticking like that.</p>↵
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2012/6/12/3080157/colby-rasmus-fantasy-blue-jaysDan Moore2011-07-29T09:01:03-05:002011-07-29T09:01:03-05:00Edwin Jackson's First St. Louis Cardinals Start: How To Express Your Colby Rasmus Agony
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<p><span>Colby Rasmus</span> is now a member of the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a>, who play on a big farm where he's allowed to pull the ball all day, and his manager likes it when he hits home runs, and while any good sabermetrically inclined <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> fan is deeply distressed about losing the team's cost-controlled center fielder of the present it's hard to avoid getting a little excited about the Cardinals acquiring a new starter--one who doesn't pitch to contact and has, in the past, been known to pitch specifically to avoid it. How, then, do you properly express your Colby Rasmus angst without slighting <span>Edwin Jackson</span>'s first start with the club?</p>↵<p>1<b>. Quietly wear your "<a href="http://twitpic.com/5wy3bt" target="_blank">modified Rasmus jersey</a>" while cheering Jackson like any other Cardinals fan. </b>The key to proper appreciation, such as it is, of each of this trade's compenents is to compartmentalize it as best you can. When Jackson is pitching--hopefully another not-especially-great no-hitter--you can't be thinking about Colby Rasmus's smooth home runs, but you'll still have to be representing them somehow. Consider <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/grobot20" target="_blank">this VEBer</a>'s modified-jersey approach as a way to commemorate Rasmus's lost potential without having to keep it at the front of your mind. This is the low-impact option.</p>↵<p><b>2. Keep asking where Colby Rasmus is while cheering Jackson like any other Cardinals fan. </b>This is another option dependent on your subtle but firm refusal to accept the current order of things. As the modified-Rasmus-wearer refuses to retire his shersey, you refuse to stop complaining about how Tony never plays Colby anymore, and what is he waiting for, and this pitcher is great but I can't believe the Blue Jays only asked for Trever MIller and <span>P.J. Walters</span>. This is the non-violent rebellion option.</p>↵<p><b>3. Call Edwin Jackson Colby Rasmus for the rest of the season</b>. Great pitch, Colby! Smooth fastball! Way to bring the cheese! Your friends might not appreciate it, but you've made the decision to pretend that Colby Rasmus has always been a big, hard-throwing, black starting pitcher, and you will stick to it until the end. This is the kind-of-disconcerting option, and it is your right as a Cardinals fan. </p>↵
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/7/29/2302313/edwin-jackson-cardinals-trade-rasmusDan Moore2011-07-28T08:01:01-05:002011-07-28T08:01:01-05:00MLB Trade Rumors: St. Louis Cardinals Still Hunting Heath Bell Post-Colby Rasmus
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<p>24 hours after the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">St. Louis Cardinals</a>' worrying trade of <span>Colby Rasmus</span>, word has gotten out that they're still interested in trading for even more replaceable veteran free agents: They're still in on <span>Heath Bell</span>, 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.</p>
<p>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 <span>Jason Motte</span>. 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 <span>Kyle McClellan</span> and <span>Octavio Dotel</span> in the bullpen at a great cost, John Mozeliak is just making a terrible decision.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/7/28/2299782/mlb-trade-rumors-st-louis-cardinals-heath-bellDan Moore2011-07-28T07:01:18-05:002011-07-28T07:01:18-05:00Toronto Blue Jays Fans: Care And Maintenance Of Your New Colby Rasmus
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<p>Your COLBY RASMUS comes equipped with HOME RUN ACTION, INTERMITTENTLY IMPRESSIVE DEFENSE ACTION, and DEBATABLY USEFUL SPEED ACTION. Please do not expose your COLBY RASMUS to direct sunlight, fans of MAKING THINGS HAPPEN on offense, or TONY LA RUSSA.</p>↵<p>Your COLBY RASMUS just got out of a really bad relationship, in which TONY LA RUSSA couldn't really find the player he fell in love with, who hit groundballs and batted .300/.350 instead of .270/.350. The early-June recall involving COLBY RASMUSES who had excessively low batting averages on balls in play for no discernable or permanent reason is still in effect; for a refund, please contact DAN MOORE, of SB NATION ST. LOUIS, for a mailing address and a prepaid, COLBY RASMUS-sized box.</p>↵<p>OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS: Place your COLBY RASMUS in the middle of the lineup, next to the other home run hitters, and initiate the HOME RUN ACTION by allowing him to pull the ball as much as he possibly can. COLBY RASMUS will occasionally require an internet connection so as to speak to his crazy, exhibitionist father, TONY RASMUS, re: his hitting slumps. STRIKEOUTS and AWKWARD MISPLAYS IN THE OUTFIELD are part of the normal operation of your COLBY RASMUS. Please do not overreact and trade him for a pitcher who's a free agent at the end of the year.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/7/28/2299787/toronto-blue-jays-colby-rasmusDan Moore2011-07-27T15:26:41-05:002011-07-27T15:26:41-05:00Coilby Rasmus Trade Hinges On Marc Rzepczynski
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<p>For the remainder of 2011 the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a>' difficult-to-fathom trade of <span>Colby Rasmus</span> will depend on <span>Edwin Jackson</span>'s performance in the Cardinals' rotation and the way their beleaguered bullpen reacts to an infusion of last year's set-up man, <span>Kyle McClellan</span>, and <span>Octavio Dotel</span> 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 <span>Marc Rzepczynski</span> is returned to the rotation, where he showed flashes of excellence in two half-seasons with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a>. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/7/27/2298510/marc-rzepczynski-colby-rasmus-tradeDan Moore2011-07-27T14:51:11-05:002011-07-27T14:51:11-05:00St. Louis Cardinals Make Huge Mistake, Trade Colby Rasmus For Edwin Jackson
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<p>The <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">St. Louis Cardinals</a> made a huge mistake Wednesday, trading center fielder <span>Colby Rasmus</span> to the <a href="https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Toronto Blue Jays</a> for two pieces of short-term pitching help--starter <span>Edwin Jackson</span>, lately of the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">White Sox</a>, and reliever <span>Octavio Dotel</span>--and LOOGY Mark Rzepczynski. Jackson, 27 and a free agent after the season, will improve the Cardinals' rotation immediately, replacing overtaxed ex-reliever <span>Kyle McClellan</span>, 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.</p>
<p>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 <span>Jon Jay</span>'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.</p>
<p>The rest of the trade is an odd mix of spare parts--the Blue Jays take struggling LOOGY Trever Miller and gimmick-changeup artist <span>P.J. Walters</span>, while the Cardinals get replacement-level ex-<a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cubs</a>-prospect <span>Corey Patterson</span> to replace Rasmus on the roster.</p>
<p>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.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/2011/7/27/2338525/st-louis-cardinals-make-huge-mistake-trade-colby-rasmus-for-edwinDan Moore