Rasmus for Edwin Jackson? Perish the thought
Joe Strauss carries the latest rumor about Colby Rasmus in today’s Post-Dispatch:
Publicly insistent that they are not seeking a destination for center fielder Colby Rasmus, the Cardinals have made the struggling 24-year-old talent available for the right deal with the Chicago White Sox, according to several sources familiar with the situation.
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Negotiations with White Sox general manager Kenny Williams have accelerated in recent days, according to sources, with the Sox able to make available pending free agent pitcher Edwin Jackson or high-salary lefthanded reliever Matt Thornton.
Strauss is careful not to directly connect Rasmus with Jackson; indeed, it’s possible that the Cardinals could acquire Jackson (or Thornton, for that matter) without the carrot of Rasmus. Regardless, is Jackson a player that would help the Cardinals?
It’s true that the team could benefit from a solid starter. We’ve noted that Kyle Lohse and Jake Westbrook are insufficient for the rotation’s back end during a stretch drive and possible playoff run. Jackson is a curious case: Perhaps due to his middling record (55-58) and mediocre ERA (4.53), he is often overlooked and has been with five teams in the last six years. But he is a surprisingly valuable pitcher, having improved his lot each year since becoming a regular starter.
And yet he’s still probably not as good as his 2011 xFIP indicates: ZiPS figures him at a 4.27 ERA/4.00 FIP the rest of the year. As far as the Cardinals are concerned, that’s somewhere in-between Lohse (4.42/3.78) and Westbrook (4.31/4.23).
It’s very discouraging to read that the Cardinals are considering trading Rasmus, evidently over a personality conflict (the latest victim in a long line of tyrannical Don Tony’s rub-outs). It is breathtakingly shortsighted to trade him for a centerpiece of a rental pitcher who doesn’t stand to help the team considerably over what they already have. Edwin Jackson may be worth a phone call from John Mozeliak, but even Mozeliak should have enough sense to hang up when the conversation involves Rasmus. If he is even going to have a hope of Albert Pujols returning, he needs to consider his lineup beyond 2011.