I’m sure many of you have heard about the proposed Glaus for Rolen deal. One concern I’ve heard is that the Cardinals aren’t getting any younger by doing this, and that all they are doing is accommodating Tony La Russa. The latter may be true, but the former isn’t quite true. Glaus has an option after this year. He has every incentive to have another 30-40 HR type of year and then opt out. If he does that, well then more compensation for the Cardinals.
Or, the Phillies and other teams have been looking in vain this winter for a 3B, even to the point of being interested in signing Pedro Feliz. If Glaus is healthy and can start off with a bang, then the Cardinals could opt to trade him at the deadline for prospects should they fall out of the race.
While I’m not crazy about Glaus considering his lack of fielding and his name being in the Mitchell Report and all, I personally am of the opinion that Rolen’s bat is not coming back. I love Rolen’s hustle and style of play, but I’m pretty sick of the whole soap opera and Rolen is so thin-skinned. This is the 2nd team he’s got himself traded off of because of his unhappiness. I think TLR and Rolen are both being pretty egotistical and petty, but I’m glad the drama is nearly over.
Filed under: Transactions
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
By, the way…if it hasn’t been addressed before, I love the videos on the sidebar. Keep them coming.
I am also not thrilled about Glaus’ connections to performance-enhancing drugs.
Why can’t the Cards just rebuild?
I agree with everything you said erik, but I’m not so sure Glaus can have a great year, he supposedly got his steroids after the 2003 season where he came off his 2nd straight year of an .800 OPS, and since after the year he did steroids he’s been declining. It looks like he did take the steroids for his injury though.
agree, what does a non-ped offensive year for glaus look like? overall, seems enough baggage with both that it should be even up, if at all. if not even, then need to work a bigger deal in which we get burnett or wait until spring and gamble rolen will show well, at least in the beginning.
In reference to Shhh
I think this could be counted as a rebuilding move for the cardinals. Many of the people talking about this trade are considering it pretty even talent wise (1 has the glove, 1 has the bat) so its almost likely keeping Rolen but knocking off 2 years of paying him $12 mil (and of course getting rid of the drama). It was pretty clear that no one was going to trade any type of prospect for Rolen so I doubt there’s much of an opportunity cost in that respect
1st time poster…long time reader…but i have to disagree with your evaluation of Glaus’ fielding abilities…he was drafted as a SS and is an above average defender according to most fielding projections (PMR, enchnaced ZR). It is def a defensive downgrade, but this should not be overstated because he is no slouch…thanks great website!!!
Also in reference to Shh:
As someone on the Sickels’s site just pointed out, if Glaus has a good year and opts out of his contract after 2008, he’ll get snapped up pretty quickly as a FA…which likely means Free Agent A compensation for the Cards, which goes a long way towards a rebuilding effort.
I hate player options and no trade clauses - Glauss comes with both. That said, I guess this is an OK deal. I hadn´t thought about the draft picks.
Yeah, if, Glaus has been declining since his steroid usage, and is on pace for a .800 OPS. Now I hope he has a great start and we trade him before the deadline or he becomes type A and we lose him and we end up saving 23M.
In regards to talent, I think Rolen is by far the more talented player, he’s just not healthy and may never be again. Rolen could arguably be a hall of famer right now although thats just based off a quick look at his WARP3. If healthy Rolen is also better with the bat, but thats the risk the Blue Jays took with Rolens health.
kory_wiu said “It was pretty clear that no one was going to trade any type of prospect for Rolen so I doubt there’s much of an opportunity cost in that respect”
I’m not sure about that, there were reports the Cardinals could have gotten Capuano and “top prospect” for Rolen with the Brewers taking on all of the salary, but the Cards didn’t want to do it because it was in division. Also, the Dodgers were pretty interested in Rolen.
I’m not saying it is a bad trade for the Cards just that I personally would have went after prospects. And maybe they did and no one obliged but I do believe a couple teams wanted Rolen bad enough to take a chance of him for a couple prospects.
The best thing to hope for is Glaus having a huge year this year.
I consider this a win just because we’re losing (at the least) one year of contract obligation. Hopefully Freese or Craig will be ready by then.
apparently in 2003 he had some shoulder problems of his own, so you can’t just blame the peds. glaus has been a big time power hitter forever. he hit 46 in 2000 and 41 in 08. i’m not sure, but i think he’s still the pac 10 HR record holder for most in a season with 34. if he’s healthy, i think he’s good for 30-35 bombs with or without peds
It looks like Glaus agreed to have his 09 option picked up by the Cards at around $12 mill. If we are truly in rebuilding mode by the trading deadline he might make a nice trade chip if he produces which I think he will and with the extra year guaranteed. Also I can see Pujols’ numbers spiking with a bonafied 4 guy in the lineup.
Erik and Az, love this site.
I’m a huge fan of the way Rolen plays the game (except when he is running into giant Koreans), but good god is he a twelve year old girl off the field.
