Matt Holliday Rumors: Saturday

This may be crazy but i think he will go to the nationals if they can offer the rockies 4 decent prospects and 1 or 2 somewhat proven playes. They have a better chance on having a superstar in 1 of the 4 than they do in one top "prospect"

Pretty rare that Boras lets a major client sign an extension when they're a year from free agency. Maybe the Cards feel very confident about the chance of doing so... but unless they have a pretty strong indication, I think Holiday is a big risk beyond 1 year.

I like it. The Cards are definitely giving up something, but if they can sign him long term, they have significantly improved their core. Too bad Holiday can't pitch too...

Hammondsbird, I believe that this could be a very good deal for you. Ludwick is a good player, but Holliday is better. Schumaker is good, but replaceable. Mitchell Boggs is a good pitcher, however, you may perhaps be able to hang on to Jamie Garcia, who I feel is probably your best pitching prospect(or at least MLB ready one). Additionally if you could make the deal without giving up Colby Rasmus, even better. If I were the Cards I'd pull the trigger. You could slot Holliday in before or after Pujols, either way, that duo is like Manny Ortiz.

Is Mozeliak out of his mind? Ludwick, Schumaker, and Boggs are to much for one year of Holliday. O'Dowd would be smart to accept this trade and stupid on Mozeliak part of proposing that trade.

I only like this if the cards can sign holliday to an extension. If not, 3 years of Ludwick, 6 of Boggs, and 4 of Schumaker definitely out weigh 1 of Holliday.

If the Nats are looking for an outfielder, why not go for Nick Swisher? He's the same age as Holliday, but would be MUCH easier to pry loose. I think it would only cost the Nats 2 decent prospects.

The Nats have a number of prime prospoects with more coming from this draft (Strasburg). If they are patient and hold onto them, they are going to be a power in the NL east. If they trade them for players like Holliday, the front office should be replaced

YankMan,to me it's not even so much about the talent for talent trade. What it does is takes away flexibility from the club. They have a surplus in the outfield, but no middle infield, a bullpen that needs work and a starting pitcher for the rotation.

The cardinals don't have significant payroll flexibility, the 13 million owed Holliday next year doesn't help that. Then on top of that your best trade piece to improve the other areas of the team is gone.

So basically it leaves you with the 2008 club, plus holliday, minus schumaker and ludwick. Ludwick posted a .966 ops for a fourth place team. anybody want to tell me what Holliday's ops will have to be to improve this team to first place?

I think Frank Wren might need to get this Ludwick fellow before the Rockies do.

I personally am not that high on Peavy. mainly because we can deal for other pitchers that maybe arent as dominant as peavy but are still solid none the less.

Just give me Zach Greinke and Javier Vazquez and im a satisfied fan. plus Ludwick that leaves us alot of payroll flexibility to possibly sign some extensions on Jair and possibly Greinke if we get him or maybe pick up another SS.

Yeah, they could definitely be expendable. One rumor had Ludwick going to atlanta for johnson or escobar, and i thought that was great. Trading for another outfielder is just redundant.

"Unfortunately as a Yankee fan, I know all to well what payroll inflexibility does. "

ROFL.

Anyway, this is simply too insanely bad of a deal for the cardinals for it to even be close to correct. For that package we need to get holliday AND Tulo.

"I'm calling a ton of BS on this stupid rumor. I don't doubt that Ludwick and Holliday are being shopped, but it's for pitching, not eachother. "

Agreed. I could see something like Ludwick + Jess Todd, but there has to be a pitcher going to Colorado along with the OF.

Why does everyone keep saying this would be a terrible deal for the Cardinals?? Ludwick, Schumaker, and Boggs is a horrible offer for Holliday.......

Stegoloego7, what sort of trade would u propose that would land Nick Swisher in a Nats uniform?

I love the Swisher to the Nats idea.

He would give the team a pretty high upside hitter who is pretty young and under control for three years. He's also got a big personality, and that team desperately needs a star.

The White Sox have had their eye on John Lannan before, so maybe the teams could build a deal around those two.

Something like Lannan/Detwiler and a prospect for Swisher would be a smart move for both teams.

JohnKruksWaistLine- Phillies would either have to give up multiple top prospects or trade Victorino. The trump card is Victorino.

Something like Victorino + Carrasco/Happ would get it done. However, an argument could be made that Vic is worth more than Holliday.

If no Vic: Carrasco + Happ + Marson (I'd think both pitchers would have to be in the deal).

Terrible offer. Schumaker was a really good 4th outfielder this year, and played really well when ankiel was out. Then you have Ludwick who, although may have had a career year, still had a better year than Holliday, and Ill bet has another better year next year. Then you have the pitching prospect in Boggs, who may not be great, but its not really about him, its about the first two players involved.

