Links: Colby Rasmus

Everyone is writing about the Big Trade. And we all seem to have the same opinion: it was a great deal for the Blue Jays. Many are shocked that Corey Patterson found himself involved in the trade. Corey is a player we picked up for free, who wasn't supposed to make the team, played good for about 5 minutes and then turned back into Corey Patterson. I don't know why he didn't play better defense for us. I don't know why he kept trying to steal third, only to be thrown out each time. What he has to realize is that, as a 4th or 5th outfield, he only has value if he doesn't make dumb mistakes. 

Anyway Links:

Fangraphs thinks the trade would be a little more even if the Cards use Scrabble as a starter:
Rzepczynski is called a LOOGY — and his 4.18 xFIP against righties, at first blush, doesn’t suggest that he can’t hack it in a full-time role. Sure, he’s not as good against them. His 9.47 K/9, 2.98 BB/9 and 60.3% GBs versus lefties is much better than his 7.65 K/9, 4.62 BB/9 and 52.2% GBs against right-handed hitters. But those numbers against righties aren’t terrible, especially if he can improve his control. Considering his better-than-average control against lefties — and consistently decent minor league walk rates — it’s not a stretch to imagine the 25-year-old in the Cards’ rotation at some point.

Keith Law says the trade is win for the Toronto Blue Jays - MLB - ESPN
The Cardinals, meanwhile, have made a terrible organizational move by allowing their aging manager to run off the best hitting prospect the team has produced since drafting Albert Pujols. Whether La Russa was mostly responsible or only shares responsibility with Rasmus and his father, it is clear that La Russa's my-way-or-the-highway mentality has hurt the organization for this year and several years to come with the Rasmus fiasco, and unfortunately the front office's decision to retain La Russa for 2011 has come back to haunt them. Rasmus has the potential to be a 5- to 6-win player at his peak, and there's no manager in baseball who can produce that kind of value.

More after the Jump.

John Lott has a Narration of the Colby Rasmus saga:

"This has gotten way too much attention …  I don’t have an issue with Colby. I think he’s an outstanding player." – La Russa.

The Blue Jay Hunter talks about  what the Blue Jays Gave Up to Get Colby Rasmus

To get talent, you have to give up talent ... it's just the cost of doing business. Try as you may, you can't trade a bag of baseballs for a top tier player.

Bruce Arthur's view from the National Post

Rasmus was available because of the La Russa feud, just as Yunel Escobar was available because he and Bobby Cox, among others, didn’t see eye-to-eye. Escobar was practically given a police escort out of Atlanta, and he went into last night’s game fourth among all major-league shortstops in OPS. The new market inefficiency, apparently, is young players whose teams have come to hate them.

The Star has the View from St. Louis: Expect to see a lot of Tony Rasmus with Colby:

ST. LOUIS—You may have heard that the Cardinals made a big trade Wednesday, shipping Colby Rasmus and Tony Rasmus to Canada. Why Toronto? Easy: Because Siberia doesn’t have a major-league baseball franchise. And the Cardinals clearly wanted to get Colby and his Daddy as far away as possible.

Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) has a Transaction Analysis: The Rasmus-Jackson Shuffle:

Toronto’s Rogers Centre is far friendlier to lefty power than Busch Stadium, so a home run boost is in store for Rasmus through the power of park factors alone. Whether getting out of the Cards’ clubhouse will raise Rasmus’s game in other ways is impossible to say, though it’s certain that any incidental improvement on the center fielder’s part will be tied to a narrative about his release from La Russian bonds. On the Jays’ end, the addition of Rasmus brings a merciful end to the low-OBP shenanigans of Corey Patterson and Rajai Davis and gives the team an enviable under-25 outfield with Rasmus flanked by Travis Snider in left and Eric Thames in right for years to come.

The Globe and Mail talks to Rajai Davis

When it was suggested to Davis that the Blue Jays outfield is about to become a bit more crowded now with Rasmus in town, the speedy outfielder just gave a little smile. "Oh that’s great, a great addition," Davis said. "Young talent, he’s got power, got the ability to hit. That’s a good addition for us."

The Southpaw likes the deal: Double Rainbows all the Way!:

In the final calculation, when you strip away the fungible guys, and the finances (which were key - Gerry pointed out on Batter's Box that if the Jays don't have case in reserve they can't do this deal) we traded a top 10 prospect (Stewart) and a very good LH reliever (Zep) for a potential All Star center fielder. That my friends is a good days work. In conclusion I can only say that for a committed roterbator such as myself, these are heady times.Jim Bowden thinks Cardinals will regret trading Rasmus, which worries me because I rarely agree with him:

 Jim Bowden likes the deal, which worries me: Cardinals will regret trading Rasmus
The Blue Jays clearly win this deal acquiring a talent like Rasmus, who has all five tools and the ability to become a complete player with .900 OPS potential. His makeup has been questioned and his listening and learning skills need to improve. But he’s just 24 and veteran Jose Bautista will help him. For the Blue Jays to have acquired Brett Lawrie and Rasmus in the past 12 months has been an amazing job of trading by general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who continues his long-term planning in Toronto.  

There are a million other voices talking about this trade, let us know about any good ones we missed. I'm going to take a couple of boys to see Captain America and get away from all this for a couple of hours.