In a market already flooded with quality outfielders, Colby Rasmus will be accepting the qualifying offer of 15.8 million dollars. The market for outfielders next year looks to be much thinner, and it’s likely Colby is betting on himself to have a great year and head into the small pond a big fish.
Fan Interference 
This makes 100% total sense. Nice salary. Already knows the team. Wouldn’t get a better or much longer deal with the QO attached. He really seems like a guy that will spend the rest of his career going from team to team each year…may as well make $15.8M for the privilege and get to stay in the same place for another year.
c’mon John Lackey…make it 2..
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That bubble of non-acceptance of the QO had to burst eventually, and with the sheer number of them given out, it sure felt like this was the year it was going to happen.
Still think there’s a small handful of starting pitchers that might end up accepting the QO too, for pretty much the same reason as I assume Rasmus is….it’s not a great year to be a fringe-y FA with a draft pick penalty attached to you.
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I wonder how Scott Boras feels about this move.
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Just taking a wild guess, but I’m pretty sure he was pissed about it. He’s been pretty anti-QO, a stance that may have actually hurt some of his players in the past a little, But a player taking the QO means that now others are more likely to do so, and that may weaken his bargaining stance a little. While the QO system is already exceptionally team friendly, if players get it the habit of accepting them, it’ll be even more so.
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Yeah, I’m not entirely sure how pissed he’d be about it – he is the one who had Greg Maddux accept arbitration with the Braves, getting him a pretty high one-year payday and getting him to FA the following year without draft pick compensation.
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Okay, I’ll get it out of the way by saying that this isn’t my wildest dream. I wanted Colby to turn it down and for the Astros to get a draft pick and a shot at Alex Gordon.
But this makes a lot of sense in several ways, too. First for Colby – or as New York Len calls him – the “Road Kill Hillbilly.” The guy is a flake. But he generated genuine vibes of being happy in Houston, and I think that played into the equation. Hinch kind of laid off of him, and Jeff Luhnow was the guy who drafted him. He told the press something to the effect that this was the first happy year he had played at the Majors. So I think it was an easier decision for that reason.
Now, the Astros. Their needs are, in order and in my opinion
First Base
RP (probably two)
SP
Catcher
3B
Then you worry about left field. For a medium overpay, you have locked down LF with a really talented defender who brings some real power. So you can go worry about all of those other needs, and maybe afford a big name free agent. Besides, when they cut Carter and Gattis, they save back a lot of Colby’s salary. And they have a couple of outfield prospects working their way up.
All told, not a dream deal but a reasonable deal.
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I honestly thought the Tigers would go for him.
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