Matt Holliday Interested In Yankees

Let's see if he can hit in the AL/non-Coors field surroundings first...

Here come all the Yankee fans putting out their ridiculous trade ideas before the deadline

I'd like to continue seeing him as an A and open this thought process in July if the A's are out of it.

"Here come all the Yankee fans putting out their ridiculous trade ideas before the deadline"

Yankees are going to have to give up half there system to get him, because they have only like 2 or 3 good prospects that I have seen.

"The market is way down, and the economy probably will not significantly improve before the start of the 2010 season."

Except it's been well documented that the best players get paid. CC, Tex, Burnett, Manny. They all got their money. It's the middle of the road/roster filler guys who suffer.

Now...if Holliday has a down year playing Oakland, that changes the game. But if he posts similar numbers to what he put up in Coors, he'll get 4-5 years, and I'll take a guess at $16-18M per. When you consider that potentially the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Dodgers could all have a LF vacancy next year, I have a feeling he'll get his money (provided he doesn't completely flop in OAK).

Matt Holliday will be a Yankee. He probably won't be in July, but they'll get him in the offseason.

screw holliday, how abut he starts hitting before he dreams about his next team. he hasnt hit a HR all spring and over 100 seasons ab's. A's didnt give up much in the deal but expectations were for him to help this lineup thus far not much

As you said Tim, this is not a surprise, especially considering that Boras is his agent. Whether or not he really wants to play in New York, he has to say this in order to drive up his price.

But I agree that he should shut up and play and worry about his next contract after the year is over.

I'd guess 6 years/ $115 mil.

NYY new stadium makes Coors look tame.

i've never understood the fascination/want to play for the Yankees. I guess growing up a Dodgers fan, I always thought if I could play for anybody it would be them. I would imagine most would want to play for their home team, too, but I guess not.

I think a very likely destination for Holliday would be the Red Sox, but that would depend on two things. 1.) If they don't work out an extension for Jason Bay and 2.) If Oakland doesn't decide to just dump his salary to a contender before the trade deadline this year. Both could happen for sure, but the Red Sox have a spot for him and the money to get him.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Angels. They could be potentially losing the contracts of Vlad, Lackey, Abreu and Figgins. Seems like a fit to me

Holliday will be in the opening day line-up at Target Field next spring.

One can hope right?

I'm not a Yankee fan, but I think they should be thinking of converting Jeter to a corner outfield spot at some point to improve their infield defense. I agree if the Yankees want Holliday bad they'll get him, I'm just curious if they'll really want to commit to another long contract with other guys available for less years (Manny)

I would be shocked if Holliday ends up in NY. I don't think the Yankees will be interested, they would probably prefer a short term deal to Manny instead of another longterm deal to another corner guy. If they lock up Holliday they would then have the two easiest positions on the field locked up very long term, leaving only the DH spot open for any other players they have that may need to move. I would even rather see the Yankees resign Damon to play LF, defense be damned, because he can still hit, he might even be the best leadoff man in baseball. He is definitely top 5, and so underrated as an offensive player. A 1 year deal for Damon with an option, or even a two year deal beats 5 years for Holliday, in the situation the Yankees are in.

As for the Mets, they are committed to Daniel Murphy in left field, not to mention they still have Fernando Martinez waiting around somewhere. Everybody just assumes that Delgado will be gone after the year and Murphy will take over at first base, but honestly I see no reason why Delgado wouldn't be brought back if he was reasonable about what he wanted. The guy can obviously still rake, so if he is willing to work something out, as of right now I would say Delgado is back on the Mets next year.

The wild card for the Red Sox is JD Drew. If he spends more than 35 days on the DL with an injury to his bad shoulder or is on the DL at the end of the season and can no longer play the OF the following season, the Red Sox could void his contract. Resign Bay, sign Holliday, and move one to RF.

Have to agree with Little Bear as to the Red Sox -- unless the Yankees sign Bay and force the Sox to pursue Holliday. That said, Matt is probably looking back longingly at the Rockies offer already...

I can't stand Hollidays swing and i think hes extremely overrated.

Lets see how he does in Oakland this year before we make predictions.... but i am going to go with
4 years 65 million with Mets.

What if the market continues to suffer? If it gets bad enough, is there any chance the Rockies would take him back with a slightly watered down version of the offer they made to him last year?

"Yankees are going to have to give up half there system to get him, because they have only like 2 or 3 good prospects that I have seen."

