Cardinals, Blue Jays Swap Third Basemen
Once again I’m a little late delivering the goods because I wanted to make sure there were actual goods to deliver. In this case, it turns out there are.
The St. Louis Cardinals have traded third baseman Scott Rolen to the Toronto Blue Jays for third baseman Troy Glaus. Fun trade. Rolen is 33 and has battled shoulder problems, while Glaus is 31 and has battled foot problems.
Career lines:
Rolen: 6380 PA, .283/.372/.507, 126 OPS+
Glaus: 5203 PA, .254/.358/.500, 121 OPS+
2007 lines:
Rolen: 441 PA, .265/.331/.398, 89 OPS+
Glaus: 456 PA, .262/.366/.473, 120 OPS+
Yikes, Rolen’s power has disappeared.
Peak lines:
Rolen: 593 PA, .314/.409/.598, 157 OPS+ (2004, age 29)
Glaus: 678 PA, .284/.404/604, 150 OPS+ (2000, age 23)
Both of these guys at one point in their careers appeared to be headed along a Hall of Fame career path. Well, maybe not Glaus, but still, a guy who puts up those numbers at age 23 has to be considered dangerous. Unfortunately, he’s missed huge chunks of three different seasons since then and settled into the “useful when healthy” category of player.
Rolen? I have a soft spot because I drafted him in a Scoresheet league when he was at Double-A Reading (come to think of it, I drafted Glaus in another league before the Angels even signed him). Anyway, he hit .290/.391/.532 at age 23, which also maybe gave a little false hope of things to come.
Here’s what I don’t get. When the Phillies moved Rolen in 2002, I thought part of the problem that he couldn’t play on artificial turf. Either technology has improved since then, or that was really code for “Get me the heck away from Larry Bowa.”
Tags: artificial_turf, baseball, foot_problems, hall_of_fame, larry_bowa, mlb, phillies, scott_rolen, shoulder_problems, st_louis_cardinals, third_baseman, toronto_blue_jays, troy_glausRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Hot Stove, Transactions
1 opinion for Cardinals, Blue Jays Swap Third Basemen
Josefa
Feb 19, 2008 at 3:21 am
The biggest concern with the heat coming off the fields was for the players health.Artificial turf Looks and feels like real grass for less than real grass!
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