10:42pm: Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Holliday and the Cardinals are "working toward an agreement" that is "gaining momentum." Due to this progress, a deal is possible next week. Goold says multiple contract structures have been discussed – five guaranteed years with a higher salary, and even an "eight-year framework."
7:21pm: Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reports that Holliday didn't accept a contract offer of at least six years and "presumably" worth more than $100MM offered by St. Louis "in the past couple weeks." Heyman also tweeted that Holliday "is still talking to multiple teams."
3:20pm: ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the Cardinals' offer to Holliday "is believed to be over $100MM" (guaranteed, he tells me). Additionally, Ringolsby replied to my email and clarified that he's been told the Cards' eight-year, $140MM offer is guaranteed both in years and dollars.
1:55pm: Talking to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, MacPhail moved quickly to shoot down Ringolsby's report of the Orioles making an eight-year, $130MM offer for Holliday.
1:01pm: Tracy Ringolsby's FOX Sports column today contains information on Matt Holliday's current contract demands as well as a couple of offers that have been made.
Ringolsby says Holliday wants to top the $18MM average salary of a four-year, $72MM deal the Rockies once offered. But if you look at our post from Monday, you'll see that the Rockies' reported offers are all over the map.
Ringolsby says the Cardinals "made a proposal that could reach $140 million over eight years." This fits with Joe Strauss' mid-December article for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that said the Cardinals offered "around $15 million-$16 million a season for up to eight years." In both cases the vague wording makes me wonder whether the offer was eight years guaranteed, or just five years plus options as some have suggested. I have an email out to Ringolsby for clarification.
Ringolsby adds that the Orioles made an eight-year, $130MM offer to Holliday. What's more, he says Andy MacPhail "did discuss the possibility of arranging a meeting between himself, Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Holliday in Austin, Texas, where Holliday is living in the offseason." If true, the Orioles could be more serious about Holliday than previously thought.
