Glaus-Rolen: Another Challenge Trade

Baseball historian John Shiffert places the Troy Glaus-Scott Rolen trade into historical context.

News Item: December 14, 1932 – The Washington Senators and the St. Louis Browns conclude a six-player trade.

They’re called “Challenge Trades.” Or at least that’s what Bill James called them in “The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract” back in 1985. It’s really quite simple. Two teams exchange players who are essentially the same player, say a power-hitting, 30-ish third baseman for another power-hitting, 30-ish third baseman. Despite the recent activity along these lines between the Cardinals and the Blue Jays, Challenge Trades are not a common phenomenon, probably because there’s a real good chance that one of the teams involved is going to wind up with egg on their collective faces. Think about it… if you trade two very similar players for each other, and one of them turns into a dog after the trade, well, then the GM who traded for the dog is likely to end up in the doghouse, or the unemployment line.

James initially came up with this concept in discussing a series of trades the Washington Senators – which means The Old Fox, Clark Griffith – made prior to the 1933 season, wherein the Nats picked up four key members of their 1933 pennant winners by sending their virtual clones to the Indians and the Browns. Although James wasn’t impressed with the Old Fox’s foxiness in these deals – he refers to them as being “basically pointless” and notes that the Senators then collapsed in 1934 – it is nonetheless true that four new Senators acquired in the Challenge Trades all played key roles on the 1933 pennant. So, at least for that one season, there could have been no doubt which American League team “won” the Challenge Trade game.

The four players involved were Luke Sewell, Fred Schulte, Goose Goslin and Lefty Stewart. Sewell would be the Nats’ workhorse catcher in 1933, Goslin and Schulte two of their three regular outfielders, and Stewart their number three starting pitcher. Goslin, Stewart and Schulte all came to Washington in the same trade with the Browns, with Sam West, Carl Reynolds and Lloyd Brown going west to St. Louis (along with $20,000). Here’s how they matched up, including their 1932 stats…

West-Schulte: both were fine defensive center fielders
Brown-Stewart: two left-handed starting pitchers
Reynolds-Goslin: both right-fielders, and the best hitters in the deal

	BA/OBA/SLG	OPS+
West	.278/.345/.412	96
Schulte	.294/.373/.425	101
Reynolds	.305/.332/.475	107
Goslin	.298/.398/.469	118
	W-L	ERA	ERA+
Brown	15-12	4.44	97
Stewart	15-19	4.61	105

A couple of additional facts worth noting – Goose Goslin is in the Hall of Fame and Carl Reynolds isn’t, but, at the time this trade was made, they were actually pretty similar, especially since Reynolds had hit .359/.388/.584 (a 146 OPS+) as recently as 1930. West was four years younger than Schulte, but Reynolds was two years younger than the Goose, and each team received a left-handed hitting and a right-handed hitting outfielder in the trade.

The second Challenge Trade, between Cleveland and Washington, was pretty simple... an exchange of right-handed hitting, excellent defensive catchers. In 1932, the 31-year old Luke Sewell had hit .253/.337/.353 for the Indians. And the 32-year old Roy Spencer had hit .246/.301/.284 for the Senators. Not exactly an earth-shaking deal, but it ended up looking pretty good for the Old Fox when Sewell played 141 games behind the plate in 1933 and hit almost exactly the same -- .264/.335/.357, and, of course, the Senators took the pennant. For their part, Goslin (111 OPS+ in 1933) and Schulte (104 OPS+ in 1933) didn’t exactly burn up the AL either in 1933, but it sure looked good when the Senators took the pennant. In reality, the biggest “win” for the Senators in the two Challenge Trades was Stewart, who went from 15-19, 105 to 15-6, 110.

