St. Louis Cardinals: Scott Rolen’s case for the Cardinals HOF

The St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame candidates were announced recently. Joining three returning candidates are four new ones. Scott Rolen returns for his second year on the ballot. Does he deserve to be enshrined into the Cardinals HOF?

The St. Louis Cardinals recently released their new Hall of Fame ballot. Returning candidates are Keith Hernandez, Scott Rolen, and Jason Isringhausen. Joining them this year are Ray Lankford, Vince Coleman, Lee Smith, and John Tudor.

Several writers will each be diving into one player’s candidacy. Each writer will also be doing a “for” and “against” section. Finally, you readers get to decide for yourselves.

Scott Rolen deserves to be in the HOF

This is a fairly easy argument to make. Scott Rolen was a key cog in one of the best lineups this team has ever seen. Hitting in the same lineup as Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols in the middle of the order was the definition of Murderer’s row in the early 2000s.

In his time with the Cardinals, Rolen was a four-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner and most years would have probably won an MVP in 2004. The stats are there and the accolades are there. It’s hard to imagine the Cardinals having as much success as they did without Rolen manning the hot corner.

Rolen was a solid bat in a strong lineup but his glove is what really set him apart. Rolen won a Gold Glove in all but two years while wearing the birds on the bat.

In 2004 his defensive runs saved was 30 higher than the league average which is astounding. For reference the Gold Glove winner for the NL, Nolan Arenado had 20 defensive runs saved above average last year and we all know how incredible he is. To cap it all off, Rolen was also top ten in WAR in both 2004 (3rd) and 2006 (10th).

Scott Rolen does not deserve to be a St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer

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Obviously given his stats this isn’t a terribly easy portion to write. The most obvious tick against Scott Rolen’s record is his games played. Of his 17 year career, Rolen was only with the Cardinals for five and a half years. In that time Rolen never played a full season, his greatest number of games played was 154. His next highest game total was 142 which he did twice but he also only played 56 games in 2005 and 112 games in 2007.

Additionally, Rolen’s power seemed to dissipate fast. In his final year with the St. Louis Cardinals he only hit eight bombs, not a low for Rolen in a Cardinal uniform; that came in 2005 when Rolen only played in 56 games. 2007 was a rough year for Rolen and could arguably have left a bad taste in the mouths of some fans who aren’t willing to overlook it in a, “what have you done for me lately” situation.

The Verdict

This is a no-brainer for me. Lock Rolen in for this year’s class of St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers. Let’s look past his rough final season in St. Louis and be thankful for what we as a fan base got to witness from him in the early 2000’s. His glove was second-to-none and his bat packed a wallop.

Next: Sluggish offseason

Just because the Baseball Hall of Fame voters may never get it right doesn’t mean we as Cardinals fans have to follow suit.