Scott Rolen’s short yet pivotal stay in Toronto marks chapter in Hall of Fame career

TORONTO – By the top of a extremely profitable 5½-year run with the St. Louis Cardinals, after he and supervisor Tony LaRussa had “decided to headbutt each other a little bit,” Scott Rolen felt like he wanted a reset.

A Jan. 14, 2008 commerce to the Toronto Blue Jays gave him one and over 203 video games throughout the 2008-09 seasons, Rolen began to re-establish himself after three injury-plagued years and finally added a pair extra all-star campaigns to a newly minted Hall of Fame profession.

“We were banging around a little bit and I ended up getting traded to Toronto and I think it was needed for us and my family and for the organization at that time,” mentioned Rolen, named on 297 of 389 ballots to surpass the 75 per cent threshold wanted for election at 76.3 per cent in voting by eligible members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

“Certainly no hard feelings, St. Louis is a fantastic place, the organization has been absolutely phenomenal. But I went to a whole different situation and different group of people kind of scratching my head and not knowing where my career was at the time. I’d been injured. I had lost a little traction ability-wise or where I was swinging the bat. J.P. (Ricciardi) traded for me, he wanted me in the clubhouse as a veteran who had some time in the game to try to pull some things together … and it worked out great. I met so many incredible people that I’m still in contact with and it really refocused me, like, ‘This is baseball. Just go play baseball, get away from it, try to hit the ball up the middle and see what happens.’”

What occurred was Rolen produced 3.4 bWAR in 115 video games throughout that preliminary yr in Toronto after which 3.9 bWAR in simply 88 video games in 2009 earlier than he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, the place he loved all-star campaigns in 2010 and 2011 and made two post-season journeys.

During his time in Toronto, the eight-time Gold Glove winner performed third base with a grace unrivalled on the Blue Jays till Matt Chapman’s arrival final season, whereas impacting a number of of his teammates together with his professionalism and dedication.

Still, his lasting mark on the franchise is within the strikes his presence begat, not directly resulting in the acquisition of Jose Bautista on Aug. 21, 2008 and on to the addition of Edwin Encarnacion on the commerce deadline in 2009. In that method, the spiral of strikes that finally led to the post-season runs of 2015 and ’16 hint again to him.

Additionally, Rolen additionally offered Ricciardi with a pathway to resolve an issue with Troy Glaus, who within the winter of 2007 was coming off surgical procedure to ease the plantar fasciitis in his left foot exacerbated by the dome’s synthetic enjoying floor.

A one-for-one with the Cardinals introduced Rolen to the Blue Jays, who in August had been seeking to backfill for the third baseman whereas he was on the injured record. That’s when the Pittsburgh Pirates occurred to place Bautista on revocable waivers, Ricciardi gave then assistant GM Alex Anthopoulos permission to place in a declare and finally catcher Robinzon Diaz was shipped out to finish the deal.

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The subsequent summer time, the Blue Jays’ aggressive window started to break down and although Rolen was within the midst of a resurgence on the plate, hitting .320/.370/.476, the turf was carrying him down and he had hoped to get nearer to dwelling.

Walt Jocketty, who had traded for Rolen from the Philadelphia Phillies as Cardinals GM in 2002, had moved on to Cincinnati and was the right match. The Blue Jays zeroed in on a pitching prospect, Zach Stewart, together with an intriguing bullpen arm in Josh Roenicke, however to make the cash work, needed to tackle Encarnacion, struggling on the time below a foul contract.

The deal went down on July 31, 2009.

“My contract was ending. I wasn’t sure where I was and it was kind of a short-term idea, I think, for J.P. at the time,” mentioned Rolen. “Walt Jocketty was looking for a similar thing that J.P. was and it was an opportunity for me to get back home. My kids were young at the time and it was the closest major-league team to where I live and where my kids were going to school, so it was pretty interesting to me. That worked out well.”

Very a lot so.

The two gamers Rolen in essence left behind, Bautista and Encarnacion, finally carried the Blue Jays again to the post-season.

And Rolen proceeded to place the ending touches on a 17-year profession that led him to a July 23 induction alongside one other former Blue Jays star, Fred McGriff, chosen by the modern period committee again within the fall.

Not unhealthy for a brief however eventful keep in Toronto.

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