Baltimore Orioles: Researching the Colby Rasmus Story
Jul 12, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus (28) against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
If varied news stories are to be given credence, it would appear that the Baltimore Orioles are most intent upon adding some power production through acquiring Colby Rasmus, pending his passing of a Buck Showalter sniff test. Buck is on his way to visit with Colby and ostensibly assess the situation to see if it is workable.
It is about a whole lot more than just the numbers … yes, the numbers that are all over the place for the former first-round pick of the Cardinals. In 2010 and 2013, they were exciting. The other years, they were disappointing—including a .225 average in 2014.
As I’ve written about this previously, it is the strikeout that happens once every three times he comes to the plate that creeps me out.
But how can such up and down seasons be explained? Is there something underlying that is an issue the Orioles could address successfully in a one-year contract that is good for the Birds, and good for Colby? And that is what Showalter is exploring.
The issue is not raw skills. Rather, stories surround Rasmus that he has some measure of interpersonal challenges in the clubhouse and with managers and coaches. Struggles with Tony LaRussa are what got him shipped to Toronto.
There is no doubt that the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse and team atmosphere is one of those rare experiences where everyone likes each other, gets along well, and regards it as an enjoyable place to be. This has contributed to renovation projects like Nelson Cruz, Delmon Young, and several others to a lesser extent.
If you can’t make it work in the Orioles clubhouse, you’re going to be a problem everywhere. Even so, there is no sense challenging the health of the whole family by bringing home a sick puppy.
So what is it about Rasmus that raises these concerns? The Orioles beat writers have been a bit reluctant to specify much beyond some general summary statements, and I understand that.
A little research quickly reveals some results. And the result that comes up first is his father Tony Rasmus. The father of four sons (with two others in pro ball), he is a great baseball guy, taking little league teams to Cooperstown and having even been honored there. He is a high school teacher and coach. However, his reputation is to be a good bit overbearing, outspoken (particularly about Colby being victimized in St. Louis), and interfering from the outside with hitting advice.
Having read quite a few writers on the Blue Jays, it would appear that Colby himself is much more mellow. There is a side of him that wants to be the fun-loving and passionate ballplayer that many fans love, yet he feels that this has been beaten out of him in oppressive ways by a variety of baseball people.
The article that best captures this is a SB Nation piece that was actually written the day after the Orioles clinched the AL East title in mid-September. If you go to this article, the writer links to an interview with Rasmus – but that link no longer works. However, he quotes from it, like this …
"“I’VE LOST A LITTLE BIT OF THAT DRIVE SOMETIMES JUST BECAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS JUST POKING AND PRODDING AT ME AND I FELT AT TIMES LIKE AN ANIMAL AT THE ZOO. YOU KNOW, YOU JUST KEEP POKING AT IT UNTIL ONE DAY THEY BITE BACK AT YOU.”"
This writer even opines that Rasmus looks like a guy who has been beaten down, who needs the offseason desperately to get home and recover, and that a change of scenery could be just what he needs.
Like all baseball writers, I pen a lot of opinions based upon available analysis. But the following sentence I would take to the bank at totally factual. If there is now, or has ever been, a better clubhouse than the current Baltimore Orioles, I am not aware of it. So, if Colby is a worthy renovation project looking for a place to happen, there is no better place than Baltimore.
Based upon the baseball numbers alone, this looks and feels a lot like Ubaldo Jimenez, part II
Based upon the baseball numbers alone, this looks and feels a lot like Ubaldo Jimenez, part II. It is hoping that the portion of the player’s career that was stellar will be repeated in Baltimore rather than the portions that were less than even mediocre.
The difference, of course, is that this would be for one year at maybe $6-7 million, rather than four years at $50 million.
Though I’m still concerned that his recent high strikeout percentage would not work well in the same lineup as Chris Davis, if a healthy baseball atmosphere could make a complete difference in resurfacing Rasmus’ considerable tools, perhaps the Orioles could hit the jackpot again.
I know that sounds like a longshot. See: Cruz, Nelson.