TOWER GROVE — Newest Cardinal Troy Glaus and departing Gold Glover Scott Rolen passed physicals early Monday and shortly before 5 p.m. St. Louis time the commissioner’s office approved the perpetually reported swap of All-Star third basemen between the Cardinals and Toronto.

The Blue Jays will formally introduce Rolen on Tuesday.

The Cardinals, out of deference to Marty Hendin’s visitation, will hold a press conference Wednesday to introduce Glaus.

Glaus came to town as scheduled this morning to meet with Cardinals’ team physicians . According to an article in Toronto this morning, Rolen is also underwent a physical today, in Florida.

That leaves only some tricky financials to complete before the deal is done.

A puree of sources I’ve spoke to and reports around baseball have painted different pictures of the cash involved in the deal that will send Rolen to the Blues Jays and bring Glaus here. There has been speculation no cash is exchanging hands; there has been a report that it exceeds $1 million and could reach $4 million. It’s most likely that cash is going both ways — with the Cardinals handling some of Rolen’s deferred payments and the Blue Jays covering portions of Glaus’ contract related to the dollar exchange rate originally written in when he was traded from Arizona to Toronto.

The money looks nettlesome from here.

What the Cardinals’ lineup will look like is a little more tangible.

Glaus, a former 40-homer slugger, slides instantly in as the Cardinals’ cleanup hitter, one of many radical changes to the 2008 lineup from the 2007 lineup and certainly from the 2006 World Series lineup. Using the same lineup generator that provided the numbers for a blog a few weeks ago, I ran the pencil-and-paper numbers on what this new lineup looks like compared to its recent incarnations.

The stats are for entertainment purposes only.

The generator uses on-base percentage and slugging percentage to calculate production; the numbers I used for each player is written next to the player’s name. (Note: I used a general line — Braden Looper’s – for the pitcher’s stats.)

The 2006 World Series lineup:

1. David Eckstein, SS, .350/.344
2. Chris Duncan, LF, .363/.589
3. Albert Pujols, 1B, .431/.671
4. Jim Edmonds, CF, .350/471
5. Scott Rolen, 3B, .369/.518
6. Ronnie Belliard, 2B, .322/.405
7. Yadier Molina, C, .274/.321
8. So Taguchi, RF, .335/.351
9. Joe Pitcher, RHP, .259/.226

Runs Per Game: 5.145. Range: 4.573-5.325.

The 2007 ideal Cardinals lineup:

1. Eckstein, SS, .357/.375
2. Duncan, LF, .356/.528
3. Pujols, 1B, .430/.615
4. Rolen, 3B, .347/.452
5. Edmonds, CF, .357/.475
6. Juan Encarnacion, RF, .330/.445
7. Molina, C, .302/.348
8. Joe Pitcher, RHP, .259/.226
9. Adam Kennedy, 2B, .329/.356

Runs Per Game: 5.117. Range: 4.594-5.198

The New 2008 Cardinals lineup (order subject to obvious debate):

1. Rick Ankiel, CF, .328/.535
2. Kennedy, 2B, .329/.356
3. Pujols, 1B, .430/.615
4. Troy Glaus, 3B, .361/.506
5. Duncan, LF, .356/.528
6. Ryan Ludwick, RF, .339/.483
7. Molina, C, .302/.348
8. Johnny Pitcher, RHP, .259/.226
9. Cesar Izturis, SS, .300/.319

Runs Per Game: 5.029. Range: 4.554-5.204.

A little surprised, but then the numbers still include some of the heyday from the MV3. Here’s thinking Glaus will add a power jolt to a lineup that we can all agree needs one.

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How many 100-K players are there in that lineup? And no we’re not talking dollars.

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Any thoughts on the new look of the blog, it’s blogroll? That, Mr. Fuhrig, is a tag cloud.

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COMIC INTERLUDE

Went looking for a comic cover that fit the subject here. We’re talking power and looking for thunder in the lineup, so why not go with lightning. Shazam!

And if there are any comic book nuts out there, check out the villain in the fine print. Yes, the worm in the right-hand corner is the bad guy. Mr. Mind is his name, but he looks a whole like the Bookworm over at Yahoo!.

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