Holliday May Test Market For Big Deal
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Tue, September 16, 2008 12:57 PM
Matt Holliday seems to be reaching his final days for the Rockies. Whether those days are in the next two weeks or in the next two years …
Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News spoke to Holliday:
The Rocks took a shot last spring at signing Holliday to a multiyear deal that would cover at least his first four years of free agency in the neighborhood of $18 million to $20 million per. Holliday and his agent, Scott Boras, turned it down.
From the organization’s point of view, that indicated Holliday was headed for the open market at the end of next season. In the business of baseball, that makes this offseason the best time to get maximum value for him in trade.
But Holliday strenuously denies he has made a decision to test the market. To the contrary, he suggests the Rocks are determining that outcome by the nature of their offer.
Holliday obviously wants a lucrative deal, and suggestions are eight years and over $100M. The Phillies have been heavily interested in Holliday in the past, including a seemingly very close trade deadline deal. There has been talk the Phils could entertain trading for Holliday in the offseason, with Pat Burrell possibly exiting.
Right off the bat I oppose this idea. First off, the Phils would kill the farm system with a trade like this. And if the Rockies trade Holliday, a caveat would likely be an immediate long-term deal. And I’m not big on signing Rockies to lucrative multi-year deals.
Holliday’s road splits are not worthy of a mammoth deal (.311, .403, .492, 10 HR, 25 RBI). They could translate better to Citizens Bank Park, but I’m not that sure. Multi-year deals, in general, aren’t a great practice. Holliday could cripple the Phils spending, especially with Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels looking for huge deals soon.
The best practice for the Phils still might be signing Burrell for another two years. Of course, more options will be discussed in the future, but for now, I say no to Holliday.
27 Responses to “Holliday May Test Market For Big Deal”
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September 16th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
if yorue going to go and make a huge splash in the offseason, it should be for pitching not MORE overpaid hitters…
September 16th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I honestly don’t think Burrell should get more than like $10 M per season… he is so inconsistent.. when he’s hot he’s good… but when he is cold, its terrible.
he’s had probably 1 season where he was good for the duration, since he’s been here.. last year it was a bad start, great finish… this year, he started great, but then has been slumping for a while now…
Go with Werth at $5 M per season, and lock up Victorino for a while.. etc..
Holliday would be great in this lineup.. I don’t think you can get him for $100 M over 8 years though… he’ll want more money and less years. Something like $85 over 6 would be better
September 16th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I’d say throw that money towards Howard, and lock him in. He obviously deserves it, and why not take care of your own before taking care of an outsider? However I think Pat is going to stick around for awhile. If anything I can see Victorino being trade bait this off season, especially the way Werth has been proving himself…And why not? Werth is a better player than Vic (my oppinion). He might not be as fast, but he gets the job done.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
You can keep both Werth and Victorino cheaply ($5+ M) over the next few seasons.. since Howard is under their control they really dont need to sign him long-term… play him out year to year, and if your team hasn’t gotten any closer to the World Series in two season, think about trading him then
September 16th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
YOu guys say Burrell is inconsistent, let’s throw money towards Howard? Is that a joke? Howard is gonna smash the strikeout record this year. Awhile HOWARD was crapin-it-up in the beginning of the yeara Burrell and Utley were holding the team together. Holiday is no better than Burrell and when he gets out of the Ballpark in Colorado he sucks. Why not keep Burrell, who is third in the league in fielding at LF and 2nd in field percentage, and throw money towards pitching and get rid of Blanton
September 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Werth, Victorino, Howard: locking them in should be the priority. I’d rather see an ace starter for next season… Holliday is just too expensive and not really what the team needs.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I totally agree with Tim in not going after Holliday. Sure he can hit home runs a mile up a mountain, but what about in Philly, or when the team goes to atlanta or washington?
I also really think a lot of people are overestimating how much money Pat is going to want along with underestimating how much Pat loves living in Philly … especially with his fancy Rittenhouse condo.
I just think there’s just too much risk not to resign him … especially if that puts the Phillies in a position of HAVING to give up what little farm system Gillick has built in his time here to go after a guy like Holliday who may hit for a higher average than Pat, but with a lot less RBIs.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Chutley … YES send Blanton back to the American league
September 16th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Regardless of Holliday… Burrell isn’t worth $14 Million per year… he’s so good defensively that his manager replaces him late in games, because he simply can’t get to as many balls as the other outfielders. (he’s great at catching balls hit right at him…)
If you can get Burrell for a home-team discount, do it.. but don’t give him the $50 M, 4-5 year deal that someone else might offer him… at least AL teams can shift people to DH as they get older, we don’t have that luxury
September 16th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
if you guys start on Blanton (the #4 pitcher…) thats as bad as when people were getting mad about Condrey in the bullpen…
Blanton is much better than Eaton and Kendrick… better than your other options, so give the dude a break.. he’s pitched very well a couple times, and very average in some others.. overall, he’s a decent addition to the rotation
September 16th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I’d like to have Holliday,but the money Scott Boras alway ask for is outragous and only the Yankees can afford it…I hope they don’t plan on giving Burrell another long term deal because he’s back to sucking and they already offered him a 2 year deal and he turned it down…Pat the bats like Bobby Abreu,we like to have em,but it’s time to move on.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
heres my new plan, the realistic one:
burrell walks. howard stays. j-hole (grudlingly) stays, utley, feliz stays. coste goes, marson and ruiz will be your catchers next year. vic stays in center. werth stays but moves to left field.
