Colby Rasmus was back in the Cardinals’ lineup yesterday for the first time in two weeks, and after the game the 24-year-old center fielder and manager Tony La Russa denied the reported “rift” between them.
Rasmus said: “From my side, me and Tony, we’re on good terms.”
However, in downplaying their “issues” that have been reported extensively this month La Russa admitted that the two “had a heated exchange earlier this season” and still took a few jabs at Rasmus:

There is no issue. I feel like he’s got a chance to be a really good player. He’s young. He’s learning. Even while he’s been inconsistent, he’s still a good player. Colby believes he needs to hit for power to make a mark. I stress to him if he can hit .300, he’ll help us a lot more than that. In that .300, there will be home runs. But there will also be going first to third, stealing bases, using his legs. He’s young. In the back of his mind, he knows if he catches one, it’s going.

Keep in mind that earlier this week St. Louis Post Dispatch beat reporter Joe Strauss speculated that “either La Russa or Rasmus is gone from St. Louis before the 2011 season” and columnist Bernie Miklasz opined that the La Russa-Rasmus situation “is very strange and it must end.”
Perhaps the whole thing has been overblown or perhaps La Russa and Rasmus are simply trying to play nice for the rest of the season, with La Russa struggling to do so without still taking the young player down a few notches in the media. Either way, outwardly at least Rasmus is saying all the right things and at 24 years old he’s been one of the best all-around center fielders in baseball, so I tend to think he’s a bigger part of the Cardinals’ future than La Russa.