Cardinals Keep Matt Holliday, Sign Him To Seven-Year Deal

It’s really hard to keep a good man down.

After super agent Scott Boras was only able to get Adrian Beltre a one-year deal for $9 million, you just knew he was going to come back with a vengeance in his next contract negotiation.

And come back with a vengeance, Boras did.

As first reported by SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the St. Louis Cardinals signed Boras client Matt Holliday to a seven-year, $120 million contract. The seventh year is a vesting option and each year of the contract will pay Holliday $17 million.

This is a huge win for Boras’ camp.

If you really think about it, Boras got the Cardinals to pony up $120 million when there was no other team even remotely interested in Holliday. Essentially the Cardinals bid against themselves.

Boras was hell-bent on getting Holliday more on an annual basis than what Jason Bay got. As usual, Boras got what he wanted. Holliday’s annual salary is $500,000 more than what Bay will get.

Holliday is staying in St Louis

I understand the money, but I don’t understand the years. Seven years is a lot to commit to Holliday, who will be 30-years-old next week. If no one else was bidding for Holliday, then why give him the two extra years?

For the Cardinals, I get why they had to sign Holliday.

At the beginning of the offseason, I had the Cardinals, along with the New York Mets and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as the three teams whose offseason was more important than any other teams.

I felt the Cardinals’ offseason was extremely important to the overall direction of the franchise because not only was Holliday a free agent, but manager Tony LaRussa and pitching coach Dave Duncan were free agents as well.

Not to mention that Albert Pujols is a free agent in two years and the Cardinals have to show a commitment to winning in order for Pujols to stick around after the 2012 season. So far, the Cardinals have done everything you could possibly ask them to do in terms of showing a commitment to winning now and in the future.

They re-signed LaRussa and Duncan (who might be the biggest key to the Cardinals’ success), they replaced Joel Pineiro with Brad Penny, which I like, and they made a serious commitment to Holliday. Holliday gives the Cardinals a legitimate bat to hit behind Pujols.

Holliday did hit .353 with 13 home runs and a Pujolsian 1.023 OPS in 63 games last year for the Red Birds, so it’s not like the Cardinals gave $120 million to Craig Paquette.

The Cardinals still have some holes to fill, like a third baseman (Miguel Tejada?), but they have filled all of their important holes this offseason.

The question that remains for the Cardinals is can they compete on a long-term basis with two players taking up a majority of their payroll?

The Cardinals aren’t a big market team, but they aren’t a small market team either. They are right in the meaty part of the curve. Their payroll usually settles in around the $95 million mark.

Pujols is a free agent at the end of the 2012 season. He will make $16 million in that final year. Pujols can realistically ask for $35 million a year if he wanted to.

If Alex Rodriguez is worth $32 million, then Pujols has every right to ask for more than ARod. But lets say that Pujols accepts a home-town discount and signs an extension for $25 million a year and the Cardinals’ payroll bumps up to $110 million in 2013.

With Holliday making $17 million and Pujols making $25 million, can the Cardinals compete with two players taking up 38 percent of the team’s payroll?

I think they can.

However, it’s going to take a major commitment to restocking their minor league system. They traded away the majority of their top prospects in the Holliday and DeRosa trades.

The Cardinals right now have a farm system that ranks towards the bottom in baseball.

The Cardinals are going to need some young talent to come through their system in order for the Cardinals to be competitive with a $110 million payroll and two guys taking up a significant portion of that payroll.

Holliday has a career .318 average with 152 home runs and a .933 OPS in six seasons with the Colorado Rockies, Oakland A’s and Cardinals.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Let The Stephen Strasburg Era Begin For The Washington Nationals

For those of you who were not aware, last night at 12:00 est was the deadline for teams to sign their draft picks from the 2009 major league baseball draft.

While there were hundreds of players drafted this year, one player took precedent over everyone else – Stephen Strasburg. The biggest question going into yesterday and into the late hours of the night was whether or not the Washington Nationals would sign the overall No. One pick in the draft?

Not only is Strasburg the most hyped pitcher ever to be drafted, but he is also represented by Scott Boras, which always makes for a difficult negotiation. A lot of people didn’t think a deal would get done in time.

Well, after negotiating long into Monday night, the Nationals and Stephen Strasburg came to an agreement and the Stephen Strasburg era officially began in Washington.

Strasburg is officially a National

The Nationals signed Strasburg to a record $15.1 million over four years. The deal breaks the record contract signed by Mark Prior ($10.5 million) for the most guaranteed money given to a drafted player. To be honest, $15.1 is not such a bad number considering Boras at one point was talking about a $25 – $30 million deal.

Signing Strasburg was a must for the Nationals. If they didn’t sign him, they would have received the No. Two pick in next year’s draft as compensation, but more importantly the Nationals would have lost the little credibility they have left.

As much of a disaster the Nationals have been since moving to Washington, they handled the negotiations with Strasburg as well as they could have been handled. Other than hype, Strasburg and Boras really had very little leverage in these negotiations.

What was Strasburg going to do? Play in Japan or the Northern League this year? There was no way he was going to play in those leagues and risk injury or pitching poorly. He would have lost all leverage next year if either of those scenarios happened.

If you are a Washington Nationals fan (all 10 of you), today is a good day.

Today brings some hope.

Today brings you the Stephen Strasburg era.

Holliday Goes Yard, Yay!!!!….

Holliday is struggling in Oakland

Matt Holliday hit his first HR of the season yesterday in the A’s 4-2 win over the Texas Rangers. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but this was Holliday’s first HR in 107 ab’s dating back to last season. Ouch. Holliday was a great power hitter in Colorado (who isn’t) and now his power numbers compare to the likes of Rafeal Santana, Junior Ortiz and Alvaro Espinoza.

