As fun as his postseason has been, I don't think anyone will care much if they lose Rasmus. Springer, Correa, Altuve, Keuchel, McCullers, maybe even McHugh, Carter, and Gomez, fans would notice and be annoyed. But Rasmus? He seems like an easily replaceable take it or leave it guy. His hot streak is well timed, but there's no reason to think he'd duplicate it in a future postsesaon - he's not a budding superstar type like Beltran was in his monster postseason.
Yeah, I get that. The only reason we'd need to hold onto Rasmus for a couple more years is to bridge the gap until our future stud OFers are ready. I don't think Preston is ready for that type of responsibility yet. Maybe it's Rasmus, maybe it's another OFer via trade or FA, but we're going to need somebody to bridge that gap.
That's my main reason for wanting to keep Rasmus. Tucker can hit, but is a train wreck defensively. Marisnick is a monster in the field, but can't hit reliably enough. On top of that Springer and Gomez seem highly likely to at least miss some time between them There are no good options with our prospects right now, and the free agent market is thin aside from a couple of guys that are gonna command monster contracts. Letting Rasmus go would create a hole on the major league roster.
I don't know who's on the FA market yet. But are you saying there are basically a few elite guys, then Rasmus, then league average replacements? If so, that would imply that Rasmus will get a larger contract than he deserves due to scarcity. If not...then there are likely other options at Rasmus's level. It's hard to imagine that Rasmus is the only option that doesn't command a "monster contract", and yet no one will come in and overpay him.
Justin Upton LF 28 SD TBD $14,708,333 UFA Torii Hunter RF 40 MIN TBD $10,500,000 UFA Dexter Fowler CF 29 CHC TBD $9,500,000 UFA Alex Rios RF 34 KC TBD $9,500,000 UFA Denard Span CF 31 WSH TBD $9,000,000 UFA Jason Heyward RF 26 STL TBD $8,300,000 UFA Colby Rasmus LF 29 HOU TBD $8,000,000 UFA Rajai Davis LF 34 DET TBD $5,000,000 UFA Matt Joyce DH 31 LAA TBD $4,750,000 UFA Yoenis Cespedes LF 29 NYM TBD $3,729,508 UFA Ben Zobrist RF 34 KC TBD $2,827,868 UFA Chris Denorfia RF 35 CHC TBD $2,600,000 UFA Corey Hart RF 33 PIT TBD $2,500,000 UFA Chris Young CF 32 NYY TBD $2,500,000 UFA Gerardo Parra RF 28 BAL TBD $2,215,505 UFA Don Kelly CF 35 MIA TBD $1,250,000 UFA Shane Victorino RF 34 LAA TBD $1,172,677 UFA Will Venable CF 32 TEX TBD $1,091,530 UFA Austin Jackson CF 28 CHC TBD $1,000,000 UFA Reed Johnson LF 38 WSH TBD $1,000,000 UFA Kyle Blanks LF 29 TEX TBD $1,000,000 UFA Jeff Francoeur RF 31 PHI TBD $925,000 UFA Jonny Gomes LF 34 KC TBD $371,585 UFA Nolan Reimold LF 32 BAL TBD $288,415 UFA Franklin Gutierrez CF 32 SEA TBD $285,642 UFA Alejandro De Aza LF 31 SF TBD $278,961 UFA Grady Sizemore RF 33 PHI TBD $274,549 UFA Drew Stubbs CF 31 TEX TBD $91,516 UFA Tony Gwynn Jr. LF 33 WSH TBD - UFA Carlos Quentin LF 33 SEA TBD - UFA Roger Bernadina LF 31 COL TBD - UFA
Oh yeah - I'm not arguing against signing him or saying he doesn't have value. Just meant to say that I don't think there's an issue of upsetting the fans with him, so he doesn't have that leverage. It will be interesting to see how happy he really is in Houston and how unhappy he really was everywhere else - and how much of a potential discount that could generate. And, of course, what he does the rest of the postseason still will play a factor. If he continues this hot streak and carries the team to a World Series title and becomes a Houston hero, it changes the whole dynamic. If he and the team go down quietly today, then he gets evaluated much more on his overall season performance.
In terms of available OFers, he'd be #1 on my list. I would love to see him team with Gomez and Springer.
Looking at that free agent list I am amazed at how high Fowler ranks in terms of salary compared to his production. Dude must have an amazing agent. He will likely end up with over $100 million in lifetime earning for a player who is the definition of mediocre.
same agent that (I assume) forced/convinced the Astros to play him in CF to keep his value up even when we should've had him in LF
I want him back but I also know, like in every other sport, all it takes is one team to show him the jack.
Yup, given the Orioles run at him last year, and their roster largely leaving this offseason, they could be the ones to pony up that offer. I'd also look at higher payroll teams that missed the playoffs, maybe LAA or WAS, or even SF. I also wonder if Rasmus' comments about HOU's locker room, and "loving his teammates" is really partially a ruse to fix his clubhouse image.
JD Martinez would be ideal at LF right about now. I still can't believe we let him go for absolutely nothing.
We've been over this, but we have a lot of new people to the forum. Every team in baseball passed on Martinez. We put him on waivers and not a single team claimed him. The best he could do was sign a minor league deal with the Tigers. It looks bad in retrospect, but at the time literally zero teams thought he was worth having on their MLB roster. So every team except Detroit should feel terrible about his success, he could have been had for free.
I'll be gutted if we don't go big to keep Rasmus with us. Whilst not being full-on dynamite at the plate this guy is money, a big game player capable of big clutch hits at home and on the road against anyone, has decent defense and also carries a fair amount of leadership qualities whilst being pretty much a perfect fit for us. Definitely want him with us next season.
Yep. Not to mention that he had plenty of opportunities here and still couldn't produce. Also, by the same token, we should pat ourselves on the back for finding McHugh off the scrapheap when no one wanted him either. There are 2 versions of these stories
I would agree with two of your points - he's not dynamite at the plate; decent defense (he's actually a really good defensive outfielder). The Astros are not dumb enough to overpay for a hot week or two. I mean, he slugged .313 in the 4 huge games in Arlington last month - where was his big-game, clutch-y leadership while the division slipped away from them? Colby Rasmus is a nice player - but, IMO, he has too many issues the Astros need to collectively upgrade: he doesn't walk; he strikes out way too much; and he's an overall streaky hitter.
