TOWER GROVE — The first big headache and the first big trade of John Mozeliak’s tenure as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals are forever linked because he used one as the aspirin to cure the other.

At Mozeliak’s first Winter Meetings at the helm of the Cardinals, his manager popped off publicly about a ruptured relationship with third baseman, Scott Rolen, and how Rolen had to re-earn some “points” with the organization and with the manager. Tony La Russa’s comments put Mozeliak in the difficult situation of being a general manager with a Troubled Asset to move and everyone in baseball knowing that his manager was eager for him to do so. Rolen and La Russa could not co-exist. Within a month, Mozeliak had a masterstroke.

He sent Rolen to Toronto for Troy Glaus. It was a swap of big-salary, All-Star third basemen.

And it looked like a clear win for the Cardinals and their new GM.

Glaus started slow last year but still had a fistful of RBIs in April and warmed up when the weather did, finishing the full season with 27 home runs and 99 RBIs. He also placed second in the voting for the NL Gold Glove. Glaus’ slow start was nothing compared to Rolen’s. The former Gold Glove winner wasn’t ready at the beginning of April, and in the middle of the season he missed another stretch of games because of his troublesome shoulder. Rolen, who is signed through 2010, finished with 11 homers and 50 RBIs.

But there it is again: The real S-word around the Cardinals these days.

The joint that led to such problems with Rolen is now the joint that is keeping Glaus out of the lineup. Joe Strauss reports from Milwaukee that Mozeliak concedes a “50-50 chance” that Glaus will return this season from January shoulder surgery. If there was a position that the Cardinals were braced to protect against a lengthy absence it was third base coming into this season. That has changed with Joe Mather and David Freese on the DL, Allen Craig transplanted to first base, and the current tag-team encountering an offensive skid this month. That means that Mozeliak’s biggest trade could lead to his most important trade yet, as the Cardinals are in the market for a righthanded bat and/or third baseman to fortify the lineup in Glaus’ absence.

The Cardinals depth at third is no longer what it seems. Can the same be said of the Glaus-Rolen trade?

That is a good place to start today’s 10@10 …

1. Within the past couple weeks, Rolen equaled Glaus for games played and at-bats since the deal. Glaus remains in Arizona working to rebuild the strength in his right shoulder. Rolen is hitting .299 with 15 RBIs for Toronto. The power that made him a key part of the MV3 has still only flickered since his shoulder surgeries (plural!) and he’s slugging .443, or slightly more than Mark DeRosa’s .409. Here are the salaries for 2009 and the totals for Glaus and Rolen since the trade, with Rolen adding at-bats to his numbers daily:

Glaus … $11.3 M … 151 games … 544 AB … 27 HR … 99 RBI … .270/.372/.483

Rolen … $11.0 M … 157 games … 560 AB … 14 HR … 65 RBI … .273/.355/.436

2. The topic for today’s poll is probably one that will be worth revisiting, but since it is a front-burner topic, let’s take the pulse of the public now on the Glaus-Rolen trade that until recently had been a no doubt up arrow for the Cardinals.

 Loading …

3. The Cardinals’ hit four home runs against Milwaukee on Tuesday night, including the first major-league home run by Nick Stavinoha. Rookie Colby Rasmus, outfielder Chris Duncan and pitcher Adam Wainwright also hit home runs. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it is the first time in the history of the Cardinals — a span that dates back to joining the National League in 1892 — that two rookies and a pitcher have homered in the same game. Wainwright has hit at least one home run in four consecutive seasons, and he’s the first Cardinal pitcher to do that since Bob Gibson. The Hall of Fame righthander hit at least one homer in five consecutive seasons from 1969-73.

4. Three of Todd Wellemeyer’s four victories this season and his previous two wins have come with Jason LaRue starting at catcher. Manager Tony La Russa is allergic to the notion of a personal catcher, but he’s also one not to miss an edge. So that explains why his sour-orange reaction to questions about LaRue catching Wellemeyer have been so vehemently against the connection and his lineups recently have nodded to a connection. LaRue is expected to start today’s game in Milwaukee (ostensibly a good day to get that two-day rest for Yadier Molina) and guess who the starting pitcher is? Wellemeyer. That battery’s charge:

Wellemeyer with La Rue … 3-0 … 20.0 IP … 1.35 ERA … 6 BB … 11K

Wellemeyer otherwise … 1-4 … 32.0 IP … 7.59 ERA … 18 BB … 19 K

5. If the name of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, sounds familiar by tickling that baseball bit of your brain, it should. As the President said his introduction of her Tuesday, the Bronx native and Yankees fan was the judge that “saved baseball.” While that may be an overstatement, Judge Sotomayor did pull baseball back from the brink of oblivion in 1995. As a district court judge in Manhattan, she presided over a petition filed that claimed baseball owners had instituted unfair labor practices. The baseball players were striking. Replacement players were on deck. A sport was crisis. And Judge Sotomayor’s deft and expedient handling of the petition helped push the two sides toward an agreement. She wrote about her injunction: “Issuing the injunction before opening day is important to ensure that the symbolic value of that day is not tainted by an unfair labor practice … ” More on her role in this morning’s New York Daily News.

