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Not sure how much stock I put in what Richard Griffin thinks because I can't really stand him, but it's pretty boring around here lately.

How do you feel about Rasmus after watching him play here for a pretty limited amount of time? Do you think he's a keeper or would you be pleased if the Jays moved him?

http://livenews.thestar.com/Event/Baseb ... rd_Griffin

Do you think Colby Rasmus is AA's first big mistake? He plays like he would rather be anywhere else. There seemed to be a disconnect between management's comments as to what he was working on and Rasmus' comments to the effect that he was just playing out the year and would try to get better next year. Tony LaRussa looks like a genius on this one.
by Phil 12:29 PM

This might be to AA what Komisarek was to BB. The Jays are not ready to admit this Rasmus guy was a mistake but he does not seem to fit in the frat house atmosphere of the Jays' current clubhouse. One gets the feeling he'd rather be turkey hunting. However, AA plays his cards close to the vest and like he did with Brett Wallace, he's not afraid to turn around what he considers a mistake in his own mind. If someone calls about Rasmus, I could see AA listening intently right now.
by Richard Griffin 12:32 PM

The only other stuff that interested me:

It is a bit of a head-scratcher, but you have to read between the lines on this one. All 3 of Farrell, AA and Beeston have downplayed what they have in LF with Thames and Snider and Loewen and Rajai, which only means one thing. The Jays are looking at a major-league left fielder in trade to put in the middle of the order behing Joey Bats and because they don't want to lie to their players, they softsell what they have right now.

I talked to Paul Beeston on Thursday and he also feels that there is suddenly a gaping hole in the AL East ready to be run through if you have the right stuff. That's why it behooves the Jays to make their move this winter rather than wait until a second wild card is added. The Rays did it in '08 but as you point out are unable to sustain it. The Jays have the money and the farm depth to keep their own window open longer. Seize the day, Jays.

After all the work it took AA to get Rasmus, I doubt he would trade him so quick.

I don't buy any of that, except maybe the thoughts from Beeston. The Jays managed to turn spare parts into a top young CF, and I can't imagine that they're going to give him up so quickly. Even if they do end up moving him at some point I wouldn't call the trade a mistake; they're not going to miss Corey Patterson and Octavio Dotel any time soon.

The LF thing might be even more ridiculous. The idea that the team would give up entirely on all four of those guys and sacrifice a current asset to upgrade at left seems entirely crazy to me. Even if they don't want to settle with just one of those guys they could put together a perfectly fine platoon along the lines of Thames/Davis. If this is what Griffin is spewing now I can't imagine what he'll be dreaming up in January.

The Jays are not ready to admit this Rasmus guy was a mistake but he does not seem to fit in the frat house atmosphere of the Jays' current clubhouse.

jesus mary joseph. 'this rasmus guy'? griffin is a friggin bozo. even if colby sucks it up for another year, what exactly will the repercussions be? oh no we lost a couple of bullpen specialists who are replaceable, corey god damn patterson, and zach stewart?! for a stud prospect playing a premium position? colby hasn't tapped into anywhere near his potential and to call a trade a mistake after 130 PA's with the new club is beyond laughable.

colby is my guy and all, but I will be the first to admit he sucked after we acquired him, but not nearly bad enough for a long enough period of time to justify flipping him for what exactly? what the hell do you want griffin.

btw rhett, not to nitpick but I think its more like AA 'should' listen to offers for rasmus rather than 'would', and as an opinion (whether or not it's a valid one is very questionable) rather than a statement or even question.

it's just griffballs contiuning his legacy of being a hack imo

He doesn't fit with the atmosphere of the clubhouse, and thus must be traded. What tripe. The 'frat house' vibe with this team is hardly anything new, yet somehow the notoriously workmanlike Roy Halladay got along just fine (and famously got in on the fun with the Aaron Hill/Russ Adams mock wedding), so I somehow doubt that Rasmus needs to be traded because Griffin doesn't think that he fits in socially.

I still feel the same way about Rasmus as I did during the last 1/4 of the season. The rest of the year for him was just to get his feet wet in the AL and the true time to judge him will be the first half of next season.

He needs to work on his communication with his outfielders and infield, and get ready sooner at the plate because he always seems late on the fastball. His massive homerun in Oakland was off a curve ball though.

if griffin was a poster on this board suggesting this type of garbage.... oh wait, we already got that.

rasmus didn't even get a chance to be labelled a failure, he played a few months in which most of the time he was hitting in a new league and injured. griffin is an idiot, plain and simple. alex a wouldn't hesitate to trade rasmus if the price was right, but then again; that goes for anyone on the roster.

and i really hope he didn't make the beeston story up as well because all his other points look fabricated or falsely interpreted by griffin.

chocolateSensi wrote:btw rhett, not to nitpick but I think its more like AA 'should' listen to offers for rasmus rather than 'would', and as an opinion (whether or not it's a valid one is very questionable) rather than a statement or even question.

it's just griffballs contiuning his legacy of being a hack imo

Good point, changed it. I wasn't even sure if it was kosher to post a Griffin article around here, or if it was basically like quoting Bleacher Report.

Reading it, Griff says that he would listen intently, not that he should. He's absolutely not giving advice, just suggesting what he thinks AA would do - kinda odd that you changed it from correct to something different.

That said, with Gose in the future, AA should absolutely listen to trade calls. I don't think he will/should trade him, but if somebody is going to offer an upgrade, then why not? There's no point having an emotional attachement to a player - if a trade makes the team better, do it.

I think that listening intently for any possible team upgrade is the job of the GM and I agree with Griffin in this case.

What if LA came along and offered Matt Kemp for Rasmus, Snider and a pitching prospect? Who cares if we've only given Rasmus 150 at bats?

