Dance with the one that brung ya?!

by Lawless on May 19, 2007 3:27 PM EDT Comment 5 comments

To start things off, lets talk about positives from last night.

The team kept fighting
Pujols' 4/4 with a walk and opposite field blast makes one believe he might have regained his stroke
B. Looper was going to get pounded sooner or later - lets see how he bounces back
Tyler Johnson continued with his amazing season thus far. I still believe he could be an effective eighth inning guy.
Eckstein is showing signs of returning to the land of the living
At the end of the date it is only an L. Reyes is pitching great and will take it too the tigers today

On a completely different note, the attached Buster Olney quote was quite interesting to me...

"There is some speculation, within GM circles, that the Cardinals will look to trade Scott Rolen as soon as the team raises the white flag on their season, and Rolen would make sense for the Dodgers, in some respects. He would give L.A. a strong defensive presence at third base, plus some experience, and he could hit in the last four spots in the lineup and not be expected to be one of the main guys. The Cardinals clearly would have to eat a huge chunk of the salary owed to Rolen in the future -- he will make $12 million a year for each of the next three years -- but they could get a decent (but not great) prospect from the Dodgers."

link = http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=olney_buster

My thought is that if we are required to eat any of Rolen's salary AND we could only get a decent prospect for him lets keep the guy. I still am not sold that we could get a better on base man than Rolen at 3B and we sure as hell couldn't get a better defender. He WILL COME AROUND!!! Bill James, Pecota, all know what they are doing. Guys scuffle. If he gets to an 875 OPS at the break and we could eat little or no salary and trade him for a decent set of prospects then I am all for it. But a Tino Martinez fire sale is not right for Rolen...

Poll

How will Rolen finish the season?

sub 800 OPS

15 votes

800-850 OPS

12 votes

850+ OPS

4 votes

31 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 5 comments

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Comments

i'm with ya...

... unless the prospects are Betemit + Kemp or Ethier, or Betemit + an MLB-ready SP, i wouldn't trade him. certainly not if we have to eat some salary. i still think Rolen can be a productive player, and 12 million isn't that big of a contract these days.

by kindred on May 19, 2007 3:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

agree

Imho it's crazy to think about moving Rolen for at least another year. We really have no minor league prospect nipping at his heels. This time next year Craig or Mather might be ready, but they probably aren't right now.

And I think Rolen has a big half-season left in him. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet.

Don't Panic!!!

by SleepyCA on May 19, 2007 4:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Rolen

If we are out of it a few weeks before the trading deadline...I seriously think Walt needs to entertain offers for Rolen. Bad thing is Scotty is playing the worst of his career (hitting wise) right now his value might not be real great. But I would think a contending team might want a great defensive 3rd baseman, that COULD hit.

My hope is that we could get a good prospect outfielder in return with some power. But that is probably just wishful thinking.

I have loved Rolen since he has been with the us, but I really think a change of scenery would be best for both him and the Cards at this point.

He's 32 and it's starting to look like his best years are behind him now...so I think if we can get something for him, Walt should try and make it happen.

by KYCards on May 19, 2007 9:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

WELL

In Walt We Trust

by Hammondsbird on May 20, 2007 2:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If he's doing crappy

We don't wanna sell low, especially if it's due to a (nagging) injury. If he's playing well... well he's only 32 and he's got a few years left, and with Carp, Pujols, et. al. this team can be re-tooled for next year if we avoid signing players like Encarnacion and Preston Wilson.

This team is going to need a new SS, and a new RF or CF (with Edmonds moving to right and hopefully hitting)-- some sort of outfielder that can hit the damn ball.

To me it would seem that the most like guys to go will be Isringhausen, Looper, and Encarnacion and Eckstein.

Good news is that the offense is starting to come around. If this is another year where 85-89 wins gets you the WC, then I think all hope is not lost. I think it's way to early to surrender, if were sucking and 8-10 back in July then we can entertain those thoughts.

Plus, Buster Olney's thoughts really are worth the bandwidth they take up.

Cardinal fan from Washington

by JI on May 20, 2007 3:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs