Holliday To Cards Dead

Keep an eye on the Angels. They might go after him. I doubt they will acquire Atkins as they covet defense and have Wood, Aybar, Figgins, Hendrick and Rodriguez ready for the infield. Wood is the most likely to play 3B next season.

thank you. The trade made no sense for either side. Would either team benefit from that trade, no.

any phillies offer now should not be more than werth, happ and two lower level non impact minor leaguers. Everyone and their mother knows the rockies won't sign Holliday long term. its strictly a rental until Michael Taylor is ready. Victorino IS and should be off the table.

I hope to god this deal is dead. At first, i was excited to hear the cards were front runners, but the deal just doesn't make sense for the redbirds. Yes, Holliday is a player of extraordinary talent-but stl would be giving up too much. If the trade goes(and hopefully it wont) through, the Cards might be giving up three all star years for potentially one. Not seeing a reason not to, the cards would have to resign him and Ankiel(not to mention the cards are gonna have to pay pujols soon too)at the end of the seaon. Finally...yeah who wouldnt take a bat like Holliday, but the cards have more important holes to fill(middle infield, starter, BULLPEN). I love ludwick, but i like the idea of trading him--i just didnt like what we'd give up with it and the return

"find an mlb ready 3b/SS using expendable and mlb ready pithers...do not trade any top tier prospects away"

You have to trade top tier prospects to get an MLB-ready 3B/SS, unless you're using free agency. As an A's fan myself, Anderson, Cahill, Gallagher, and the infield prospects(not counting Patterson/Petit/Pennington, but they don't really have that much value) all should be untouchable IMO. I might be open to dealing *one* of Barton or Doolittle, but the deal has to be really sweet. Plenty of pitchers and position prospects (outfielders) to deal from without having to touch those.

JT89-

You can't compare Johan Santana to Matt Holliday. Johan came with a mandatory 137MM extension. How many teams can and were willing to pay that? A lot fewer teams than those who could use and pay Holliday.

That deal you proposed doesn't get Holliday. Carrasco's gotta be in the deal.

Personally, I am glad that this one is dead for now. I liked the trade at first, but the more I thought about the players we would be giving up plus the contract demands of Holliday, the more I disliked the trade for the Cards. I think Johnny Mo is smart to focus on the free agent market right now and see what's out there. The Cards have too many holes to fill and a Holliday extension would have killed our payroll flexibility. Maybe after some free agents are signed and some of the holes filled, we can revisit the Holliday trade if it is still plausible. Maybe we can get a third-team interested and do sometype of 3-team trade. I don't know who that team could be or what the Rox and Cards would give up to another team. Any ideas or is this a stupid idea?

"Maybe we can get a third-team interested and do sometype of 3-team trade."

How about with the Braves?

Cardinals get:
Holliday

Braves get:
Ludwick

Rox get:
Maybe 3 or 4 prospects.

Cardinals wouldn't have to give up big prospects, Braves wouldn't have to give up Johnson, and Rockies get some prospects.

CubbyFan,

Braves have no interest in Holliday. They are smart not to deal with that one year crap.

''i agree with melonis. You've gotta at least give them an outfielder back (Werth).''

I don't understand why people keep assuming that the Rockies would want Werth when he's also a free agent after next season? I would assume that the Rockies would want a long-term solution in the outfield or the opportunity to play Jeff Spilborghs or Fowler whenever he's ready.

Plus, if Werth has another good year like this one he'll want a much bigger contract, which is even uncertain for him considering we don't know if his numbers are a product of Citizens Bank Bandbox and that monster lineup, or if he's just turned the corner from being a Quadruple-A outfielder.

However if the Rockies get Werth, it's likely he'd put up some huge numbers in Coors and would still be either a chip at the July deadline or possibly a Type A free agent next year.

matty,

the point is that Werth could put up huge numbers in Coors, less than Holliday but would want nothing near what Holliday wants salary wise. you could have him for 1/3rd of the salary that Holliday wants on a per year basis over 5 years or so. So i don't know why people are comparing salary demands of Werth/Holliday. Holliday's made his clear and Werth hasn't proven himself long enough to even make any. To me, Holliday is going to want 6 years 120 million easy while Werth could be had for 5 years and 35 million. If you're the Rockies, it should be a no brainer, especially if you know Holliday's gone at the end of his contract.

I mean Phils, we could agree to disagree on this but I still don't think I would want Werth involved in a trade if I was Colorado. The original argument is that Werth would put up solid production and allow the Rockies to trade him or get the picks after the season, which is the same thing that could be done with Holliday while assuring yourself of a Type-A status that is uncertain with Werth. I still think the Rockies could compete next season with Holliday, and if they don't they could still dump him at the deadline. Look at a few years ago with a player like Carlos Lee, which got the Brewers a ransom from Jon Daniels. Teams get increasingly desperate come July.

I might be in the minority here as well, but I would question giving a player like Werth a contract like 5/35. For some reason I am not sold on him, even though he has good home/away splits and he's been very good at getting on-base the past few seasons. I see him as one of those guys that comes down to earth as soon as he gets that big contract.

By Jon Heyman, SI.com

The Oakland Athletics have acquired star outfielder Matt Holliday in a trade with the Colorado Rockies, SI.com has learned. The players Colorado will receive are not yet known.

Holliday is due to become a free agent after the 2009 season. He has spent his entire five-year career with the Rockies, is a two-time All-Star and helped them reach the 2007 World Series. He batted .321 with 25 home runs and 88 RBIs in 2008 in 139 games. It was his fourth straight .300 season, but his power numbers represented a noticeable decline from the previous two seasons when he averaged 35 HRs and 125 RBIs while playing in at least 155 games both years.

Previously, the Phillies and Cardinals were among the teams reportedly pursuing a trade for Holliday, but the Cardinals pulled out of the running over the weekend.

Holliday has to be one of the most overrated players in baseball. Yes, he's very good, and has improved his road performance, but has only gained superstar status because of Coors field.

A .900 OPS on any other team would be generous. Yes, it still makes him a very good hitter, but not someone worth selling the farm for - it puts him probably somewhere around the top 30 or 40 hitters in baseball.

What is the point in trading Ludwick for him? Sure, he could fizzle out, but when everything's considered, his expected performance next year is very close to that of Holliday. Then consider that he makes less money and is under control for 3 years.

What is Holliday reasonably worth on a one-year deal? He's in a class with guys like Dunn, Aramis Ramirez, Bay, Vlad Guerrero, etc. - give him the benefit of the doubt and say $18M or so - just because even though he's no superstar, hitters of his quality are not readily available. Plus his defense is ok, and he can run a bit.

He's making $13.5M, so you're talking about a benefit of less than $5M - virtually nothing.

I think Ludwick is arb-eligible this year and should get a huge raise - but still only to $5M or so. Would he get a $10M/one-year contract? In a heartbeat. Then you've got him for 2 more years on top of that.

What about a top pitching prospect? Say - Carrasco? Would you buy his rights for $5M? Again, in a heartbeat.

A Phils offer of Happ and Werth should be more than enough value-wise - but the Rockies are loaded with good-but-not-great OF.

But actually that could work - ease Fowler in - keep an OF of Hawpe, Spilborghs, Werth, and Seth Smith or someone else (Taveras or Golson?).

There are lots of options - but they should not be getting a Ludwick or a top pitching prospect.