Jays' Rolen Dealt to Reds Pending his Approval
The Jays today traded third baseman Scott Rolen and his $11 million commitment for 2010 to the Reds for third bbaseman Edwin Encarnacion and two minor-league pitching prospects. The deal requires Rolen to waive his no-trade clause. It's likely the Jays will pick up the remainder of his salary for 2009. The deal was first reported by Jasyon Stark of ESPN.com.
Rolen has been the Jays' most consistent player this year, moving into the cleanup role after Vernon Wells and Adam Lind tried and failed. The key to the trade was the Jays getting the $11 million off the books for next year. They will be paying releaased closer B.J. Ryan $10 million for doing nothing and thois transaction gives them some wiggle room to sign a shortstop and catcher for next year since Marco Scutaro and Rod Barajas are becoming free agents.
The Jays' young pitching staff will really miss the often spectacular defence provided by Rolen at third base. Other than Halladay, Rolen was the most tradeable big-ticket item on the roster.
sure trade away the most professional, talented hard-nosed player....just a salary dump guess Rogers is showinng their true colours...hope Rolen refuses to waive his no-trade clause
Posted by: doug | July 31, 2009 at 05:09 PM
Again Blue Jays look like exactly what they are: a second rate team more interested in the bottom line than in putting a respectable team on the field! Go ahead Ricciardi trade away the "best third baseman playing today". I for one have totally lost interest in this team. They don't really care about winning so why should I care about them
Posted by: Bob Wills | July 31, 2009 at 05:16 PM
And The Star's reports it only two hours after everyone else. Well done!
Posted by: Braden | July 31, 2009 at 05:19 PM
rogers and blue jays suck. They were going to screw the fans over one way or another.
Posted by: james | July 31, 2009 at 05:21 PM
The ownership kept saying the money's not an issue for the club. Then why trade the best player on the team to save some $$? Doesn't make much sense to me. The trade for the sake of trade? I'll miss Scotty.
Posted by: Alex | July 31, 2009 at 05:21 PM
What do you mean, after "Adam Lind tried and failed" at the clean-up role?
Checking splits at baseball-reference, he has a grand total of 17 at bats in 4 games in the #4 slot.
Posted by: fact checker | July 31, 2009 at 05:21 PM
This is crap. I hope he doesn't approve the trade.
Posted by: Terry | July 31, 2009 at 05:23 PM
I finally invest emotionally in a Jay's player and they up and trade him! Arguably their best player (not including Halladay)! This is why the Jays' fan base has eroded over the years - they never keep the players that capture the public's interest and hearts.
Posted by: Chris M | July 31, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Why didn't they trade Wells and Rios for these Reds players? Once Halladay will likely stay, along with Rolen and those new pitcher, Jays would have a competitive team for the next season.
Posted by: Paulo Porto | July 31, 2009 at 05:45 PM
But why?!
Posted by: Crackers | July 31, 2009 at 06:02 PM
I am definitely disappointed that we lost Rolen. I really liked him as a person and as a player.
Posted by: Para | July 31, 2009 at 06:27 PM
Trading Scott Rolen reminds me of the salary dump following Jays World Series wins. Now that this salary dump has started, I can get off the Jays roller-coaster and invest my time more profitably. Being played by the Jays sucks. Pro sports is looking more and more like Wall Street. I'm still OK with the Raptors.
Good luck to Jays fans who feel victimized.
Posted by: Gary Cranmer | July 31, 2009 at 08:13 PM
Paulo Porto: they didn't trade Wells and Rios for those players because nobody wants to pay Vernon Wells to be a defensive replacement in CF. Encarnacion is in the midst of a terrible offensive season and has never been adept with the glove so the Reds wanted an upgrade at the corner.
Posted by: A-Mar | July 31, 2009 at 08:36 PM
Rolen asked for a trade.
They dumped salary.
Say hello to the new expos.
Posted by: david998 | August 01, 2009 at 12:11 AM
When the Blue Jays could not dump Halladay's salary, the only thing left to do was dump the salary of the best third baseman in baseball. You do not get better by getting rid of the best. Haa JP or the Roger's brain trust ever considered a little baseball history. i.e. The Boston Braves got rid of Johnny Sain and became the Milawkee Braves. The Philadelphia Athhletics got rid of Bobby Shanz and became the Kansas City Athletics. The St. Louis Browns got rid of Ned Garver and became the Baltimore Orioles. More recently Montreal got rid of a weath of playes and became the Washington Nationals. Who will the Jays become?
Richard Kinney
Posted by: Richard Kinney | August 01, 2009 at 12:16 AM
Richard Kinney- I love Scott Rolen as much as the next guy, but the best third baseman in baseball? Really? Let's take a look at some other third basemen:
1) A-Rod
2) David Wright
3) Evan Longoria
4) Chipper Jones
5) Aramis Ramirez (yeah, his defense is pretty bad, but the guy can hit)
You're telling me you wouldn't have any of those guys over Rolen? The Jays traded an injury prone player at the top of his value. It's not the worst trade ever.
As for the teams leaving the city stuff you mentioned, that's just garbage. Players leaving didn't doom teams to relocation, the players were traded because of various other problems. It's like saying a symptom of a disease is the cause of the disease.
Rogers isn't running the Jays out of town. They are, like many other owners, are looking to cut payroll during a tough economic climate. It sucks as a fan that they're doing it, but it is what it is.
Posted by: Not A Moron | August 02, 2009 at 04:05 AM
The penny just dropped when Encarncion showed up at 3rd base today (Tuesday). Traded for a replacement killer and MORE pitchers? There are more than 20 pitchers on the long roster already!
I do not understand baseball management at all!!
Posted by: Randal | August 04, 2009 at 07:29 PM