Scott Rolen

We had a modest projection for Rolen in 2011 due to his injury risks, but those issues eclipsed even our fears. It's a shame that he's missed so much time over his career, to think about what he might have been able to accomplish. He might have fallen short of Chipper Jones among third basemen in his era, but not by much. Unfortunately, we're close to the stage of evaluating his career achievements more than what he's capable of doing on the field. Under contract for one more year, Rolen will start as the Reds' third baseman, but if he gets hurt again or doesn't produce right away, he may have to give way to the combo of Juan Francisco and Todd Frazier.

Rolen got off to a great start in 2010 before wearing down over the second half due to back, neck and hamstring problems. Split stats can be notoriously misleading, but Rolen had a .909 OPS before the All-Star break, before most of his injuries, and a .772 OPS after the break while only playing in 58 games. Given his injury history, you need to discount his projection at the draft table just a little bit to account for potential missed time. Third base is thinner than other years, so Rolen is still draft-worthy even in mixed leagues, but he shouldn't be the sole third-base eligible player on your roster.

Rolen enjoyed a bit of a comeback season in 2009, with most of his better numbers occurring with the Blue Jays. In 40 games with the Reds he hit .270/.364/.401. He also missed a number of games with a concussion after getting beaned and later with a back injury. His health will be a big factor in 2010. The Reds expect that his leadership and defense will help provide a boost, but they have so many holes at other positions offensively that it's hard to foresee him having too much of a tangible effect.

Rolen has never seemed to regain his power after shoulder surgery in 2005, a timeframe that also dovetails nicely with him entering his 30s. Additional surgery at the end of the 2007 season didn't fix the problem as Rolen dealt with shoulder issues for much of 2008 as well. He did come back from the DL in September with a new stance at the plate that apparently alleviates some of his shoulder trouble and hit .307 with three homers in the month. He comes with some upside in the event that he remains healthy for the season, but banking on that at this point in his career doesn't seem very likely.

Rolen missed 50 games last year, and when he had season-ending shoulder surgery in September he finished with a slugging percentage below .400 for the second time in the last three years. His 2005 shoulder surgery has appeared to have sapped all of his power, and he has never completely recovered from it, necessitating the second surgery. Rolen's inability to stay healthy and to get along with manager Tony LaRussa prompted a trade to Toronto, where he'll try to regain his status as one of the game's all-around best at the hot corner.

Although Rolen bounced back from a dismal, injury-filled 2005 last season, he really faded down the stretch. His final numbers look pretty good, but he did most of his damage before the All Star break. There were some whispers that his surgically repaired shoulder was causing problems. Manager Tony La Russa seemed to lose faith in him late in the season and some miscommunication about a benching in September drove a wedge between the two. With another offseason to recuperate from his 2005 surgery, Rolen should be fine in 2007, but don’t expect his home run power to return to pre-surgery levels.

Last year was a lost season for Rolen, who was off to a slow start before injuring his shoulder in a collision at first base in May. He had minor surgery to repair the shoulder shortly after and returned to the Cardinals lineup in the middle of June. He toughed it out for a month, but the pain became too much to bear, forcing Rolen to have additional surgery and miss the rest of the season. He's expected to make a full recovery and be ready by spring training.

Rolen had a career year with his third season of 30-plus home runs, his highest career average and his lowest full-season strikeout total. He also nabbed his sixth gold glove at third base and provided a stability to the lineup by doing most of his damage as the Cardinals' cleanup hitter. A leg injury put a sour punctuation on his season, after which he hit .162 with four home runs (including his woeful post-season), but Rolen will be back to full strength in the spring.

He hasn't had his Troy Glaus season yet, and at 29, could be primed for it this year. Rolen, like Edgar Renteria and Jim Edmonds, is the best player in the NL at his position without getting those kind of accolades. A dozen steals a year make a case for him as a first-round pick; be the guy who has his MVP performance in 2004.

After hitting 17 home runs in 375 at-bats and slugging .472 with the Phillies, Rolen hit 14 longballs and slugged .561 with the Cardinals in 205 at-bats after the trade. You can chalk that up to a small sample size, or you can consider it a result of Rolen finally being happy to come to the ballpark after getting out of a bad relationship with management in Philly. Either way, at 6-feet, 4 inches and 226 pounds and with decent plate discipline, slugging in the mid-.500s shouldn't be a stretch for Rolen, who will turn 28 next April. A sprained shoulder sidelined him for most of the playoffs, but he is expected to be completely healthy for the start of spring training.