Adam Lind says Blue Jays will smile more without Colby Rasmus
Last week current broadcaster and former major league catcher Gregg Zaun weighed in on the atmosphere in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse last season. In particular, Zaun was critical of Brett Lawrie, who appeared to be a future franchise player but fell short of expectations before being traded to Oakland last November.
Unfortunately, that conversation took a turn toward hazing and other controversial opinions that caused a stir and ended up overshadowing the clubhouse issues. But now Adam Lind, who was traded from Toronto to Milwaukee in November, is weighing in as well to give us his perspective.
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Speaking to the media after a batting practice session on Tuesday, Lind opened up on the Blue Jays clubhouse and the perception that their offseason overhaul — which saw himself, Lawrie, Colby Rasmus, Melky Cabrera, Brandon Morrow and closer Casey Janssen all leave through one avenue or another — was done to change the culture. Lind says he doesn’t see much changing in the clubhouse overall, but that the subtraction of Rasmus would go over very well.
“They haven’t changed the culture of the clubhouse,” Lind said. “They’re my friends, but the guys who still run it are still there. Jose Bautista is the voice among position players and Mark Buehrle runs the starting pitchers.
“There might be a few more smiles with Colby gone.”
The first takeaway here is that veterans Jose Batista and Mark Buehrle are the dominant voices in the Blue Jays clubhouse, although Lind didn’t make it completely clear if that’s a good thing or part of a bigger problem. What was clear though was his parting shot at Rasmus, who was known to rub teammates, coaches and even fans the wrong way during his time with the St. Louis Cardinals.
In fact, when Rasmus was traded to Toronto back on July 27, 2011, it was basically a final straw moment for the former first round draft pick after he elected to work out his hitting issues with his father rather than Cardinals batting instructor Mark McGwire. There were issues with manager Tony La Russa preceding that, which basically began the day he was called up to the big leagues. That led to a blowup in Sept. of 2010, with Rasmus expressing displeasure in how he was being used.
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With that said, it’s not clear what the issues were in Toronto, but a piece from Bluebird Banter last September suggests Rasmus was burned out toward the end of the season and simply wasn’t receptive to critiques. That he knows how to hit, but doesn’t know how to adjust or deal with adversity on the field.
It’s easy to see how that attitude could rub teammates the wrong way and create a negative perception, but it doesn’t make him a bad person. It just makes him Colby Rasmus. Maybe this is something the Houston Astros, his new team, can help him work through. Maybe it’s not. It’ll take some patience on their side and some cooperation from Rasmus, but it’s an effort worth making to help harness the talents of an undeniably skilled baseball player.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