Are you stupid? Off the top of my head, I can name: Andrew Brackman, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Dellin Betances, Alan Horne, Austin Jackson, Jesus Montero, Francisco Cervelli, and Humberto Sanchez.
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Yankees don't have a lot of blue chip position prospects outside of maybe Montero, Ajax and ROmine but they have a LOT of good pitching prospects in their system. I would say they are probably ranked somewhere between top 8-12 farm systems with the Baltimore, Boston, Oakland, Tampa, Texas, toronto, FLorida, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Atlanta and Cleveland being among the top 10 off the top of my head.

Cervelli is all defense and no bat. Probably will never be more than a back up C. Horne and Sanchez started the year on the DL and were hurt most of 2008. Not sure what you can expect from them.

These are, IMO, the guys to watch:

Hughes (108) and IPK (58) are technically over the 50 inning mark to maintain their rookie status but they are still prospects IMO.

"True Rookie" prospects no particular order:

Mark Melacon 24, RP @ AAA
David Roberts 24, RP @ AAA/mlb
Jesus Montero 19, C @ A
Austin Jackson 22, CF @ AAA
Austin Romine 20, C @ A
Zach McAllister 22, SP @ AA
George Kontos 23, SP @ AA
Michael Dunn 24, RP @ AA
Dellin Betances 21, SP @ A
Andrew Brackman 23, SP @ A-
Pat Vindette 23, RP @ A-

My picks as guys to watch:

DJ Mitchell, 22, SP @ A (2008 10TH RND PICK)

Ramiro Pena, 22, SS @ AAA/mlb (already up in the majors but don't think he'll stick).

Eric Fryer, 23, C-OF, A (traded from Milwaukee)

Brandon Laird, 21, 1b-3b @ A (Gerald's brother, 23 hrs in 2008)

Jeremy Bleich, 21, SP @ A (2008 1st rnd comp pick)

David Phelps, 22, SP @ A (2008 late pick)

Addison Maruszak, 22, SS @ A (2008 pick)

Yankees don't have a lot of blue chip position prospects outside of maybe Montero, Ajax and ROmine but they have a LOT of good pitching prospects in their system. I would say they are probably ranked somewhere between top 8-12 farm systems with the Baltimore, Boston, Oakland, Tampa, Texas, toronto, FLorida, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Atlanta and Cleveland being among the top 10 off the top of my head.''

I would put the dodger system over Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and possible Atlanta and SF. The dodgers have their first round of prospects from a few yrs ago in the MLB(Martin, Loney, Kemp, etc). Then they have the new group that has Lambo, Dejesus Jr, Hu(who may finally reach his potenital), Mcdonald, etc. Then the next group garate, Gordon, Withrow, Martin, etc. They have good depth in all levels, espically in the low minors.

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I would be shocked if Holliday ends up in NY. I don't think the Yankees will be interested, they would probably prefer a short term deal to Manny instead of another longterm deal to another corner guy. If they lock up Holliday they would then have the two easiest positions on the field locked up very long term, leaving only the DH spot open for any other players they have that may need to move. I would even rather see the Yankees resign Damon to play LF, defense be damned, because he can still hit, he might even be the best leadoff man in baseball. He is definitely top 5, and so underrated as an offensive player. A 1 year deal for Damon with an option, or even a two year deal beats 5 years for Holliday, in the situation the Yankees are in.

As for the Mets, they are committed to Daniel Murphy in left field, not to mention they still have Fernando Martinez waiting around somewhere. Everybody just assumes that Delgado will be gone after the year and Murphy will take over at first base, but honestly I see no reason why Delgado wouldn't be brought back if he was reasonable about what he wanted. The guy can obviously still rake, so if he is willing to work something out, as of right now I would say Delgado is back on the Mets next year."

Agreed completely. The way I see it, the Mets have enough payroll room over the next 1-2 years to add one big name. So their options are:

A. Save it for the offseason and try to replace Delgado with a big slugger.

B. Spend it at the deadline for pitching, forgo the slugger in the offseason, and either keep Delgado around or maybe even think about LaRoche. I'm no huge LaRoche fan, but if the Mets could get a Roy onto their staff (Halladay or Oswalt), I'd be completely fine going with a solid but unspectacular, lefty fielding first baseman. He'd be a defensive improvement, and projection systems are unusually consistent on LaRoche, an OPS in the low-mid .800s with 20-30 homers and a decent average and solid OBP. They'd be a slightly differently built team, more about pitching and defense, but it could be the difference for them this year and shouldn't hurt their chances next year.

can we please call Matt Holliday what he is, OVERRATED only 2 30/100 seasons, only 1 200+ hit season, how is he considered better than Jason Bay? sure he has a little better avg, but Bay has shown to be a better run producer throughout his career. I just don't get the Holliday love affair.

