Cardinals Acquire Holliday

Holliday deal is done
ESPN.com news services

The Athletics and Cardinals have completed a trade that sends outfielder Matt Holliday to St. Louis in exchange for third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

In addition, sources said the Athletics will throw in $1.5 million to the Cardinals.

Holliday, 29, is eligible for free agency after this season, and has had a lackluster season overall with the Athletics, hitting .287 with 11 homers and 54 RBIs.

But he has hit well this month, batting .344 with a .421 on-base percentage, and one scout who has seen him play said Tuesday that Holliday is swinging the bat as well now as he has all year. The Cardinals have been searching for a way to upgrade their offense to build some lineup protection for first baseman Albert Pujols.

Earlier this season, St. Louis had indicated to other teams that it did not have a lot of money to spend, but it's possible that the Cardinals' front office could navigate that issue by getting approval from ownership, or by having Oakland kick in some money to offset the money still owed to Holliday, which is about $6 million.

Oakland acquired Holliday in a trade with Colorado last fall, in the hope that he would be the anchor to the Athletics' offense. But Holliday -- and the whole Oakland offense -- has struggled for much of this year, and rival general managers have wondered if the shift in baseball's economics might compel the Athletics to move Holliday.

Holliday is earning $13.5 million in salary this season, and in order for Oakland to recoup draft picks, it would have to offer him arbitration. Holliday could be in line for an award of $16 million, something that might be more difficult for the small-market Athletics to absorb. The Yankees, after all, declined to offer Bobby Abreu arbitration last fall because they feared that he might accept it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4353256

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I'm personally very happy all the speculation of Holliday to the Giants can now end.

Wow, IMO that is WAY too much for Holliday. Oakland did a good job on that trade front.

agreed, I would have loved to add Holliday, but not at that price.

Oakland did throw in money though. 25% of his remaining salary to be exact.

Yikes, they gave up their #1 prospect for a rental?

Originally posted by crzy:
Yikes, they gave up their #1 prospect for a rental?

I will be shocked if Holliday doesn't resign with the Cards. He and Pujols could play together for another 5 or 6 years or longer. Holliday is only 29, Pujols just turned 30 or 31. Scary thought.

wow now pujols' numbers are going to sky rocket even more

Yea, I think Holliday wil resign, and I imagine the Cardinals have some sort of verbal guarantee that he will. If he does, a middle of the lineup featuring Pujols and Holliday will be scary for years. They paid a big price, no doubt, but if they can keep everyone together, you have to figure they will be a front runner to win the NL for years to come.

Originally posted by Poncho707:
wow now pujols' numbers are going to sky rocket even more

nah, hes about to start getting the Bonds treatment. teams will make Holliday and Ludwick beat them.

Originally posted by SFGiants55:
nah, hes about to start getting the Bonds treatment. teams will make Holliday and Ludwick beat them.

or they can do what we did with kent and bonds to get kents numbers up

put holiday number 3 n pujols 4..holiday will get cxrazy good pitches

Originally posted by CornsOnTheCob:
Yea, I think Holliday wil resign, and I imagine the Cardinals have some sort of verbal guarantee that he will. If he does, a middle of the lineup featuring Pujols and Holliday will be scary for years. They paid a big price, no doubt, but if they can keep everyone together, you have to figure they will be a front runner to win the NL for years to come.

He may sign with the Cardinals but I would bet everything I have that there is no verbal guarantee in place. His agent is Scott Boras. He ALWAYS has his clients test the FA waters and this will be no different. Boras is a master at leveraging a player's worth and creating competitiion among teams.

As far as being the front runner for many years.... well I wouldnt say that either. Philadelphia has a sick young lineup with tremendous talent in their minor league system. Even with Holiday in STL, Philadelphia is still the best team I believe. If they get Doc Halladay.. then they are far and away the best team for the next few years.

who did the as trade to the rockies for him?

Originally posted by Giantjohn:
He may sign with the Cardinals but I would bet everything I have that there is no verbal guarantee in place. His agent is Scott Boras. He ALWAYS has his clients test the FA waters and this will be no different. Boras is a master at leveraging a player's worth and creating competitiion among teams.

As far as being the front runner for many years.... well I wouldnt say that either. Philadelphia has a sick young lineup with tremendous talent in their minor league system. Even with Holiday in STL, Philadelphia is still the best team I believe. If they get Doc Halladay.. then they are far and away the best team for the next few years.

Didn't know his agent was Boras, that changes everything haha

And I agree about Philly for sure, but I think the Cardinals will be a pretty consistent playoff team in the future.

they better resign him or LOL at the cards.

wow cardinals just got a nasty 1-2!!!