Colby Rasmus met with the Jays' media this morning. Gregor Chisholm Tweeted this:
Rasmus just held court with the media and I have to admit I've never seen him as upbeat,personable and forthcoming as he was today
All the comments, coming out of the little talk Colby had with the press, are uniformly the same, that he seems happy, glad to be with the Jays, glad to be away from the Cardinals. That he felt like he couldn't do anything right with the Cardinals. John Lott has this quote:
Rasmus says he was "like blood in the water" in StL. Mind clear now, upbeat.
And Dirk Hayhurst, reading all the same things we are, tells us, through tweets, that mental state can effect play on the field:
Stuff Colby Rasmus was feeling sounds eerily similar. Hope folks are understanding. Mental pressures perceived or otherwise, affect play.
Unfortunately, fans aren't very forgiving of players with mental issues since they believe money/fame should negate them.
So what do you think, does an improved mental outlook mean that Colby will have an improved season. Yunel Escobar seemed to play better after coming to Toronto. He didn't seem to be having fun in Atlanta. Clearing the mind might have been the most important factor.
Of course there is a physical side to things, Chisholm again:
BlueJays felt there were problems with leg kick when they acquired him last year but Rasmus wanted to wait for offseason to make changes.
BlueJays hitting coach Dwayne Murphy spent some time with Rasmus in Georgia three weeks ago to monitor the progress.
I'm really curious to see Colby this year, of course I hope he does great. Maybe we'll get another example of how players thrive when they are happier. We can hope.