The Yanks system, while not one of the top systems in the game right now, has improved over the past few years. While I don't think it's as good as some of the Yankee fans on here think (obviously), I will acknowledge that they do have some chips to trade if they wanted to make a move. But, I don't see AJax being traded, as he's the only long-term CF the team has in the system and clearly the guys they have now aren't the long-term answer and I don't see them trading Hughes because he's got such a high ceiling. After those two guys, you have some prospects who either are boom or bust types (Montero) and/or very low in the minors (Brackman, Betances, etc) with years of development ahead before they reach the bigs. So unless a team is willing to take a shot on these guys in the low minors, or the Yanks decide to finally trade a guy like Hughes, I see it difficult to pull in a player like Holliday via trade when there are teams with better systems who could make a run for him. Now I don't claim to be an expert in the Yanks system, so correct me if I'm wrong here.

I would be shocked and highly dissapointed if Cash traded any prospects for Holliday. It just went be a smart move considering that you only would have him for a couple of months, and there's ZERO chance Boras would want to talk extension prior to FA.

This kid Montero is looking really good. I think he gets bumped to AA by JUne/July and if he mashes there I can see him starting the 2010 season @ AAA.

Matt holiday will be a met by the deadline for fernando martinez.

Why is everyone enamored with Holliday? He isn't that good. Guy should have taken that 4 years and 82 million and ran to the bank.

I think it was poor taste that Holliday is talking about playing for another team while a member of the A's. Until his contract runs out with them, he ought to show more loyalty to them than this. It's disheartening for a player to answer this kind of question like that.

I honestly don't think the Yanks are that interested in dealing with Holiday/Boras. They're not stupid. They have access to the same information everyone else does. Unless Holliday posts superb numbers like he did in Colorado (.330/.380 30/30)then I don't see it. And as long as Arod shows he's healthy then I don't see the need for a MAJOR BIG BAT, other than the most obvious one.....Manny, who can be had for a lot cheaper and a lot shorter term.

Wow...I'm sorry. I didn't know that 4/52 mil was "fat and unmoveable". Matsui had played in 162 games in his 1st 3 years with the Yanks before they resigned him on the 4 year deal.

"Matt Holliday was a brutal left fielder early in his career. You know how he improved? By (gasp!) playing left field! What a concept! Murphy has played all of about 50 professional games in LF, after never playing the outfield in his life. Is it surprising that he has made a few miscues? Honestly, he hasn't been completely horrible either, aside from the dropped flyball in Miami. Slipping going for a flyball can happen to anybody and besides those two issues, he has been decent. Not that LF defense matters a ton, especially when you have Beltran patrolling center and Church in right. Bottom line, I will be very disappointed if the Mets sign Holliday. Like Meddler said, I just keep Murphy in LF, wait and see on Fernando Martinez, and either resign Delgado, or find a cheap replacement for him, and use that money on the rotation."

I completely agree with this post. Use the money for pitching improvements. Remember, there is no guarantee that Johan will make it through his contract without getting hurt/declining in performance. None.

I look into my crystal ball and see Holliday signing...with the Giants or the Dodgers (if Manny opts out).

I cant see the yanks,mets or red sox making a move for him unless they have a 72 hr window to sign him to an extention.

Also have the yanks not learned yet that building a farm system and having players play together for a couple of years in the minors actually works and wins. yea you dont win every year but you have club house chemistry and have fun playing the game. the yanks two best players dont like each other adding another boras client , a prima donna, would just add to the problem. the yanks arent a team they are a bunch of high paid talented players who only play for themselves.

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Yeah your right. Tex turned down more money from the Nationals because it was all about him. Arod, who could've gone down as the greatest SS ever decided to move to 3b, a position he never played, because it was all about him.
Sabathia and Burnett? They don't want to win.

Now of course money absolutely plays a major part in any players decision but to say these guys don't want to win is absolute bull.

Also, can we please...please....please stop with this idea that just because you didn't come thru the farm together that you can't win together. Please keep in mind also, that Tex, nady and Swisher are the only 3 starting position players that haven't been with this organization for at least 4 years. And 3/5ths of the starting rotation are homegrown players. In fact name me 1 team that has 4 star caliber players (Jeter, Posada, Pettite and Rivera) that have been together for at least 10 years? If that's not continuity then I'm not sure what is.

Scratch that on Pujols, forgot the Cardinals had a 2011 option on him.

And now I realize Bradley isn't a free agent for 2010.

I need more sleep.

"The Giants obviously need a big time bat, and although they have some good guys coming through the system"

Poor Giants, Sabean seems to go into each off season and sign the "most likely to stink" instead of a player that will actually help push them into contention. Dave Roberts, Rowand, Renteria, Zito. He better hope he hangs on for awhile, cause he'll never get another GM job. Sabean could have gotten Dunn, or Abreu as examples for small change and helped the offense, yet stayed back and played like they were waiting on Ramirez and ended up with nothing. Now they are doomed again.