Thanks for the memories, Scottie Ballgame, and best of luck north of the border, eh.
Now hurry up and retire so I can wear one of the two jerseys of yours I have to Busch.
Who knew erik was a fortune teller!?!
Awesome!!!! 41 homers for Glaus in ‘08!!!!!!!!!!
I guess this is a decent move for the Cardinals. It definitely improves their offensive outlook for 2008. Personall, though, I would have preferred them to wait until Spring Training, let Rolen get enough ABs to show he’s at least reasonably healthy, and then try to swap him for more young, nearly major league ready talent, rather than an over thirty player with health concerns of his own.
BTW, erik, I’m sure you posted this before some of the recent info on the deal came out, but the trade appears to be contingent on Glaus exercising his 2009 option. I’m sure that, to LaRussa and his ilk, that seems like a good idea, as now you’re guaranteed to have another year of Glaus. To me, it actually makes the trade less favourable, because there’s no way that Troy has a monster year then opts out, opening up the roster spot and clearing even more payroll space. Still, it’s a pretty good return. I still think they could have done better if they had just waited.
Also, I have to agree with Jeff. The video clips over on the sidebar are a fantastic new feature. I really like Aaron Crow’s delivery, at least what I can see at full speed. If you could teach him to finish his follow through a bit better and not rebound with his arm, he would have a nearly perfect delivery. Don’t hold me to that, though, I would have to see it in a high speed format to make sure there aren’t any funky spots in there. Great pace and aggressiveness, though. Looks pretty balanced, too. I’m intrigued.
Shoot.
I suppose I should have made sure I actually watched the whole clip before I said anything about it, rather than getting distracted by my cats fighting midway through and looking away.
Seeing the slow motion stuff, I still like his delivery. I don’t see any particularly high stress positions in his mechanics, which is probably the most important thing to look for in a situation like this. He looks like his follow through varies a little from pitch to pitch, as if his timing within his delivery isn’t quite internalised. That’s the only quibble I have with what the kid does, and that’s pretty minor in a player who’s still developing. If he’s available at #13, I think he’s be a really nice draft pick for the Cards, even given my long standing preference for High Schoolers.
Yeah. Definitely needs to get a little further out over his front leg by the time he finishes with his arm; he still lands on a bit of a stiff front leg. I think keeping his glove hand more out in front of him and taking his chest into his glove would help with that.
Sorry about the multiple posts, and the threadjack. I just started watching the video and got carried away.
i don’t like the little wrist curl thing he does at the back of his delivery, but besides for that and the slight recoil it does look pretty good.
red baron, if you want to check out more videos of prospects head over to capeprospects.com. possible cardinal draft picks include christian friedrich and yonder alonso. also if you like pitchers check out ryan perry. he has some wild thing glasses on in the video, and like rick vaughn he has some electric stuff.
All trades come with risks. The biggest one here is that one guy’s injury is worse than the other guy’s. As someone on VEB pointed out we wouldn’t want to wager on our doctors’ opinions vs. anybody else’s. Beyond that, though, it seems like a very good solution. Supposedly Glaus would really prefer to be on the left coast. If that’s true we still might be able to get Laroche or someone similar iin a mid season trade just the way we might have if Rolen had played his way back into respectability. It also puts one position at rest for a while so that we can concentrate on beefing up others, shortstop for one and shortstop for another.
fewgoodcards-
Thanks for the tip on the cape site; I hadn’t gotten over there before. It is now properly bookmarked.
You know, I was looking at that little wrist wrap thing, and thought about commenting on it, but I couldn’t tell how much of it was a real wrap, and how much of it could have been the camera angle, so I let it go. (I couldn’t see it from the side view to get a better look.) If it’s not an optical illusion, though, then I’m not real fond of it either, but it doesn’t seem like a huge deal either way. Andrew Miller had a pretty pronounced wrist wrap when he came out of college, and his coaches have done quite a bit of work with him to tone it down, and he’s made some nice progress. Of course, he still throws across his body as much as any pitcher I’ve ever seen, but he doesn’t curl his wrist nearly as much.
Has anyone thought of the possibility of Glaus having a huge first half and then the Cards flipping HIM for prospects? It seems teams in contention are usually looking for a strong bat at the trading deadline rather than a good glove. And Glaus definitely has a better chance of showing up offensively than Rolen in my opinion.
Ah. and now I see that Snim had the same idea as I.
er, and me tom…
Tom, I doubt Glauss waived his no trade clause to come to STL without insisting that he also have the no trade privalege once he got here.
ha. my mistake erik. Great minds?
Me too Tom, but then my apologies to Snim and Erik.
Sorry to easy as well. On mlbtraderumors they reported that the Cardinals asked Glaus to exercise his ‘09 option prior to the trade so that probably does away with that theory. Just speculating, but what if Rolen fails his physical? We’re stuck with him for three more years and he becomes basically untradeable?