Rockies star left fielder and Scott Boras client Matt Holliday is set to reach free agency after the 2009 season. Team owner Dick Monfort weighed in on the situation:
I don’t know if we will be able to sign him. It could always happen during the year, I guess, but that’s a distraction and we can’t have that. The chance of him becoming a free agent increases with each year that passes.
Boras’ thoughts on the topic:
Matt is happy in Colorado. If they want to offer a one-year contract, that’s fine. If they want to offer him a franchise contract, like they have done in the past, we would review it at that time.
My guess is that the four-year, $60MM proposal the Rockies considered wouldn’t be seen as a "franchise offer" by Boras. With the info we have now it looks like Holliday will get a free agent deal exceeding $100MM following the ’09 season.
One other Rockies note from Renck’s column – it sounds like the Rox might wait another year before seriously thinking about a long-term deal for Troy Tulowitzki.