Colby Rasmus turns 38 today.
Colby was selected in the first round in 2005, 28th overall. We chose Ricky Romero 6th place.
He was on Baseball America Ranked in the top 100 candidates for three years in a row. Ranked 29th in 2007, 5th in 2008 and 3rd in 2009.
In 2009, Colby made the jump to the major leagues, hitting .251/.307/.407 with 16 home runs and earning Rookie of the Year honors along the way. Then Colby had a good 2010 season, hitting .276/.361/.498 with 23 home runs and a bWAR of 4.3. He looked like he was going to be the player the roster suggested he would be.
2011 didn’t go quite as well. Rasmus hit .246/.332/.420 and didn’t get along with his manager. Tony La Russa. La Russa, a rather fast-talking, “genius” manager, was not a slow-talking Southern fan. And, as I have often said, Colby was an outsider in the round world of baseball.
On July 27, the Blue Jays made two multi-player transfers. One with the White Sox Bring Edwin Jackson And Mark Teahen to the Jays.
The second was a more significant trade with the Cardinalssent Jackson, Octavio Dotel, Corey PattersonAnd Marc Rzepczynski to St. Louis for Colby, Trever Miller, Brian TallettAnd PJ WaltersThe Cardinals wanted to strengthen their bullpen, and Jackson completed their rotation (and they won the World Cup this year, so I’m sure they’re happy with the deal). Additionally, La Russa wanted to get rid of Rasmus. The Jays wanted a young player with a lot of potential.
I asked DanUpBaby from Viva El Birdos for a scouting report and he said:
Your COLBY RASMUS features HOME RUN ACTION, INTERMITTENTLY IMPRESSIVE DEFENSE ACTION, and DEBATABLY USEFUL SPEED ACTION. Please do not expose your COLBY RASMUS to direct sunlight, fans of MAKING THINGS HAPPEN on offense or TONY LA RUSSA.
He never lived up to our expectations. 2013 was pretty good, hitting .276/.338/.501 with 22 home runs in 118 games. But for the most part, he was inconsistent, battling persistent injuries and striking out too often.
His 2014 season did not go well. He was not happy. He said:
I lost a bit of that drive because so many people keep pestering and irritating me. And sometimes I felt like an animal in a zoo. You keep pestering it until one day it bites back.
He was clearly depressed. Like many others, he seemed to have problems with his parents, or at least his father. I’m not a fan of blaming parents, but most of us hear our parents’ thoughts in our heads when we do something. After he left the team, I said:
We all have those voices in our heads telling us we’re not good enough. Most of us learn to get over it, ignore it, and move on with life. Some use it to better themselves, “I’ll show them.” Colby doesn’t seem to be able to do that. He remembers all the little insults and carries them with him. He still talks about his issues with Tony LaRussa; it’s easy to say he should get over it, but he can’t.
He played several seasons with the AstrosThen he started the 2017 season with the Ray but let her go home. Then he started the 2018 season with the oriole but I went home again. This time it stayed that way.
I liked him. He occasionally shared his personality with us. On the “winter tour” he looked like he was having fun. I enjoyed the moments when he smiled. The little profile shows his apartment and him stopping for a chicken hot dog. I didn’t like the different hairstyles.
Happy birthday, Colby. I hope it’s a great birthday.
Melky Cabrera turns 40 today (wasn’t he 40 when he played with us?)
Melky spent two seasons of his 15-year MLB career with the Jays. In 227 games as a Blue Jay, he hit .293/.340/.421.
We were a little disappointed with his play as a Jay. He was slow and his outfield defense left a lot to be desired. We later found out that he was hampered by a tumor that had wrapped around his spine. He had a few injuries during his time in Toronto.
In his career, he hit .285/.334/.417 with 144 home runs in 15 seasons with the Yankees, White Sox, Royal, Jays, Pirates, Giants, Braves and Cleveland.
Happy birthday, Melky.
Michael Huff turns 61 today.
At the end of his seven-year MLB career, Huff spent three seasons (1994–1996) with the Jays.
He had one excellent year (.304/.382/.449) with 3 home runs in 80 games and two bad years (.232/.337/.333 and .172/.200/.241).
I remember that great year and think of him fondly.
Happy birthday, Mike.
Drew Storen turns 37 today.
We traded Ben Revere to the Nationals for Drew before the 2016 season, and, well, it didn’t go well. He had a 6.21 ERA when we traded him to the Mariners for Joaquin Benoit (which didn’t go much better).
Aside from his few months with the Jays, he was a good reliever and made 99 saves in his 8-year career.
Happy birthday, Drew.
