According to the Post-Dispatch, Scott Rolen is willing to waive the no-trade clause in his contract if it will help him escape from manager Tony Larussa. It's hard to know whether that's good news or bad for Cards fans. Scott has all the tools but he's also been incredibly brittle, averaging one surgery a year for the past three years. And with three years and $36 million left on his contract, the Red Birds would likely have to trade down or eat part of that salary given the question marks associated with his shoulder.
In other Cardinal news, the Cards paid reserve outfielder So Taguchi $100,000 rather than pick up his $1.1 milion option for 2008 although there's a chance they still offer him a contract. So batted .290 last year but struggled defensively (as did a lot of Cardinals). And finally, how can pass over Yadi Molina the give the Gold Glove to Russell Martin (who will probably drop it on the way back to his seat at the awards ceremony)?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I say get what we can out of Rolen while he’s still worth something.
Tim, I think it’s a bit late for that.
Get whatever you can for him. Couple of practice jersey’s and a water cooler’s better than paying a guy Ol’ Man LaRussa’s just gonna make ride the pine.
Yeah, the article said the Cardinals basically wouldn’t ask for anything in return and any deal would essentially be a salary dump. While I love Scotty, I think at this point his contract is hurting us more than he’s helping us. Like I said before there are only so many places to put a bat and third base is one of them. We desperately need a power threat behind Pujols and I think 3b would be an easy place to find that.
Rolen’s a gamble but, given the number of places where the Cards need to improve, I wouldn’t trade him until they have a proven player on board to take his place.
Pops, I think Ryan proved he can play last year don’t you? Obviously Tony doesn’t like young guys but he doesn’t like Rolen either so what’s the difference?
@RumorMill: point, set and match to you!
Rolen should be healthy this year, I would wait on him and hope he will produce then trade him before the trade deadline, you could potentially get more for him that way.
BT, what do you base that on? Rolen “should have been” healthy lots of years that he wasn’t.
Check out the Bernie Miklasz column in today’s Post-Dispatch. Basically, we’re stuck with Rolen’s salary so, according to Bernie, we might as well gamble on getting something out of him since we won’t get anything for him.
Pops, there’s a reason Bernie is a sports writer and not a GM. I think he automatically assumes that no one would want to take a risk on Rolen and from the rumors I’ve been reading that’s not accurate. It looks like the Yankees and Angels might be interested and I’d imagine there would be a couple more teams who would take him in a package deal. If we could get a mediocre pitcher for Rolen and Reyes would you pull the trigger? I think I probably would if we could free up the 12 mil a year we owe Scotty.
I would definantly package Reyes and Rolen for salary releif and an average pitcher who can give us some innings. I read a lot about the Twins, who have extra pitchers. Check out vivaelbirdos.com November 11th blog.
The Cardinals will miss the 30 games a year when he is healthy and plays well.
Chuck, I’m afraid you’re right. Unfortunately, no one else is going to be willing to pay for those 30 games.