After a month worth of rumors and a week of on-again, off-again deals that make Ross and Rachel look like a functional couple (timely references are my specialty!), the Reds appear to have made a deal to acquire 34-year old Scott Rolen from the Toronto Blue Jays. All it took was, well, we don't yet. I'll update as we find out.
Rolen, as I'm sure you are familiar, was acquired by Walt Jocketty back in the middle of the 2002 season when Rolen had pretty decided that he didn't want to play in Philly anymore. At the time there were rumors that the Reds were interested in acquiring Rolen, but they weren't willing to give up what it took to get him and so he got to go play in front of the greatest fans on the planet.
Rolen was quite outstanding through his first 9 seasons, posting a 131 OPS+ and playing gold glove level defense at 3B with both the Phillies and Cardinals. After that point the injuries started hitting him. In 2005, he played just 56 games and posted an OPS+ of 84. He had a very 2006 season when he posted a 126 OPS+ in 142 games, but since then he hasn't played more than 115 games in a season. He's had a good season so far this year (.320/.370/.476), but it's hard to imagine that he's suddenly refound the fountain of youth than made him so good 5 years ago.
To his credit, he still appears to be a very good defensive third baseman. Again, he's not what he used to be, but he's still never had a UZR/150 under 8, which would be a 2 win increase over EdE all by itself.
As I've been saying all along, I'm not opposed to the acquisition of Scott Rolen. I'm just not sure it is the best use of resources. The Reds possibly have just spent a lot money just to marginally improve a position where they are already decent. I have to wonder whether this means they won't have much money left to spend elsewhere on an offense that is one of the worst in baseball.
UPDATE on 7/31 at 4:15pm: It looks like Edwin Encarnacion is most likely included in the deal. The rumor is that Yonder Alonso is also possibly in the deal, though that rumor looks a little shaky at this point.
UPDATE on 7:31 at 4:20pm: Official word from John Fay is that the deal is Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke, and Zach Stewart. I still don't like it.