I'd do it. Put Kemp in LF. Bring Gose to CF.

Same thing with the 4 LF's. What if we had a chance to upgrade with a Carlos Gonzalez?

Point is: the better your players are relative to the rest of the league, the more likely you are to win a lot of games. If the Jays have top 5 players in RF (Bautista), 3B (Lawrie), ss (Escobar), and 1b (Fielder, Votto) and top 10 players every where else, then this increases the likelihood the Jays will be in the playoffs.

So yes, I'd trade anyone who doesn't have top 10 potential at their position. 4 below average players and 1 superstar is better than 5 mediocre players (ranked between 10-20) at their position.

Parataxis wrote:Reading it, Griff says that he would listen intently, not that he should. He's absolutely not giving advice, just suggesting what he thinks AA would do - kinda odd that you changed it from correct to something different.

That said, with Gose in the future, AA should absolutely listen to trade calls. I don't think he will/should trade him, but if somebody is going to offer an upgrade, then why not? There's no point having an emotional attachement to a player - if a trade makes the team better, do it.

There's no way that we should be relying on Gose, or any other prospect, as if they're certain to waltz in and take the job.

Schadenfreude wrote:

Parataxis wrote:Reading it, Griff says that he would listen intently, not that he should. He's absolutely not giving advice, just suggesting what he thinks AA would do - kinda odd that you changed it from correct to something different.

That said, with Gose in the future, AA should absolutely listen to trade calls. I don't think he will/should trade him, but if somebody is going to offer an upgrade, then why not? There's no point having an emotional attachement to a player - if a trade makes the team better, do it.

There's no way that we should be relying on Gose, or any other prospect, as if they're certain to waltz in and take the job.

I never said we should. Gose was parenthetical to my point - that AA should listen intently to any trade proposal that might make the Jays better.

Parataxis wrote:I never said we should. Gose was parenthetical to my point - that AA should listen intently to any trade proposal that might make the Jays better.

Therein lies the rub: trading Rasmus is quite unlikely to make us better, given that we have absolutely no one capable of stepping in to center field (and there are few players league-wide who are better than stopgaps, and fewer still available).

Schadenfreude wrote:

Parataxis wrote:I never said we should. Gose was parenthetical to my point - that AA should listen intently to any trade proposal that might make the Jays better.

Therein lies the rub: trading Rasmus is quite unlikely to make us better, given that we have absolutely no one capable of stepping in to center field (and there are few players league-wide who are better than stopgaps, and fewer still available).

Which is why he's not likely to actually complete a trade of Rasmus. But if he's not listening to offers, he's not doing his job.

I know we haven't seen enough from a baseball standpoint, but I have to wonder if the Jays front office has seen enough from an attitude standpoint.

Someone mentioned earlier about Halladay not fitting in socially - that's not at all the same - Roy is a self starter who takes great pride in being the most prepared pitcher in baseball. He can not get involved in that part of the squad and still do his thing. Rasmus really seems like he'd rather be sipping back some Bud out in the woods hunting, but he just trots out onto the field every day because over controlling daddy makes him and it's far better pay than working at Bass Pro Shops.

And before I get lynched on the fact that shouldn't have anything to do with baseball, it unfortunately does matter with people like this. He can have all the tools and ability he wants, but if he just doesn't give a damn (and I'm ready to say he doesn't), it doesn't mean a damn.

I dare utter the name, but Colby reminds me of another Toronto athlete who let his attitude prevent him from achieving the supposed greatness he was destined to achieve, someone who would rather be a teacher or a sax player than deal with the grind and the pressure of being a professional athlete.

Let someone else give him chances 3 through 20 to grow up. I don't think it will happen with us; he hasn't been forsaken enough yet to at least compete hard out of spite.

Parataxis wrote:I never said we should. Gose was parenthetical to my point - that AA should listen intently to any trade proposal that might make the Jays better.

The same way AA "should" listen to trade offers for Bautista? Like generically AA should listen to trade offers? Or did Griffin attempt to drive the news here on Rasmus?

That said, Colby needs someone to remind him he plays frickin' baseball for a living, and it beats the heck out of swinging a hammer on the job-site somewhere in Georgia...

SharoneWright wrote:

Parataxis wrote:I never said we should. Gose was parenthetical to my point - that AA should listen intently to any trade proposal that might make the Jays better.

The same way AA "should" listen to trade offers for Bautista? Like generically AA should listen to trade offers? Or did Griffin attempt to drive the news here on Rasmus?

Two points.

Griffin never said that he 'should' listen to offers, only that he 'would'. Also, he mentioned Rasmus because he was asked about Rasmus; I'm sure if he was asked about Bautista, Snider, or etc, the answer woudl be the same - of course he'll listen to offers that may improve the team.

wait.... did this guy use to be the pr guy for les expos???

Again these are they exact same things that were being said about Escobar last year, given his terrible season and not liking it in St. Louis I can kinda understand just wanting the season to be over and starting fresh. Who cares if he would rather be hunting if goes out and OPS's at .860 again he can take a gun out and shoot birds from center for all I care. Both Rasmus and Snider should get at least 600 PA's next year, then we can judge them.

WpgPage wrote:Again these are they exact same things that were being said about Escobar last year, given his terrible season and not liking it in St. Louis I can kinda understand just wanting the season to be over and starting fresh. Who cares if he would rather be hunting if goes out and OPS's at .860 again he can take a gun out and shoot birds from center for all I care. Both Rasmus and Snider should get at least 600 PA's next year, then we can judge them.

It's not the same. Escobar improved almost right away after the trade here. He needed a change of scenery, Colby needs a lobotomy.