The Cardinals are ready to trade Scott Rolen for Blue Jays third baseman Troy Glaus.  As a fan of Rolen's on the field play, I will be sad to see him go.  Nobody wanted to win or gave more then Scott, even with a bum shoulder that has troubled him for the past 3 years.  However, it has become increasingly apparent that the relationship between Rolen and manager Tony LaRussa can not be repaired.  Both guys are at fault over the situation, but neither man will only openly admit that and be the bigger man. 

To make the deal happen, the Cards will need to send the Blue Jays some cash to make up the differences between the two contracts. Rolen has $36 million and three years left on his deal and Glaus has $24 million and two years left on his contract.  Because there is money involved, the commissioners office will have to agree to exchange.  I would suspect that will happen Monday, pending both players passing there physicals 

The Cards would lose some defense in this deal, since Rolen is still an elite fielder, bad shoulder and all. But that is a price the team should pay to upgrade its offense while eliminating an unwanted controversy.  This exchange would make the depleted Cards offense much more viable, as Rolen has struggled offensively the past couple of seasons due to the shoulder injury.  Glaus, who only played 115 games last season because of a nagging foot injury attributed to the artificial turf in Toronto, would add a more consistent righthanded power source to hit behind Albert Pujols.

As much as it will pain myself and other's, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak did the right thing in making this deal happen.  With the Cards in start-over mode, Mozeliak was eager to turn this page and in the process checked off a huge item from his off-season to do list.

Now, if we could just talk him into adding another veteran starting pitcher