Retrospective: Scott Rolen 2001-2003

So, I made the decision to move Scott Rolen in a trade the other week. Many of you know the problems I had with Scott under-performing from his card stats. I really, really liked Scott, and kept waiting for his time to break out. 75 games into the 2001 season I traded for Rolen with the NY Rippers. I sent another long time favorite Vlad to NY for Scott. At the time Scott was really not doing well for the Rippers and Billy had enough.

Scott came and finished the 2001 season for the Stonecutters with the following line:

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
2001	87	327	64	101	25	2	16	58	47	85	15	5	0.309	0.400	0.544

Man, I thought I hit the jackpot! Rolen was rollen  in Atlanta, and couldn't wait for 2002 to come around as hit card got even better than 2001.  2002 I had a stronger team, and with the addition of Rolen I thought I would be able to take the division. Well, I came in 2nd place cause the Tribe had a great team I was not expecting. Rolen gave the Stonecutters the following production.

Year

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

SB

CS

BA

OBP

SLG

2002

162

600

95

127

22

10

24

91

76

115

3

4

0.212

0.322

0.402

Ugh, everything that I hoped Rolen would be he was not. Hitting a horrible .212 with a slugging percentage of .402 was god awful. I wanted to cry. I believed that Rolen was the best third man out there in 2002 between the offensive stats and his defense. While Rolen lived up to the the defense he was way short on what was more important, offense.

As I picked up the pieces of the 2002 year looking forward to the 2003 year again my hopes for Rolen to be that middle of the order stud fell flat. 

Year

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

SB

CS

BA

OBP

SLG

2003

97

380

56

89

33

2

13

50

38

90

4

4

0.234

0.319

0.434

No matter where I put Scott in the lineup he did nothing. Sure he was hitting a little bit better avg, and slugging, but it wasn't enough. The one bright spot is that in 97 games he hit way more doubles than the whole year in 2002.

So I decided to end the Rolen experiment and sent him off on his way to Seattle where he seems to be enjoying it out there so far. In 6 games he's hit 2 doubles, 2 home runs and driven in 6. Good luck, Scott. I wish we had better memories, but we will always have that awesome run in 2001.

Long time no blog

Hey Everyone,

Boy it's been since April 10th since I posted anything here on this blog, and that wasn't even my post. It was a great write up by our commissioner Matt about his predictions on what will happen in the 2003 season.

Is it me or is the league as a whole much quieter than in seasons past? I know Matt is busy, Since my dad passed in March it's been a struggle to get into my season, and also to write posts.

I just received the message that Brad posted about Kerry Wood, and started to wonder why hasn't there been more back and forth between us all. Heck it seemed in the 2002 trading season I would expect at least 1 email a day with some trade announcement, specially from Larry. He must be getting soft from his World Series win in 2002.

Brad wants to move Wood, Charles wants to move Mike Sweeney, and well Steve wants to try and move everyone on his roster. I think Steve was reading too many pages from Larry's 2002 playbook. Heck, I even through out Torii Hunter and Scott Rolen, and didn't see too many offers come my way. Milwaukee gave me the best offer, but I couldn't work those players in to my team design.

I think we as owners are over-valuing some if not all of our own players, while trying to get the "steal" from others. Not that there is anything wrong about that. I was a little surprised at the offers for Rolen I must admit. Yes, I know I have talked poorly about his offensive struggles for me the last 1 and a half years, but he is still Scott Rolen and will his 2004 card is a monster. And if traded he could do better in a different team/stadium. From the message that Christopher just posted about Mike Sweeney sounds as he come up to the same conclusion.

I am surprised at how guys are protecting there draft picks in the upcoming 04 draft. Leading into the 03 draft they were pouring out like water.

What have you seen this year so far?  Am I way off base? Who's on first? GET OFF MY LAWN! This is not a serious blog post, but it might read like one, sorry about that.

The Fall of Scott Rolen in 2002

When I traded for Scott Rolen in the 2001 season he was everything I was hoping for in a third baseman. Here are his stats for the Rippers and Stonecutters in 2001.

Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	SB	CS	GDP	BA	OBP	SLG
New York Rippers	72	272	37	69	16	1	7	30	31	69	2	0	1	21	4	1	0.254	0.333	0.397
Atlanta Stonecutters	87	327	64	101	25	2	16	58	47	85	4	0	2	15	5	3	0.309	0.4	0.544
Totals	159	599	101	170	41	3	23	88	78	154	6	0	3	36	9	4	0.284	0.37	0.477

Rolen was rolling for me in 01 and played above his card for me. While he was very subpar for Billy and probably one of the reasons why he traded him. In the end of the '01 season he was pretty much what his card said he was, but boy did I love the ride he gave me and my team.

Lets move to the current '02 season.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	SB	CS	GDP	BA	OBP	SLG
Totals	114	424	64	98	18	7	15	67	44	82	16	0	1	1	4	20	0.231	0.326	0.413

While the season is still going on you can see that Rolen is TOTALLY under performing from what his card has on it. Batting average WAY down, On Base Percentage WAY down, and Slugging WAY down. Now I understand that Rolen didn't hit righties as well as he did in '01, however he did hit more home runs giving him A power in '02.  He should should have about 22 home runs based on his current stats, but he is only at 15. It will take a huge power surge the rest of the year to get him close to his real number of 31.  He did bring down his strikeouts from '01-'02. My biggest problem with Rolen this year is how many double plays he has hit into. When not hitting hard grounders to short, he would strikeout. a real rally killer. I probably expect more out of someone like Rolen just by having the "Clutch" rating on his card. It seem that Rolen doesn't hit very well in the Clutch this year.

While Rolen has been frustrating at the plate he's been great with the glove and has stopped a ton of ball from going down the line. There have been a ton of "Rolen really ranged far to get that one" and "An Amazing play by Rolen, You don't see that everyday" results during a game. I wish there was a way to calculate how many runs and hits Rolen have saved my pitchers ERA. 

I just thought I would put this out there for everyone. I know we all have under preforming cards on our teams. Just know you are not alone in your frustration.

Oh by the way...just because I wrote this article bashing my star third basemen does not mean I would trade him.