FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I just want to make it clear...I LOVE that Holliday is currently the one batting behind Pujols. I was skeptical about the trade when it was first made, but it's obvious now that the addition of someone like Holliday is exactly what the Cardinals needed...this season. If you could get him at a reasonable price for the next 4 or 5 years...I'd love that too. But 50% of a payroll in TWO players? C'mon...even the biggest hard on for Holliday would have to take pause at that.

I think ESPN is dreaming with the 15 million per year fugure. I think it will be 18 million per year minimum to sign Holliday.

I think the team can afford it if they structure the Pujols contract as very back loaded. By that I mean a lifetime contract which pays him above market after he retires and below market while he's still playing. The Cardinals are going to have to decide if they want to be an elite team or an also ran team 29 years out of 30 years. They can keep their revenues up, but only if they are contending year in and year out.

The Cardinals need to sign either Holliday or Bay this winter.

This is a tough one for me. I think the Cards need to bring back Holliday, but it obviously depends on the term and the dollar amount. I agree like everyone else does, that Albert has to be the priority, but I also think it is important to keep Holliday in the fold. I don't think payroll is an issue for 2010, because we free up so much payroll when Glaus, Greene, Pineiro, Ankiel , Wellemeyer and Kennedy all come off the books, and we'll be giving very few significant arbitration increases. The tough part will come down the road when Holliday and ALbert are eating up a huge amount of the payroll and we have to start paying some of the younger guys more.

Personally, I can see a situation where we re-sign Holliday and DeRosa, but then have to trade Ludwick to make the payroll numbers work.

I would rather be sure to sign Ludwick and DeRosa. I would love to see Bay as well, but I'm not sure how likely that is. Anyway, I see no point in going beyond $12 million X 5 years for Holliday, and that probably won't get it done. In my opinion, the future of the franchise rests with Pujols, and his publicity/recruiting trips to the Dominican Republic. In about four years, we should start seeing how well this pays off. And let's face it... seeing the Cardinals making a serious run in post-season every four years or so is probably the best we can hope for. Championships are bought these days, not scouted or coached through the farm system. We can't outbid the big market cities.

OHMR has a valid point.

I think we sometimes expect a little too much from the Cardinals. It's not realistic to expect them to win (or even play in) the World Series EVERY year. Even with the best player in baseball, a LOT has to go right for a team in order for them to be as good as the Cards have been this year.

Even if you do sign Holliday, who's to say that's going to guarantee the same results next year? Who fills the void left by Pineiro's departure (cause you can bet that if we sign Holliday, we aint dishing out the dollars Pineiro is going to get elsewhere...though I'm not sure I would give him any real money regardless). What happens when an injury hits the rotation, or we need an extra bullpen arm at the deadline? We just wouldn't have the money available for those kinds of things.

I say that it's better to go into a season with a GOOD team and room to wiggle than it is to rely on a VERY GOOD team with no room for error.

ALSO...and this is a big one...everyone has to remember that Holliday is playing his ass off this season (especially since the trade) forrrr...wait for it...A CONTRACT!

It's a Fact of Life, as sure as death and taxes, players will always have their best years when a payday is on the line. There's no sense in putting an entire organization at risk for years just because a guy came in for three months and made a difference.

Besides, that is exactly why we made the trade...to make a difference THIS YEAR. If that weren't the case and we were playing for the future, we'd of kept Wallace. We should be thankful if we can get a World Series title out of this trade. That means the Holliday/Wallace trade was really Wallace for a World Series. A player for a World Series??? I'll take that any day.

I agree that I would trade Wallace for a WS ring any day, and I also agree with ohmr and STLGuy that we are probably spoiled and expect the Cards to contend every year.......which isn't realistic.

That said, though........I think Holliday is a great fit in the lineup behind Albert, and I'd like to see them attempt to keep him. I would certainly have the same concern about the percentage of the payroll being too tied up in a couple of guys, but I think if you have a core of AP, Holliday, Rasmus and Wainwright longterm........you can contend by fitting in the right pieces around those four guys.

I don't want to see them give Holliday absurd dollars, but if they are even close to reasonable, I say sign him.

Maybe we'll all get lucky and Holliday will tell Boras he wants to stay in STL, period!
You know he shouldn't want to go back to the American League, which leaves the Yankees and Red Sox in the dust so that realistically, leaves who?

Well, I can dream, can't I? LOL