In this article about Rasmus, check out the third to the last paragraph, LOL.
TORONTO - “He’s listening to somebody, he doesn’t listen to the Cardinal coaches much and that’s why he gets in these funks. If he would stay with what they teach, he would have ... but I actually feel concern for him, because he hears it from so many places, he’s got to be confused.”
— Tony La Russa on centre fielder Colby Rasmus, to KSDK-TV.
Not so, says the man supposedly in Rasmus’ ear.
“This is the second time Tony has said this in the last three weeks, the statement that Colby is listening to me is 100% fiction,” said Tony Rasmus, father of the Blue Jays’ new centre fielder, from Phenix City, Alabama.
Colby Rasmus, 24, the son was acquired in a busy day of dealing Wednesday.
Tony Rasmus, the father, coaches the Russell County High School Warriors, who won the 2005 national high school title going 38-1 with Colby hitting 24 home runs, breaking Bo Jackson’s Alabama state high school home run record.
Fathers are protective of their sons, it’s part of their job.
Tony Rasmus didn’t throw the first stone, but he was firing back.
In June of 2010 the father visited his son in St. Louis and worked on hitting: “We didn’t do anything serious. Colby told Tony about it. After last June that was the end of that,” said Tony Rasmus, who said four weeks ago the Cards and Colby were involved in talks on a four-year deal.
“Evidently Tony (La Russa) has absolutely made that stuff up. He’s got it on the brain. If I was working with my son I’d tell people.
“Tony needed pitching and wanted to force the GM into making a trade, so he belittled Colby to the fans.”
Besides adding right-handed starter Edwin Jackson, who the Jays had acquired from the White Sox earlier Wednesday, the Cards added relievers Marx Rzepczynski and Octavio Dotel from the Jays.
“Tony would like to have 25 pitchers,” Tony Rasmus said, “like he thinks he has to put his stamp on every ball game. They had nothing else to trade. I think everyone is better off now.”
The father spoke to his son Wednesday.
Said it’s the happiest he’s heard his son since double-A Springfield in 2007.
The father said his son “loved” the fans, the sea of red showing nightly at Busch Stadium and he “loved” the team, but he had a “hard time dealing with all the other stuff. This is a win-win.”
Jeff Luhnow, the Cards’ vice-president of player procurement, made Rasmus his first pick in the 2005 draft, causing La Russa, according to Tony Rasmus, to “make cracks how Colby was Luhnow’s boy and that led to (former GM) Walt Jocketty leaving.”
The father said it’s been like that for three seasons.
Although a year ago it didn’t bother Colby much: 28 doubles, three triples, 23 homers, 66 RBIs, and a .859 OPS which ranked behind Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier and Ryan Braun amongst outfielders last season.
“I’m not flying to Toronto to begin working on his hitting, we weren’t having a video conference every night,” Tony Rasmus said. “The last time I spoke to Colby about hitting, he was telling me what he and (hitting coach) Mike Aldrete had been working on, La Russa has it on the brain that I’m working with him. It’s not true.
“Put a kid on the field, if he’s not good enough to play, put his ass on the bench, never mind all this other stuff.”
Opposing scouts compare Rasmus to a Grady Sizemore or Jim Edmunds type.
His draft year he was clocked at 6.7 seconds over 60 yards.
Tony Rasmus says his son is coming to a “great hitter’s park,” but knows his son won’t be seeing any pitching staffs like the Houston Astros or Chicago Cubs in the American League East.
“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t blossom, being out from under all this,” Tony Rasmus said.
“There are three or four guys in the St. Louis clubhouse right now, thinking ‘oh-oh, who is the manager going to pick on next with Colby gone?’”
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