Glaus / Rolen Trade

Scott Rolen has been traded from the Cardinals to the Blue Jays in exchange for Troy Glaus. Most reaction around the Interwebs seem to be that the Cardinals got the best of this deal.

I can see the point. Glaus will be hitting the weaker NL pitching and he's been the better power hitter the past few years. Plus he's 2-years younger than Rolen and seemingly less injury prone. Something just doesn't seem right.

I like and trust JP Riccardi and have to think that there's more to this deal than meets the eye. Glaus was named as a steroids guy and maybe his weight has dropped to 150 pounds (just kidding)? Maybe Glaus was demanding a trade behind the scenes? Something just doesn't seem right.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Red Sox blew that game last night against the Yankees. There's no other way to put it. Hideki Okajima and Papelbon have been so good this season - it is tough to begrudge them a poor outing (although it sucks that they both chose the same night to have it)... Last season David Ortiz hit 54 HR and had an OPS of 1.049. This season Ortiz has 31 HR and an OPS of 1.035. However, his OPS+ (which takes into account league year over year averages - 100 is league average for any given year) is higher this year (168) than last (164). This is mainly due to power being down league wide this year versus last year... JD Drew is such a tease. He's hitting .353 so far in September. On the flip side - Drew has just 8 HR this season for the Red Sox. Wily Mo Pena has hit 8 home runs since being traded to the Nationals... Kevin Youkilis has yet to commit an error at 1st base this season. Even though Youk has been literally perfect at 1st this year - the Gold Glove will probably go to someone else... The Blue Jays loss last night dropped them under .500 for the season. I think people expected more out of Toronto this season. Do you think JP Riccardi is wishing he traded Troy Glaus at the trade deadline?... Miguel Tejada hs been making noise about wanting to be traded away from the Orioles. Who does he think he is? What market does he think exists for a 31-year old shortstop whose power has been decreasing every year he's been in Baltimore and who was named as a steroids user by Jose Canseco in Canseco's book? Tejada should just shut the hell up.... Since the All-Star break Tom Glavine has been 6-0 with a 3.5 ERA. I can see why he'd want to come back for another year...

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I thought today we'd start off with a little visual comparison. Yesterday I mentioned Nate Colbert who happens to be the all-time leader in HR for the Padres. Chris in the comments mentioned that according to his 1974 baseball card Colbert was not a handsome man. I was curious and did a GIS search and found this baseball card for Nate Colbert. My immediate thought was that Colbert looked just like the guy from the Red Stripe commercials. You be the judge.


Boo Chris Young pitching like Cy Young in a 6-1 victory over the Red Sox! Hooray beer! Boo Julio Lugo having the lowest batting average in all of baseball! Hooray beer! Boo 19 players having a slugging percentage higher than what Julio Lugo has for an OPS! Hooray beer!

The Blue Jays can make it back to .500 with a win today. In a way - making it to .500 could be the worst thing that could happen to Toronto. I don't think the Blue Jays have a chance at the post-season this year because they won't catch the Red Sox (11 games back) and they won't win the Wildcard (7 back). However, having a winning record will make it tough for the Toronto front office to waive the white flag and make some deals that will make the team better in the future. Troy Glaus could bring some pretty good prospects and he'd probably would waive his no-trade clause to go to either the Angels or Dodgers but if the team still has even a glimmer of hope then he'll probably end up staying in Toronto... I know that all the "official" reports say that Troy Glaus is not on the trading block and holding on to Glaus makes excellent sense because it is very difficult to find a third baseman who can hit 35 HR and have a great glove. However, the Blue Jays are not a franchise that can afford a lot of dead money on the payroll. BJ Ryan, Frank Thomas and AJ Burnett are all just one more injury away from being potential dead money contracts and with Glaus' knees - he's a danger as well... Does Bartolo Colon really have a 6.17 ERA? Wow - that's no way to pitch in your contract year.... Alex Rodriguez is on pace for 63 HR which while not approaching Barry Bonds record of 73 HR in 2001 would still be good enough to set the all-time single season HR record in the American League... Josh Beckett is pretty good with the bat and if he gets a couple of hits today then it is possible that he could sport a better batting average, OBP and slugging percentage than Julio Lugo by the time the day is over... I'm really trying to give Julio Lugo the benefit of the doubt and I want to like him but he's making it difficult...