So much for the fresh start north of the border.
Things weren't going particularly well for Colby Rasmus before the St. Louis Cardinals shipped him to the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-team deal at the trade deadline last year, and they only got worse in the aftermath of the trade. After batting .246 with 11 home runs and 46 RBIs in 338 at-bats with the Cardinals before the swap, the disgruntled center fielder hit just .173 with a .201 OBP and three homers and 13 RBIs in 133 at-bats upon joining the Blue Jays.
Drafted by the Cardinals in the first round of the 2005 draft, Rasmus was widely considered to be a future star. Baseball America ranked him as the fifth-best prospect in baseball in 2008 and the third-best in 2009. There was a time when, from an offensive perspective, Rasmus appeared to possess a power/speed skill set similar to Grady Sizemore's. Sizemore hasn't been fantasy-relevant for a few years due to injury issues, but he used to be one of the most coveted outfielders in fantasy, producing three 20/20 campaigns and once going 30/30. Rasmus has obviously fallen well short of those aspirations thus far, and while last season's struggles shouldn't lead fantasy owners to give up on the former Cardinal, it's fair to say he's lost some of his sheen from just a few years ago.
If you're in a forgiving mood, there are reasons we should perhaps give Rasmus a free pass for his poor performance last year. It's always difficult to know how much to take off-field issues into account when evaluating players, but it's no secret that the young outfielder had a tumultuous relationship with manager Tony La Russa in St. Louis and didn't respond well to the skipper's management style. According to a recent story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Rasmus never felt comfortable in St. Louis, never felt a part of the team, felt the media was always on him and "couldn't relax and play." Rasmus' outspoken father, who often voiced his dissenting opinion about the Cardinals' coaching methods, probably didn't help matters.
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