6. Six is a serious number, or so we’re told at the ballpark and during Cardinals telecasts. It’s the fingers on your hand plus your thumba. It’s also been a safe promotion for Mobil On the Run in the past month. The Cardinals scored more than six runs Tuesday so drinks are a quarter today at participating Mobil On the Runs. It is the first time since May 11 — the day after a 8-7 victory in Cincinnati — and only the fourth time this month that drinks have been a quarter. … Some other quickie notes: Mizzou ace Kyle Gibson is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, the Heisman-equivalent for college baseball players. He is 10-3 with conference-best 123 strikeouts for the Tigers this season, and he’s pegged as a first-rounder in the coming draft. Gibson is one of 30 semifinalists for the award. The Golden Spikes Award will be presented this year in St. Louis as part of the All-Star Game festivities. Missouri State lefty Buddy Baumann is also a semifinalist. The 30 names will be forwarded to a voting body of 125 to determine the winner.

7. The first round of All-Star Game voting is in, and the tales of the tally are these: Milwaukee and Manny. Suspended Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has received 442,763 votes, the fourth-most among outfielders. We’ve been billing this vote as a referendum on baseball’s drug cheats. Maybe all those votes came before the suspension. Maybe today’s American League numbers will be telling when we see the votes for Alex Rodriguez. Maybe not. Maybe fans don’t care.

Just hit it far, slugger. Don’t care if you hit it fair.

The other story of the vote is darn those Milwaukee Brewer fans. Quicker than they can jack-up the comment count on a blog, the Brew Crew Faithful has again got out the vote. Ryan Braun is the early vote leader at outfield with 663,163 already, and shortstop J.J. Hardy leads the shortstops in as well. The only other team with two leaders is the Local Nine with Albert Pujols atop first base (842,058) and Yadier Molina at catcher (451,368). But don’t sleep on the other Brewers. Four other Milwaukee players — Prince Fielder, Jason Kendall, Bill Hall and Rickie Weeks (out for the season) — rank second in votes so far. There is a lesson here, too. Last year, Milwaukee fans swept Braun and Corey Hart into the game with their ability to mobilize a constituency. Pujols has a 400,000 vote cushion on Fielder and is likely going to be the overall leader in votes. Molina barely has one of 70,000 on Kendall. And Brewer fans clearly vote early and often.

8. FARMNIK REPORT: One of the teen sensations who has been aggressively promoted from the Cardinals’ Latin America endeavors authored his finest start of the season Tuesday. Righthander Richard Castillo, not yet 20, got a no decision after his seven innings and five strikeouts for High-A Palm Beach against Daytona. He allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks. Castillo has good pop and some late movement on his fastball and has often showed a plus command of his breaking ball - especially for his age. Closer Adam Reifer got the victory in relief when Francisco Rivera grounded into a force out that scored the tying run and then became an error that allowed Shane Peterson to score as the winning run, 3-2. … Colt Sedbrook, starting at third base, went 3-for-3 with two runs scored in the win. … Charles Cutler had his fifth multi-hit game in his past 10 games, going 2-for-3 for Low-A Quad Cities in a 8-4 loss. Cutler is 17-for-40 in his past 10 games (hitting .425). He has eight RBIs in that span, but only one of his 17 hits has been for extra bases (a double). … Scott McGregor allowed three runs on five hits in his 1 2/3 innings; he came in relief of starter Arquimedes Nieto, who walked two, gave up seven hits and allowed five runs (all earned) in four innings. … Blake Hawksworth got rocked late in his start at Portland. The righthander collapsed in the sixth inning, allowing four of the six runs (five earned) he gave up total. Portland hit two homers of Hawksworth (4-4, 3.93).  … Tyler Greene, in his second game back with Class AAA Memphis, went 2-for-4, started at shortstop and batted second. He drove in one of Memphis’ two runs in a 7-2 loss. Brett Wallace went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

9. Word late last night in Cardinal Beat that Kyle Lohse will likely be scratched from his start in San Francisco. The righthander cannot catch a break. This past weekend Lohse sported a horseshoe-shaped welt on the inside of his right arm. The raised portions of the bruise were red and V-shaped like the seams of the baseball they represented. All he could do was look at the wound and shake his head. It’s been that kind of year. He’s been hit on both arms with pitches. He’s had his knee jammed, two collisions at first base and a bout of nausea during a start in Atlanta. “You usually have a couple weird things happen throughout the year, but not this extreme,” Lohse said. “I got through two weired balls hit to first (on Saturday) and I thought I was golden. But I had to get that fourth at-bat.”

10. The weekly tsunami (TM) of  scoops and snark happened a day early, so come ride the wave with yesterday’s JSL!!! (TM). There is, however, no truth to the rumor that when the self-proclaimed Chatmeister (TM) had completed his latest mixer with the masses, he typed that last exclamation point, pushed away from the keyboard and … untucked his shirt.

-30-