Colby Rasmus will soon become a free agent for the first time in his career and while he has said since Day 1 of of Spring Training that his focus is solely on helping the Toronto Blue Jays win games, he will get very few opportunities to do that over the final month of the season.
Once the everyday centre-fielder, Rasmus has been relegated to the role of fifth outfielder, behind Anthony Gose and Kevin Pillar.
“The organization is looking for some things out of these young guys and trying to see what they’ve got. My spot is, I guess you can say, is up for grabs. I’ll be coming in everyday pulling for these guys, hoping they do well,” Rasmus said.
Those words make it pretty clear that Rasmus and the Blue Jays will part ways once the season ends. On Tuesday he sat for a second straight game, despite the Rays starting a right-handed pitcher.
Rasmus hasn’t helped his cause for much of the season, hitting just .225/.287/.438/.726 along with 16 home runs, 37 RBI and 116 strikeouts in 95 games, but he feels his poor numbers have more to do with the shift rather than any lack of effort on his part.
“When I came over here I wanted to do the best I could and play as hard as I could. I feel like did that. I played hard, diving on that turf and running into walls for the team. I did the best I could with what I was given,” said Rasmus.
Not playing the rest of the way will not help him when it comes to landing a new deal in the off-season, but he’s not about to make a stink about not getting a chance to finish strong and improve his value.
“I have no leverage in the situation,” Rasmus said. “I’m just going to come in here and be ready to play and in the off season assess where I’m at.”
Of course Rasmus isn’t happy with what’s happening now but, so far, he’s handling this surprisingly well.
After going through some trying times under Tony La Russa in St.Louis, Rasmus was becoming a good fit for the Jays on the field and in the clubhouse and unlike his final season with the Cards, he feels the Jays have handled the situation in a professional way.
“They’ve been honest with me, I was told I was going to give way to some of these younger guys to see what they have here in this last little bit of time,” added Rasmus.
Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, his last bit of time with the Blue Jays will be spent in the dugout as cheerleader.