Maybe the Senators’ success in 1933 in the wake of these Challenge Trades started a trend. As James also notes, following the ’33 World Series, Griff sent the Goose on his way once again, this time to the Tigers for another left-handed hitting outfielder, John “Rocky” Stone. Like Carl Reynolds, Stone was not a future Hall of Famer but, also like Reynolds, he was, at this point, fairly similar to Goslin, as their 1933 seasons show…

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	W	K	BA	OBA	SLG	OPS+
Goslin	132	549	97	163	35	10	10	64	42	32	0.297	0.348	0.452	111
Stone	148	574	86	161	33	11	11	80	54	37	0.280	0.344	0.434	103

This apparently gave the Cubs and the Giants an idea (a dangerous thing) for, following a 1938 season that saw the denizens of Wrigley Field win the NL pennant, they turned around and made their own six-man Challenge Trade, sending shortstop Billy Jurges, outfielder Frank Demaree and back-up catcher Ken O’Dea to New York for shortstop Rowdy Richard Bartell, outfielder Hank Lieber and back-up catcher Gus Mancuso. The Cubs then promptly went from 89-63 (first place) to 84-70 (fourth place). And the Giants went from 83-67 (third place) in 1938 to 77-74 (fifth place) in 1939, leading one to conclude that both sides lost that Challenge Trade.

There are instances, though, where one side scores a clear win in a Challenge Trade. As Spring Training progressed in 1972, both the Cardinals and the Phillies had a problem. The same problem. Their aces each wanted too much (meaning more) money. So what did they do? The Phillies traded Rick Wise for Steve Carlton (pictured), and the Cardinals traded Steve Carlton for Rick Wise. Although Carlton was left-handed and was born at the end of 1944, and Wise was right-handed and born in September 1945 (basically nine months later), their career records, each over parts of seven major league seasons (Wise broke in at 18, Carlton at 20) weren’t too dissimilar… Wise, who had actually pitched more than Carlton, though for poorer teams, was 75-76 and Carlton was 77-62. And don’t let Cardinal apologists tell you Carlton wasn’t their ace in 1971. He went 20-9 while the 35 year-old Bob Gibson went 16-13. Carlton was, to all appearances, the Cardinals’ future at the start of Spring Training 1972.

And then he ended up in Philadelphia, where he went 27-10 in 1972, winning the pitching Triple Crown and the Cy Young Award with one of the great seasons in baseball history. And he went on to lead the Phillies to five pennants, including the 1980 World Series crown, and to win four Cy Young Awards and 329 games in all, with only the final 11 coming for teams other than the Phillies. Wise did have a good career, ending up 188-181 over 18 seasons, but his St. Louis record over only two years was just 32-28. So there was one Challenge Trade with a clear winner.

Have the Cardinals learned anything in the 36 or so years since they sent Lefty to Philly? It’s a question that can’t be answered yet, but it’s clear that the Cardinals and the Blue Jays have just made a classic Challenge Trade... third baseman Scott Rolen (born April 4, 1975) going to Toronto for third baseman Troy Glaus (born August 3, 1976). Not only are they both right-handed, power-hitting former All-Star third basemen (Rolen has 261 home runs with a .507 slugging percentage and a 126 OPS+, while Glaus has 277 home runs with a .500 slugging percentage and a 121 OPS+) born within 16 months of each other, but they both have issues… injury issues, as well as a potential black cloud hanging over their heads. Glaus was severely hobbled by plantar fasciitis in 2007, ultimately requiring surgery (no small matter) when it ruptured, and played a total of just 149 games combined in 2003 and 2004. Rolen has been severely limited by a left shoulder injury in two of the last three years, requiring a total of three surgeries.

Now, there are some differences between the two. Rolen has won seven Gold Gloves while Glaus is pretty average at third – basically he has a sub-par fielding average but a better-than-average range factor. Rolen’s batting average is some 30 points higher than Glaus’, but Glaus actually has more power, having hit as many as 47 home runs in a season, while Rolen’s high is 34. Glaus also walks more, and strikes out more than Rolen. Still, on the field, they’re a pretty good match.

Then there are the other issues. Sports Illustrated’s on-line version reported last year that Glaus received steroids from Signature Pharmacy between September 2003 and May 2004, although Major League Baseball apparently found that the needle did not fit, so they did acquit, declining to discipline Glaus. Rolen, on the other hand, has a reputation as a cry baby. First, Larry Bowa was mean to him, so he forced a trade from Philadelphia, despite being offered the biggest contract in Phillies’ history. Then Tony La Russa dissed him, saying Rolen would have to play hard to stay in the Cards’ lineup, so he demanded a trade from St. Louis. Yes, this is indeed a Challenge Trade.



A member of the Society for American Baseball Research, John Shiffert’s background includes serving as a sportswriter, as sports information director for Earlham College and Drexel University, and as publisher of the Philadelphia Baseball File. He's been director of University Relations at Clayton State University since August 1995.