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In the wake of the Rasmus trade, I loathed the fact that we were handing CF over to a guy with a .775 minor league OPS who'd happened to have a hot few weeks in the majors. Oops. I also thought Troy Glaus was gonna make us forget Rolen ever existed.

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While Jay's outperformed most people's expectations, it still sticks in my craw that the only remaining player we have from the Toronto deal is the severely underperforming Rzepczynski, while Rasmus is playing like an all world CF in Toronto.

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Hey, we got a few draft picks too from losing the guys that came over.

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Yeah, I understand, but I rationalize it with the WS championship that I don't think we would've won without making that trade.

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"I love to play this game of baseball - I love putting on this uniform."

Had the cardinals not won the WS last year, this board would be a vitriolic place right now.

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Yeah, it's pretty hard to make a trade to benefit the team in the short-term, without giving up something in the long-term. Multiple teams do it every year. Fortunately, the Cardinals pulled the right strings. Rasmus' career will come & go, but pennants fly forever.


Edit: Plus, the Cards got a couple of comp. picks out of that trade that could eventually help the team.

Specifically, they got a guy who hit .262 vs. college pitching and a high school catcher without power whose hit tool has also been questioned.

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Oh good, let's devote another thread to the Rasmus trade.

Back on topic--I was not a member of this forum in 2006 but I freely admit that I was on the side of the Molina skeptics. I think it wasn't just how badly he hit, but his trajectory. Bad hitter in 2004 as Matheny's backup, slightly worse hitter in 2005 as the everyday catcher, then an even worse hitter in '06. Of course we have seen since then that he has hit better every year, a 2010 setback aside.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

Wisdom is currently hitting .304 against professional pitching.

And that pennant is still flying today, as far as I know.

I was on the Molina bandwagon. Was absolutely stunned by his arm, and felt that a guy that can avoid K's as well as he could should be able to adjust with time and at least be a high average hitter, and for a catcher, I was happy with that. Then again I always defended defensive catchers when people claim their defense isn't as valuable as old schoolers believe.

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