MVN - Most Valuable Network

Is Rasmus Ready?

With the departure of Jim Edmonds to San Diego, the St. Louis Cardinals have made it no secret that his intended successor is Colby Rasmus.  But having never played a single day at AAA, is he ready?  It was all but a sure thing that he was Memphis bound next year, but Jimmy’s departure will likely hasten his arrival in St. Louis.

Rasmus hit more home runs last season (29) than any player at the AA level.   And he played a major role in Team USA’s success this fall in a pre-Olympic tournament, hitting .382 and leading Team USA with seven extra base hits.

In my opinion, there is still no need to rush the Phoenix City, Alabama native.  He will only be 21 years old next spring training.  He will get plenty of opportunity this coming spring, but I think he would benefit greatly from coming here to Memphis for a while.  It is similar to the position that Rick Ankiel was in this time last season, in that he had incredible potential but needed at bats at AAA.

The Cardinals will likely put Ankiel in center field this season.  But if Rasmus is as good as he has shown, Rick shouldn’t get too comfortable.  Rasmus’ defense has been compared to Jimmy’s.  That is very reassuring considering that St. Louis’ elder statesman in the outfield is Chris Duncan in terms of games played.  And Duncan, while much improved, is no Jim Edmonds.

Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick can also play center till Rasmus’ day comes.  So what I am saying is that while Rasmus may be great, there is no need to rush and put him on our 2008 opening day roster.

What a great problem to have, right?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 pm and is filed under AAA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.