Blue Jays’ Rolen could tilt balance of power

The Blue Jays would be favored to win the AL West, but they’re stuck in the AL East, where the Yankees or Red Sox have won every year since 1997, when the Orioles prevailed.

The Jays have the pitching. They finished second in the league with a 4.00 ERA last season, blessed with Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett and Dustin McGowan leading the rotation and Jeremy Accardo and B.J. Ryan as closers.

But they scored 215 fewer runs than the Yankees and 114 fewer than the Red Sox, so they imported Scott Rolen and David Eckstein from the Cardinals. The lineup could be imposing, with Eckstein leading off, followed by Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Rolen and Frank Thomas. The Jays need the Rolen of 2004, who hit .314 with 34 homers, not the Rolen of 2005-07, hampered by shoulder injuries and bugged by a persistent stare-down with Manager Tony La Russa. No such luck so far: Rolen is expected to sit out the first month because of a broken finger.