Holliday is hitting .240/1/12/.288 so far this season and he better pick it up over the next 6 months if him and his agent, Scott Boras want to get a big pay day at the end of the season. If you want to bring up a negative to having Boras as your agent all you need to do is look at the Matt Holliday situation.

Holliday had it all in Colorado. He was becoming the face of the franchise, he was an MVP candidate, he was hitting .300 ever year, he was a Silver Slugger and he could hit a ball 300 ft but in Colorado it would travel an addition 150 ft for a HR. What more could a player ask for? However, Boras clients rarely stay with their current teams and if you are a superstar there is no chance. When Boras and Holliday rejected the Rockies 4 year $68MM offer (plus a 5th year option which would have taken the deal to $85MM), the Rockies new there was no chance Holliday would remain in Colorado. The Rockies were essentially forced to trade their best player.

Holliday went from the perfect situation for a hitter to maybe one of the worst when he was traded to the Oakland A’s in the offseason. Going from Coors Field to the Oakland Coliseum for a hitter is like going from Miami to Nebraska for someone who loves the beach. With Holliday’s slow start many are wondering if Holliday was a just a product of Coors Field? Never a good image to have.

Like I said before, Holliday has 6 months to get it going. If he doesn’t one executive thinks Holliday will only get a 1 year deal next offseason. Holliday made his bed with Boras and now he must lay in the very spacious, non-hitter friendly Oakland Coliseum.

Manny Finally Signs With Dodgers….

According to MLB.com, Manny Ramirez has finally agreed to a 2 year $45MM contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to the report, money will be deferred over a 5 year period without interest and there will be an opt-out clause after the 2009 season.

As you probably have noticed, I have not written about the negotiations between Ramirez and the Dodgers because as a Red Sox fan, I could care less about Manny. The way I see it, Ramirez destroyed his legacy in Boston and turned his back on the franchise that made him one of the richest players in baseball for $5MM.

In my opinion, Ramirez’s agent Scott Boras orchestrated Ramirez’s exit from Boston and believed he could get some sucker to pay Ramirez $100MM over 4 years. Well, Boras was wrong and wrong big time. No team fell for his charade and no team wanted to give Manny more than a 1 year contract.

As a professional, I always believed the respect of my peers and bosses was more valuable than the money I made. If you are respected in your profession, the money will come. I guess Manny thinks differently.

Top PR Person Wanted…

In this tough economic client where more and more people are losing their jobs, here at The Ghost of Moonlight Graham we would like to offer someone a great opportunity. We are looking for an experienced and talented Public Relations Specialist to manage A-List baseball player, Alex Rodriguez.

This canidate must have experience in the following areas:

1. Dealing with professional athletes
2. Dealing with baseball players who cheat on their wives
3. Experience writing apologies for using steroids

If you have all these qualifications, please apply here.

The reason I am looking for this position is because today Alex Rodriguez spoke for the 1st time since the SI.com article claimed he failed a drug test back in 2003. And while I compliment Rodriguez on going the “non-Clemens” route of saying he did use performance enhancing drugs, I believe he blew his one BIG opportunity to finally get people on his side.

In his interview with Peter Gammons, Arod said “I was young. I was stupid. I was naive.” I am sorry, but he sounds like a 16 year old after his parents caught him smoking a cigarette. Just for the record, in the years Arod claimed he was using steroids he was 26,27 and 28 years old. If you don’t know what is right and wrong by the time you are 28 then there is really no hope.

Also in the interview Arod said  “I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful.” Great. Smart. Solid statement. But in typical Arod fashion he blows it later in the interview by saying he did not know what substance or substances he had taken.

For the love of Barry Bonds, don’t give me the “I didn’t know what I was taking routine.” So Arod is telling us that he “felt an enormous amount of pressure” which is why he took the banned substance but didn’t know what exactly what the banned substance is???? IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU TOOK, THEN HOW DO YOU KNOW IT’S BANNED???? Why because he got a phone call from someone’s assistant saying you tested positive in 2003? Works for me. Unreal.

Arod had his 1 BIG opportunity to get everything out in the open. To say “I did it, I knew what I was taking and here is when I did it.” But in typical Arod fashion he blew it. This is why he needs a Public Relations Specialist to guide him through situations like this one.

As we all know, Scott Boras is Alex Rodriguez’s agent. To see everything that is going on with Scott Boras and his clients, check out Borasblog.com. Really cool site.

Figuring Out What Andruw Jones Is Thinking…

You can hate him, think he is bad for baseball, not want to work with him (Ken Williams) or you might actually like the guy because he brings players to your favorite team. Either way you have to agree, Scott Boras is one smart cookie.

In my previous post I wondered why Andruw Jones would choose the Rangers over the Yankees? As details come out about the contract Jones signed, it’s pretty clear what Jones and more importantly Boras was thinking. In the minor-league contract that Jones signed, Jones has the ability to opt out of his contract on March 20th. Brilliant.

Here is what Camp Boras was thinking. Have Jones sign with the Rangers so he can work with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. Jaramillo is widely regarded as one of the best, if the not the best hitting coach in baseball. If Jaramillo can work his magic on Jones and make him look like major league hitter again by March 20th, then Boras will have Jones opt so he is available to a team maybe desperate for another OF.

It’s genius. Use Jaramillo until March 20th and if all goes well, peddle Jones to another team where he can get a guaranteed major league contract and make more money than what the Rangers were going to pay him.

If Boras pulls this off by getting Jones on a major league roster offering significant playing time in 2009, then Boras might go down as the greatest agent in the history of sports