I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a bigger or faster red flag than the one that went up when the Blue Jays acquired Colby Rasmus.
Rasmus was part of a 3 team multi-player deal, that apparently included his father, Tony, as part of the deal.
Tony Rasmus is an accomplished baseball person I’m sure, with a lengthy background in the game, and granted he knows his son and his baseball swing well and as such, the Jays, curiously, have opened the door for consultation and swing maintenance from the elder Rasmus for the Jays’ Rasmus
RED FLAG !!
To me, that’s incredible, almost unbelievable, that a Major League operation in any sport, would invite, and, it seems, consider input, from the parent of a player.
And Father Tony, apparently knows how to get attention, as moments after arrival he raked the St Louis Cardinals and Manager Tony LaRussa for their inability to get the best from Colby.
RED FLAG II.
Who’s to say, the Jays will get the best from young Rasmus ?
Will coaching and parental philosophies collide ?
And if things go south, how long before Daddy starts blasting the Jays in the same manner he carved the Redbirds ?
There are crackpot parents everywhere in sports.
I know this. Sadly, I often see it, or hear it.
We don’t have to go to far back in the hockey history of this city to see how the departure of several kids was more a shedding of the parents than the players.
Still, at the ultimate level in professional sports, to even entertain consultation from a players parent is staggering and all I see going forward is the red flag tossed last week.
I’m Fred Wallace