"I've been assuming that the Yankees would acquire Holliday since around November. I also have them signing one of either Rich Harden or Brett Myers. Possibly Marlon Byrd as a DH."

The Yankees should not sign another FA pitcher. Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes are just fine.

I know I'll probably get bashed for saying this but I really feel that Cash is structuring the organization to be more self-sufficient YET ready, willing and capable of pulling the trigger on a big "difference maker" when the opportunity makes sense. I think the Swisher trade shows that. He was acquired so that they didn't HAVE TO sign Tex if the price became too steep. I think the CC and AJ signings makes them legitimate WS contenders WHILE at the same time allowing their young arms like Hughes, IPK, McAllister, Betances, Brackman, and other to take their time and develop at their own pace. Additionally, by design or by luck I think the Yanks have a couple of in-house options for some of their aging players.

Mariano might be succeeded by Mark Melancon or maybe Bruney.

Posada might be succeeded by Jesus Montero or Austin Romine.

Jeter might be moved to a new position and Ramiro Pena might take over @ SS.

And of course Austin Jackson should be ready to take over CF by 2010 or 2011. In the meantime we hope Gardner or Melky show us something positive and become options at LF.

I think the organization is as healthy as it's been since the mid-90's. ANd now that they have several promising arms in the low minors (DJ Mitchell, Brett Marshall, Jeremy Bleich, Wilson De La Rosa, etc) I think Cash should stock up on college bats and maybe go over slot on great high school players who might be seen as "hard to sign" because they're college recruits.

Austin Jackson would be ready next year. So the Yankees will need a RF/LF and a DH. To replace Matsui, Damon, Nady.

What has Bay done? Only posted OPS+ of 132, 150, 138 and 134 in 4 of his 5 years, and the only year which he posted under 100 was an injury plagued 2007. And what do world series appearances have to do with anything? Bay gets more public acknowledgment then Holliday? What are you talking about? For 2 or 3 years now, we have to hear everyday how Matt Holliday is the greatest thing since sliced bread. This guy was a huge name. I think half the major league baseball fans didn't even know who Jason Bay was until he got traded to Boston, despite being one of the better hitters in baseball for going on 6 years now. He is one of the more underrated players in baseball, and he never got near the exposure Holliday did. I would think that 95 percent of baseball fans think Holliday is the better player then Bay, I really don't know many people at all that would choose him over Holliday, though I might. They are both good players. However, Bay produced in a crappy lineup in Pittsburgh, where Holliday produced in a mashers lineup in a hitters haven. I still think if you polled a group of baseball fans a large majority of them would pick Holliday.

"What has Bay done? Only posted OPS+ of 132, 150, 138 and 134 in 4 of his 5 years, and the only year which he posted under 100 was an injury plagued 2007. And what do world series appearances have to do with anything? Bay gets more public acknowledgment then Holliday? What are you talking about?...I still think if you polled a group of baseball fans a large majority of them would pick Holliday."

I agree with this. World Series appearances are completely irrelevant. The only reason I'd pick Holliday right now (and that will change if he doesn't start putting up overall solid stats in Oakland) is because of his basestealing abilities and the fact that he is a better defender than Bay. As hitters, they are pretty much the same, honestly, Bay might have the slight edge when factoring in PNC v. Coors.

I'm willing to give Holliday a pass for his hitting right now. Right now, the entire A's lineup is tanking, and Geren is being a moron by not having Cust and Suzuki batting higher in the order, because they are the only two who are hitting. Hell, I think the best order right now would be Cust 3rd and Suzuki batting cleanup (or Cust 2nd Suzuki 3rd).

The only logical reason to keep Holliday batting 3rd is as a precursor to a trade happening like, right now. Which is a good thing.

"I know I'll probably get bashed for saying this but I really feel that Cash is structuring the organization to be more self-sufficient YET ready, willing and capable of pulling the trigger on a big "difference maker" when the opportunity makes sense. I think the Swisher trade shows that. He was acquired so that they didn't HAVE TO sign Tex if the price became too steep. I think the CC and AJ signings makes them legitimate WS contenders WHILE at the same time allowing their young arms like Hughes, IPK, McAllister, Betances, Brackman, and other to take their time and develop at their own pace. Additionally, by design or by luck I think the Yanks have a couple of in-house options for some of their aging players."

I think its more by design. Cashman could have targetted guys who are closer to MLB ready, but didn't. By drafting/signing guys who will be ready at the time that the primary core is hitting FA/departing as opposed to creating a logjam right now. I honestly like Cashman's strategy, although the lack of depth in the IF right now is hurting.