I believe he'll be worth every penny to that team.
When he was at Oakland he had no one to protect him and now with Pujols there WOW! The guy is also a great club house type of guy. He'll fit in nicely with the community.
I just read...
The team holds an option for the 8th year. However, if Holliday finishes in the top 10 of the MVP balloting for year 7, the team is REQUIRED to take the option.
Anyone else think that is the weirdest contract term ever? lol. To me it feels like they were just trying to placate Holliday and Boras. I mean lets be serious, do you think the team would really even take 5 second to consider re-upping Holliday if he finished in the top 10 of the MVP race in year 7?
Not to mention he loved being in St Louis, and the fans loved him. As a cardinals fan, I am very excited about this.
Actually, after the offseason, the Cardinals were shorthanded on OF w/ experience.
True OF:
Holliday
Ludwick
Rasmus
Guys with outfield experience who play IF:
Schumaker
Lugo
OF lost in FA or in the final months:
Duncan
Ankiel
DeRosa (OF/IF)
So we are really only left with those main three OF's and will pry bring up a back up OF or two. My guesses would be Stavinoha, Shane Robinson, Joe Mather, and Allen Craig for back up OF roles.
Now if only he learns to catch balls hit at him in left field and he swings at strikes when he has two strikes and men in scoring position, not to mention doing either or both in the playoffs.
I will be very interested to see how he hits for a full season outside of Colorado. He put on a display after he was traded but after the newness war off he was not a great hitter. I am not convinced he is a top of the line carry a team type of outfielder... and he just signed a contract that requires that type of yearly production.
Wonder how much this ties the Cardinals hands on signing a 3rd baseman. I wouldnt mind seeing Tejada play at 3rd. He can still rake, just cant play SS.
I think his hitting ability is superior to ludwick's, therefore I am very pleased to have him in the 4 hole.
He has no wiggly room for an off season.
Imho, Cardinal fans better enjoy this year. They now have two $100 million dollar players on the team with Pujols' at the end of his seven year contract.
If you are inferring Pujols will be gone at the end of the year you are wrong. Pujols has atleast one more year as a Cardinal because he has a team option at the end of this year, that we will obviously pick up. I am not even gonna bother going into him being signed by the Yankees or something in two years.
the pros and cons of the signing from the main stl post-dispatch columnist:
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/be...010/01/the-pros-cons-of-the-holliday-signing/