For a couple weeks now, there's been speculation about whether the St. Louis Cardinals would be willing to deal center fielder Colby Rasmus, and most of the discussions have ended with a "probably not" or something along those lines. But things are getting a bit stirred up today, as Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that the Cardinals are discussing a possible Rasmus with the Chicago White Sox of all teams.
While this rumor is fairly surprising, some deeper thinking does make one realize that this kind of deal could actually make a lot of sense. The Cardinals have been souring on Rasmus for a while now, and at this point you have to wonder if they'd rather just move forward with Jon Jay in center.
Meanwhile, the White Sox have a set outfield, but Alex Rios and Juan Pierre have been so bad that Rasmus is precisely the kind of acquisition that could allow the White Sox to alter their lineup and possibly get their offense going. A Rasmus trade would likely push Rios to a corner spot, with Pierre becoming a frequently-played fourth outfielder.
Strauss speculates that Edwin Jackson and Matt Thornton could be of interest to St. Louis, but that the Cardinals will still be looking at minor league talent and could look into adding a third team into the talks to facilitate a deal. It should be extremely fascinating to see what kind of value teams assign to Rasmus, given that many evaluators out there still view the young outfielder as a potential superstar that's soon going to enter his prime.