Though the Yankees were never really in on Matt Holliday, their financial edge might have helped to scare the Cardinals into providing him with a seven-year deal worth $120 million, which they’ll be paying for through 2029.
According to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, Scott Boras, in the Holliday negotiations with St. Louis, put forth the idea that his client could accept “a one-year deal in search of a better free-agent market” next winter. Rosenthal then adds that if this did occur, if the Oklahoma native was open to a one-year deal, “[s]ome team — most likely the Yankees or Red Sox — might have signed Holliday for say, one year and $20 million” (KR’s salary figure is obviously an estimate).
While this seems like an altogether unlikely idea as Holliday, in the past, has stated how much he values organizational security and, in addition to that, such a one-year contract could put the outfielder’s financial future at great risk if he were to injure himself, according to Rosenthal, the Cardinals actually believed Boras and “their fear of losing Holliday prompted them to award him a seven-year contract.” This occurred even though the Yankees have outwardly stated that they are looking to lower payroll in 2010 and have acted accordingly with regards to that statement. Even if the Cardinals feared losing Holliday to Boston more than New York, the one-year idea still appears to be extremely far fetched as the Red Sox aren’t likely to extend their payroll by $20 million or so.
But, this is why Boras is a great agent to his faithful clientele. Often, he seems to be the one holding all of the cards and, in general, he usually holds the best hand. As I noted yesterday, perhaps this is why the Yankees — if they are still interested in bringing Johnny Damon back — opted to handle the Damon situation with a firm, hardline approach. Maybe Brian Cashman knows that with Boras, it’s best to wait for the player to come crawling back to you.
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Boras is welcome to drop the NYY name whenever he wants if it’ll mean that other teams will have to pay full freight on his clients. I’m all for other teams strangling themselves financiallyin an effort to keep up with MLB’s Joneses…the Yanks and BoSox.
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Chris H. Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Agreed. I wonder what will happen, though, if one day, the Yankees aren’t seen as the looming wallet in the background. If Hal Steinbrenner can change the culture a bit, Boras may have some trouble selling that image.
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MJ Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Let’s assume that Hal wants to become more efficient in an effort to get payroll to around $175M instead of the $200M+ it has been over the past few years. Even in such a scenario, the Yanks will have the resources to go grab a $20M/year player if the opportunity presents itself and the player fits their criteria.
In other words, no matter how efficient the Yanks get, they’ll still always be able to afford the top of the market and, thus, Boras will always leverage other teams against NYY’s financial might, even if NYY isn’t a player. After all, we just saw that now with Holliday…
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Chris H. Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Sure, the Yankees will always be able to sign whowever, just as they were able to sign Holliday this year, regardless of their “budget” or their payroll, however, the important thing is that they chose not to. The decisions they make will have bearing. Cashman has planted the seed to a reputation, right now, which indicates that he may not be willing to give a $100M contract to a corner outfielder. While the Yankees could sign any corner OF in the future, the fact that they avoided Holliday, one of the best in recent memory, could say something when future corner OFs hit the free agent market and Boras is trying to paint the Yankees as a team with interest in order to drive up the price.
So, instead of saying, “The Yankees could get in on someone,” if they leave behind a track record of financial restraint from now until whenever, then they could very well buck being Boras’ leveraging tool.
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Cardinals will be paying Matt Holliday until 2029 for 19 yrs on a 7 contract he’ll be 49 yrs old. This is pure dEsperation on Mozeliak’s part. I hope Albert test the market and leave them stuck with their shinny new bald piece, Hollididay!
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My opinion , no way he would get 20 mil from either club for 1 year. whom ever would buy that story, theo or cash then they would be talked into the purchase of the bklyn bridge. those 2 clubs made their major deals, does anyone think he is worth 20mil in the AL??/ ask oakland…if the gm of st. louis jumped because of that ploy and spent all those $s ,get me his # i have a bridge i want to sell.. they over paid and locked them selves up for too long..puljos is a must sign for st. louis now, his agent holds them hostage now..
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