The Astros have announced that they made a qualifying offer to outfielder Colby Rasmus. The 29-year-old will have a week to decide whether to take the one-year, $15.8MM offer or instead hit the open market with draft compensation weighing him down.
Rasmus joined Houston on a one-year, $8MM pact last winter and obviously boosted his stock over the course of the season. Working in a semi-regular capacity, he slashed .238/.314/.475 with 25 home runs over 485 plate appearances.
Truth be told, Rasmus wasn’t that bad in 2014 with the Blue Jays. Though his on-base percentage fell below .300, he still contributed plenty of pop and carried an above-average overall batting line. A three-year look-back on Rasmus reveals a cumulative 116 OPS+ and 65 long balls spread over 1,319 plate appearances.
Better still, Rasmus seemingly remains young and mobile enough to play center field. He rated as a roughly average player there after posting poor metrics in an injury-plagued 2014. And both Defensive Runs Saved and UZR felt that Rasmus played a capable left and right field, adding to his versatility.
All told, that blend of youth, power, and defensive capability makes Rasmus seem like a good bet to receive a three or four-year deal as a free agent. (And it doesn’t hurt that he had a monster post-season run.) If the takes that route, though, the need for a signing team to sacrifice a draft pick could hurt his market. It’s certainly possible to imagine him (and other mid-tier free agents) landing with clubs that have already punted their top pick for a bigger fish.
Hmm.. is anyone giving this guy 3 years?
No way unless its an annual value of 7 million.
Crazy to sign this guy beyond one year. He wears out his welcome quickly every where he goes. Loner in the dressing and very weird overall. I spent a night out on the town with him with some friends. Different, but not different good.
Very surprised. A lot of $ for a guy who hit .238.
He best take the offer because he is worth about one third of that 15.8 mil. It is a 3 year paycheck for one good year and that is a maybe..
You think he’s worth $5.6 million, coming off a 2.6 WAR year and monster postseason, and being in the prime of his career? You having a lark?
Wow, I can only guess they are actually gambling that he won’t accept based on no other player ever accepting. I like the aggressive play but Rasmus is a bad deal for 15.8 and I cannot see any team signing him past a two year deal. This is one of those spots where they should give the player the whole offseason to accept if he cannot secure a better deal. That would keep teams from surpressing player contracts.
I second guessed a lot of Luhnows moves last offseason….and I’m going to start this offseason doing the same thing….Yikes that’s a lot of money
Houston should be praying that he doesn’t accept and some other team is foolish enough to sign him to a 3 or 4 year deal. Colby is a career .240 hitter with average power than strikes out approximately 30% of the time. Don’t see the attraction.
We have our first taker on a qualifying offer! No one is going to give up a pick to sign a 4th outfielder, no matter what type of post season he had. Who’s next? Delmon Young? He’s had some great post-seasons.
Consider the following. Rasmus could very well end up sitting on the sidelines of free agency and a team that goes on a spending binge signs him for a shorter, less expensive deal. Remember that once a team signs their first free agent with a QO the compensation drops to lower round picks. I could see Rasmus being signed by a team who moves aggressively to sign two top-tier free agents carrying QOs and then the signing of Rasmus would only cost a 3rd round pick.