done deal - rolen for glaus

i heard rumblings of this trade a month or two back. i liked it then and i like it now even more. it's a great trade for the jays on paper and i hope that translates onto the field. there's many differing opinions on this trade, much of it centering around the health and durability of the two players. both have nagging injuries and have missed a lot of games in the last two years. at least their equals on that measure. anyone who doesn't see this as a win for both clubs is deluded. while i think the cardinals got the shorter end of this stick (i'm not saying much shorter, but shorter still), it's still good for both clubs. that's not up for debate, both come out in good shape.

here's the career lines on the two players


in every offensive category except home runs (where he is not very far behind anyway) rolen is a better player and easily has glaus beat on defense in the minds of all observers. rolen has two big edges in my mind - he hits for far better average and drives in a heck of a lot more runs. if there's two things the jays need are more men on base and more people to knock them in. well, who doesn't need that, but i'm saying the jays do more than a lot of teams(like the red sox for instance have absolutely no issues in this respect). how many times did their offense lose a gem of a game for halladay (there were a couple complete or near complete games he pitched where the offense didn't support him) due to a lack of run support.

back to the injury which everyone is harping on. not to dismiss it, it is a big issue, but rolen has taken quite a bit of time off to recoop the injury. i and the rest of the blue jays fans hope this means the return of the once pre-eminent third baseman in baseball. i'd like to believe that the team doctors have carefully evaluated this and set riccardi's mind at ease (same with the st.louis gm) that rolen will return to his past playing form or close to it. at the very least we're getting a better injured player than we have. glaus is no slouch, but if both are at the same level of injury proneness, i'll take rolen. we often times see a player who is injured or having difficulty in the clubhouse (or in this case both) flourish in a new setting and i eagerly await that happening here. best of luck to you glaus, you're a solid player, but i'm siding with rolen here.

and in parting, a passing shot at the leafs. it's refreshing to see a gm in toronto actually make moves to improve their team.