MLB: Matt Holliday Stays With St. Louis

The Matt Holliday saga came to an end Tuesday the All Star left fielder agreeing to a 7-year deal reportedly worth $120 million.  The Cardinals need Holliday in the lineup to protect Albert Pujols and show him that they are dedicated to building winning franchise as they prepare to attempt to re-sign him to a long term contract.

Holliday’s agent, Scott Boras, comes out with a bit of egg on his face as he maintained that Holliday deserved a Mark Teixeira type of contract and came up way short on delivering one for his top client in this year’s free agent market.  He desperately tried to find another team to bid against the deal that the Cardinals had on the table but could find no takers.

There were other teams reportedly interested in Holliday, but, without any those teams being the Mets, Yankees, Angels, Red Sox, or Cubs Boras did not have any luck driving up the market value for Holliday.  No other teams were willing to go above and beyond what the Cardinals were offering.

The short term payroll implications are not too steep for the Cards as the bulk of his salary is covered by the salaries of Troy Glaus and Adam Kennedy that came off the books at the end of the season.  It also ensures the Cards should contend for the next two years with Pujols and Holliday anchoring the heart of the lineup.  The long term implications remain to be seen as it is unknown how much it is going to take to lock Pujols up to a long term deal.

It could put the team in a position where they are always having to fill out the roster with players willing to sign one year deals for minimal amounts in hopes they can parlay that into a longer term contract elsewhere, or, young players who are not yet arbitration eligible and are essentially playing for the league minimum.

Hopefully the deal does not hurt the team’s chances to field contending teams down the road.  They had to do this deal though if they want to have any prayer of re-signing Pujols.  He is only going to tolerate so many more years of re-treads like Troy Glaus and Ryan Ludwick hitting behind him in the order.  They need to have a legit All Star caliber hitter in the lineup that teams are going to take seriously hitting behind Pujols.  Holliday fits the bill and will go a long way to help the team to re-sign him.

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