I think Holliday on the Cards would be a nice fit, because their stadium is also a hitters park, and having Pujols in front of him will allow Pujols a shot at 45, maybe 50, homeruns, and Holliday could have a better year. The problem is I would want to sign him long term but it would cost nearly 20 mill a year.

As a Cardinals fan, I am completely torn about this deal. I am a fan of Holliday and I think if the Cards can sign him long-term, maybe they should do the deal. I am concerned those because A. Holliday's home/road splits scare me, B. Ludwick had a better year than Holliday and he may keep that production up for 2-3 years while under cheap team control, C. we would be losing our leadoff hitter in Schumacher, D. I am concerned this stop us from making other moves this offseason that we really need to make

Ive heard the last couple of days that we were the favorites and the most agressive, but I thought the Phillies were still in it as well. I haven't heard anything about us being that close to completing the deal yet.

stlredbirds....I've seen that posted on other sites as well, supposedly ESPNNews said the Cards are close to a deal with the Rockies.

As a Cards fan why wouldn't you like this deal?

Outside of pitching, which everybody needs, spending big money on a big bat makes sense right?

I'd imagine Holliday is a better bet to be a consistent 900 ops masher.

I wish I had something to show you so I could have seen it myself. I didn't see the bottom line - a friend of mine I was talking to did, so i can't even tell you verbatim what it said. and espn's mlb page didn't have anything about it.

The Holliday trade scares me for a few reasons. Ludwick is a good hitter and he is under team control for the next 3 seasons. I know he had a career year this year, but I think he could put up at least league-average numbers for how much cheaper he will be compared to Holliday. Trading Skip would create a hold in the lead-off spot. Skip did a good job for us there this year and do you really feel comfortable having Kennedy,
Ankiel, Izturis(if resigned) to lead-off? The only exception maybe Rasmus, but who knows if he would thrive in the leadoff spot. Plus, the deal be talked is Ludwick, Skip, and Boggs but you know that it will cost more. Im not sold that Holliday is worth all that talent. Plus, what if Holliday doesn't resign and the Cardinals give up all that talent to acquire him? There's also a problem if the Cards trade for him and sign him immediately to an extension. The Cardinals have a few pressing needs and signing Holliday to a deal that he wants would costs so many millions (remember he is a Scott Boras client). After signing him, any payroll flexibility that we actually had would go out the window. The Cards need to spent for another starter, resign and sign some new relief pitchers, and sign a solid SS. Johnny Mo has been working hard to create that flexibility and a new Holliday contract would create more holes to me by not allowing us to spend those millions in our true need areas. For us to truly improve after trading for Holliday then signing him to an extension, the Cards would have to increase payroll and we all know how good the management is about doing that. I just hope they really think it over before pulling the trigger.

Here's what I got from ESPN - albeit from their fantasy site:

Matt Holliday, Col LF
News: The Rockies and Cardinals are discussing a deal that would send Holliday to St. Louis for a package that would include Ryan Ludwick, numerous outlets report.

Spin: The Phillies are also among the teams reportedly very interested in Holliday. Holliday's OPS was 100 points higher at home than on the road last year, and over 250 points higher for the duration of his career.

No other info mentioning schumacher or boggs...

Nov. 8, 6:00 PM ET

JP-

I'm sorry, but Mo isn't flashing his intelligence here. The Lohse deal, and then this?

Ludwick, Skip, and Boggs is already the Rox fleecing the Cardinals. If Mo adds MORE talent, that's stupid. Taveras can then be traded for something, and I'm betting that Luddy is flipped to someone for pitching. A's and Rays come to mind (Rays might have payroll issues, A's are probably not contending in '09, both need that big bat) and Luddy is cheaper and controlled for 3 more years. I could see something where Ludwick was dealt to the A's or to the Rays for an MLB-ready starter and a pitching prospect. Get three pitchers and Schumaker off Holliday.

And, the Cardinals will not be immediately signing him to an extension. I'm assuming he's testing the FA market after the 2009 season, not locking up this year.

Or, the Rox just trade Schu to a team like the White Sox for a young pitcher (i.e. Clayton Richard). Build depth.

sorry but a deal of Werth, Happ and Myers is what I'd do. Myers has #2 stuff or he could close for the Rockies with Fuentes leaving and he's in his last year of his contract. Then the Phils should sign Tawaza and have Hamels, Tawaza, Carrasco as 3 studs of the future. All young and controllable and an unstoppable offense. REPEAT!!!

Something tells me Ludwick was on steroids. How do you have that kind of year after such an average year before? Maybe he is that good. I don't know. He had a better year than Holliday and the Cards would surely do that deal straight up.