you use the free money to sign a big ticket free agent starter (sabathia – prob no chance, sheets, burnett, lowe, etc.), so that youre rotation is like so:
hamels
myers
free agent
blanton
moyer
carrasco is waiting in AAA, kendrick waits in AAA to improve himself.
happ is packaged and traded for a decent, affordable, serviceable contact-oriented right fielder. (the free agent options arent too exciting)
jenkins is gotten rid of at all costs…
keep scott eyre and chad durbin. lidge is already staying. romero is already here. madson may or may not be back….go out and get a legit setup man. there are ususally plenty of free agent setup men available every year.
bring up young players to fill the bench spots. golson can be the 4th outfielder. stairs is already staying on at the 5th outfielder, backup first base. dobbs and bruntlett are probably coming back too.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
theres no point in giving up the farm for one year of holliday…UNLESS youre doing a last hurrah one yera all out blitz at the world series. but stil…werth can be just as good if not more prodcutive than pat in left field.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Why wouldn’t you throw that money towards Howard? I don’t understand Phillies fans, seriously…Who gives a shit if he striked out 200+ per year. He’s your bomber of the squad, its what power hitters do, they strike out alot. But in Howards case, the kid comes up, wins rookie of the year, wins you a homerun derby (twice by phillies in back to back years), and wins an MVP the next year, and gets you into the playoff’s, and does the same EXACT shit the next year (well hopefully again). He is the black bambino…The Phils never had this much excitement in this town since 1993. Atleast he’s consistent to give you 40+ Hr’s per year, and 120+ Rbi’s. He needs to be handcuffed to David Montgomery wrist
September 16th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
because you dont NEED to throw money at him right now because he is under team control for a while and youre going to be throwing money at him through arbitration anyway.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
i say stop being stupid and make the deal….u get holliday with utley and howard you get avg HRs RBIS coming to in my opinion atleast a better HR hitting park
burrell is my boy but he hits .250 you replace him with a guy who hits over .300 and more HRS and RBIS please
September 16th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Don he might be better than eaton or kendrick, big deal. The fact remains he has only gotten to the seventh inning three of twelve starts. What is that over the course of forty starts. about thirteen times he gets to the seventh and remember,quality start are three runs in at least 6 innings.So I don’t even think he has had three quality starts. Your argument that he has done a good job is bogus. face facts he is a hitting machine. look at his career numbers.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Don M i’d like to reserve opinion on Blanton so far…..He has potential,but I’d want to see more for a good judgement….
Hey,he might be the middle of the rotation answer for the PHILS,or better..Last game he was really good.
Do we have him locked up for next year or is he a free agent?
September 16th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I don’t exactly think Blanton has done a good job, or lived up to what he thought he would be… BUT… he’s better than what we had (big deal?)… maybe its not a big deal, but if it helps the team, which it does.. why complain about it???
Blanton has had a few good games, in key spots. Yea id like him to better, but if people are complaining about the #4 pitcher in the rotation… it seems to me that they just like complaining.
I think they have him signed cheaply for next season too
September 16th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
What do you guys think of Jeff Francouer? I don’t know if the braves would trade him within the division but I understand that he has fallen out of favor with them and may be available. That would make for an outfield of Francouer, Victorino, and Werth if Burrell is not re-signed. Any thoughts?
September 16th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
First, we have Blanton under contract for at least next year and maybe the year after. He is a pretty solid middle rotation kind of guy.
Second- we should sign a top flight starter. But UFAs have to want to sign here. I mean, outside of Eaton, how many starters have we signed? Not many. Jon Leiber maybe. So, the odds of us getting a top flight pitcher like Sabathia, Sheets, Burnett are pretty slim unless we offer them part of NJ too. And Sheets and Burnett are too injury prone for that kind of ransom.
If we can’t get a starter and Holliday wants out, then we cut ties with Pat and go after Matt. I love Pat because he works hard, never complains even with all of the scrutiny he has faced and never takes a day off. But he is too streaky to be paid $14M a year. He isn’t going to take a significant pay cut either. If Holliday’s stats are padded in Colorado, then he should be fine here in the warm/hot summer days. He would be awesome in our lineup.
Howard- Love him because he is one of the few true power hitters left in the game. Yeah, he strikes out alot but I think he will adjust next season. And since we hold his rights for three more seasons then no reason to sign him to an overvalued contract or trade him.
The person they need to sign is Hamels. That is the one we need to lock up right now. He met the team’s demands and has stayed healthy.
And what are the odds that if Cashman wants to come here we get him to be the new GM? I am not sold on Amaro.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I’m not sold on Cashman.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hamel I really believe will leave. I think he is a free spirit and doesn’t like the way the phillies have handle him so far. Unless they change he is gone. Howard from all indication is getting bad advice from his family. They are of the opinion he will get ten years two hundred million plus. At thirty two with his body type I don;t think so. But I have been wrong before.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
how exactly is hamels supposed to leave?
September 17th, 2008 at 12:25 am
I think Ruben will get it or leave
September 17th, 2008 at 12:30 am
hamels is under team control for several more years, he isnt even in arb yet….hes not going ANYWHERE.
i hope ruben and arbuckle do NOT get the GM job, they need to be cleaned out. theyre trash.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:08 am
I think Howard has the potential to hit for a better batting average and cut down on his strikeouts although he is the kind of hitter who will always rack up a significant number of whiffs. Milt Thompson and Manuel need to keep working with him. Can you imagine what this guy would be like if he had a consistent year with the bat?