If you still held out hope of seeing Matt Holliday in pinstripes, you can stop now.
ESPN is reporting that the Rockies are close to dealing Holliday to the Oakland A’s, in exchange for pitcher Greg Smith and some number of other players from a group including P Brett Anderson, OF Ryan Sweeney, OF Carlos Gonzalez and perhaps even closer Huston Street.
Ought to be interesting to see how this ends up. Does this mean Beane is trying to go for it in 2009? That'd be an interesting change in strategy, or at least in the public perception of his strategy, which has been "rebuild".
Or does he flip him?
[2]
.... at the trade deadline next year, most likely ...
If he stays the entire year, he is also bound to be worth 2 or 3 nice draft picks.
Frankly, we can afford to overpay for FAs, but in general, Im against any trades of real talent for real talent. We just don't have enough talent to trade.
So, Holliday is getting paid $13.5m in 2009. As a FA, he should get a AAV of $16m-$18m? So Beane has $4m in 'value' to bargain with?
The A's will flip him, but he should be an FA in 2010. I'm sure a team will want to negotiate for an extention, but unless it's a great offer from a team Holliday likes, I think he tests the FA waters.
I'd have to see how well he translates to the AL first. Someone wondered why the Rockies were willing to make this trade so soon, and I'm wondering too...
[6] agreed Sir Chyll, a Rockie out of Coors is like a Fish without a Bicycle...or some such expression I can't think of...
oohhhh...just read that the great Miriam Makeba, the first great African singer to hit the world stage, died while performing in Italy...RIP Mama Africa...
[8] Yeah, I saw that. Man, at least she went out doing what she loved. Quite coincidently, I watched "Amandla" just the day before; a documentary about the struggle against Apartheid from many South African musicians' perspectives, and she was prominent in it. Man she had a strong spirit, reminded me of the women in my family >;)
well, if Street is indeed in the trade, might Beane go after Trevor Hoffman? He & the Pads are thru. he'll probably end up in Cleveland...
A note on Holliday: on the road the last two years he's hit .304/.389/.486. He's a strong all-around player. I'm glad the Yankees didn't trade for him for the reasons OYF said above, but I have little doubt he'll continue to be an elite player in the AL and wouldn't mind if they went after him next winter.
Thelarmis, Bean might just stick with Ziegler, as he doesn't seem like the sort that believes in "proven" closers. Or, if he's concerned about Justin Duchscherer's durability, he could convert him back to the pen and make him the closer.
hey, this increasese the chances we sign him after 09 ;) unless he sucks after he leave coors of course.