The day after trading their center fielder, the Houston Astros have a new one, as they've reportedly agreed to a one-year contract with Colby Rasmus.
Rasmus, who spent the last three years and change with the Toronto Blue Jays, is reunited with Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, who was the vice president of player procurement (fancy!) for the St. Louis Cardinals when they drafted Rasmus in the first round of the 2005 draft.
Rasmus' deal with the Astros is for one year, according to multiple reports, and worth $8 million, per Matt Yallof of MLB Network. The first rumblings of Ramsus signing with the Astros came Tuesday when he was spotted by an Astros fan at a Houston hotel. The fan then relayed that intel to the Astros blog Crawfish Boxes. Soon reporters were on the case, found out he was there for a physical and there was a deal in place.
MLB.com's Brian McTaggart and Joe Frisaro caught up with Rasmus, who spoke highly of his relationship with Luhnow:
"He was the scouting director in St. Louis and I've always been pretty tight with him," Rasmus told MLB.com. "He was always good to me. I think he's been good through this process."
"I've always liked playing against the Astros and the way they've handled themselves," Rasmus said before reportedly reaching an agreement. "I played with Lance Berkman, who was loyal in his time here. That was something that was on my mind, hearing him talk about it. Obviously, Jeff being the scouting director that drafted me, it looks pretty enticing."
Rasmus' best season came in 2013, when he hit 22 homers and knocked in 66 runs with a .276 batting average and an .840 OPS. He's a lefty bat with some pop, though he does strike out often, which seems to be a familiar problem for Houston.
Chris Carter and George Springer, two of their best home-run hitters last season, are K machines. Evan Gattis, who the Astros acquired last week, won't help bring the strikeouts down either. But, hey, Mike Trout strikes out a lot and he won the MVP.
The question is how all this comes together for the Astros. Are they just trying to put together a team that will hit homers, whiff big and be fun to watch? Or do they think they can contend?
With Springer, Gattis, Carter, Rasmus and Jose Altuve, plus more young players on the way, the Astros will certainly be interesting. But their starting rotation — led by Scott Feldman, Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh — probably isn't good enough to turn a team that won 70 games in 2014 into an AL West contender in 2015.
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