Holliday is a Cardinal- ESPN

[Saintbird]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?id=4353256

Very interesting...

[Crazysilver03]

Such a poor trade by St. Louis.

There is no way 2 months of Holladay at $4M is worth Wallace + 2 good prospects.

[Big Mac]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?id=4353256

Very interesting...

If St. Louis can extend Holliday, then it's a good trade for them.

If not, they got hosed for two months worth of Holliday.

[raccoon2k]

Billy Beane, you rascal, you.

[TyCobb]

It sure makes the Cardinals the team to beat in the Central now. I thought the Brewers were the better team, but now Holliday puts the Cards over them. A Holliday, Rasmus, and Ludwick OF is pretty damn good.

[PaulBako]

The trade would be better for St Louis if Holliday will extend and Wallace ends up being a first baseman. (maybe thats why they traded him?)

[TyCobb]

The trade would be better for St Louis if Holliday will extend and Wallace ends up being a first baseman. (maybe thats why they traded him?)

If St. Louis wins the WS then I think St. Louis won't really care about Wallace. If they don't extend him they will be getting 2 draft picks as well.

I hope this wakes up the Brewers to make a trade (Guts and Izturis for JJ. Hardy).

[olehippi]

So....was there anyway that the O's could have jumped on this boat before it sailed? Luke Scott? Scott and a mid-level prospect?

[Big Mac]

I think Wallace is overrated, so this deal doesn't seem as bad for the Cards as some people think.

I doubt he sticks at 3rd and don't see him being much more than slightly above average offensively at 1st base.

[orioles119]

If St. Louis wins the WS then I think St. Louis won't really care about Wallace. If they don't extend him they will be getting 2 draft picks as well.

I hope this wakes up the Brewers to make a trade (Guts and Izturis for JJ. Hardy).

Guts and Izturis isn't on the same level as Holliday and won't make up for it.

[MCL1021]

Billy Beane is da man....wow, did the Cards get fleeced.

[AVencill]

Wow... Billy Beane is one sick GM, that's one heckuva haul right there!

[Skeletor]

I see a league average first baseman (maybe more) in a year or two, a young starting pitcher who is #11 prospect in the system, and a young outfielder getting his feet wet in AA for a player who fills their really only open hole and pretty much guarantees them the postseason. Looks fair all around. I don't think anyone got fleeced.

[scOtt]

If St. Louis can extend Holliday, then it's a good trade for them.

If not, they got hosed for two months worth of Holliday.

Just playing devil's advocate here... Maybe Holliday is THE piece they need to put them over the top, win it all. Time will tell. This is the essence of deadline deals. A club extends itself too far to try to win it this year.

[Migrant Redbird]

If St. Louis can extend Holliday, then it's a good trade for them.

If not, they got hosed for two months worth of Holliday.

This pretty well summarizes my opinion.

On the surface, it's too much to give up for a 2 month rental. It helps the Cardinals make the playoffs but doesn't guarantee it and the post season is a crapshoot. The folks who think this assures St. Louis of a World Series championship aren't thinking logically. If anything, it improves their odds from, say, around 10% to maybe 15% for being World Champions for the 11th time in franchise history.

But maybe Holliday will extend or sign a long term deal?

We gave up too much for Scott Rolen in 2003, but within a month he'd signed an 8 year extension for $90M (shortly after rejecting a 10 year/$140M offer from the Phillies).

Holliday was a rookie in Colorado the year that Larry Walker departed, but surely they're at least acquaintances. Larry said that the year and a half he spent with the Cardinals were the best of his career and that, if he'd known how good it was to play in St. Louis, he'd have managed to find a way to get to the Cardinals earlier in his career. (What really impressed Larry was getting a standing ovation from St. Louis fans immediately after striking out in his first game following the trade.)

So, I do think there's a chance that Holliday signs a long term contract, but I don't know if it's a good chance. The Cardinals have a very expensive rotation (Carpenter $15M, Lohse $9M, Pineiro $8M, Wainwright $5M, Wellemeyer $4M) with only Pineiro and Wellemeyer not signed past this year and they need to get Pujols signed to a long term extension this winter. If they keep Holliday, they're going to have to cut back somewhere else. I wouldn't want Holliday to be the catalyst for Pujols leaving for the Yankees or Red Soxxx.

But Wallace just by himself would have been too much to give up for a 2 month rental. I wanted the Cards to get Adam Dunn for a single prospect of lesser value than Wallace -- or to bundle Wallace into a deal for Halladay; either of those deals would have made me more excited.

We'll see. Sign both Holliday and Pujols to extensions and I like this deal. Beat the Yankees for the World Championship this year and I'd be ecstatic!