ST. LOUIS -- Scott Rolen was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday for Troy Glaus in a swap of All-Star third basemen that was finalized after both players passed physicals.
Rolen became the second St. Louis star to join Toronto in the offseason. The Blue Jays signed former Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein, the MVP of the 2006 World Series, to a one-year contract earlier.
The 32-year-old Rolen hit a total of only 35 home runs the past three years while being hindered by a left shoulder injury that has required three operations. He and manager Tony La Russa have clashed since the 2006 postseason, when the manager benched Rolen.
The Cardinals postponed a formal news conference until Wednesday due to the weekend death of Marty Hendin, the team's vice president of community relations. For now, La Russa wanted to keep his comments brief.
"Our organization is pretty shook up over Marty," La Russa said. "But Troy fits us really well.
"And even though there were problems I was looking forward to being with Scott, because I think he's going to play well whether it was for us or someone else."
Rolen requested a trade after last season.
La Russa, who agreed to a two-year contract extension in October, held a hard line on the Rolen situation at the winter meetings last month. La Russa said then that if Rolen plays hard, he would be in the lineup and if he didn't, he would be on the bench.
"If he doesn't like it, he can quit," La Russa said.
The 31-year-old Glaus was hampered by a bad left foot last season while hitting 20 homers in 115 games. Playing on grass in St. Louis rather than artificial turf in Toronto could be beneficial for Glaus, who totaled 75 home runs in 2005-06 and has a pair of 40-homer seasons.
Both Rolen and Glaus underwent season-ending surgery in September. Rolen's procedure cleaned up scar tissue that had limited mobility, while Glaus had a ruptured plantar fascia.
Glaus has begun a running program and plans to start hitting next week.
"From our perspective, he looked real good," Cardinals team physician Dr. George Paletta said. "I don't expect anything should get in the way of him getting ready for opening day."
