Source: Holliday Won’t Get More Then $105 Mill
By Mike Silva ~ October 21st, 2009. Filed under: Rumor Mill.
NYBD’s Joe Demayo cracked out the first rumor mill of 2009 as a league source confirmed Jon Heyman’s report that Matt Holliday is the Mets top target this offseason. He was also told that they are inclined to pass on John Lackey because of concerns about his health.
Demayo’s source went on to say that Holliday won’t get anywhere near $150 million dollars, as a matter of fact, he sees a 6 year $105 million dollar agreement as the max Boras could fetch for Holliday on the free agent market.
If those years/dollars are the neighborhood Holliday is looking at you have to believe this could be an offseason Subway Series. With over $30 million coming off the books the Yankees could fit Holliday at $17.5 million in very nicely. All things being equal Demayo’s source believes the Yankees will have the advantage over the Mets in the Holliday sweepstakes.
As for starting pitching, the Mets are not willing to take a risk on an injury prone starter (i.e. Rich Harden) and are more likely to go after someone who will guarantee them 200 quality innings. That will not be an easy task on the free agent market. Believe it or not Staten Island native Jason Marquis and Cardinals RHP Joel Piniero seem to fit that mold. Not exactly Lackey, but neither has much of an injury history. As for how much “quality” either will bring during those 200 innings is up for debate.
One last tidbit. When Demayo asked his source about the odds of the Mets landing Matt Holliday he was told that history indicates that “when Omar wants someone he gets him.” See Beltran, Santana, K-Rod, and Pedro Martinez as prime examples.
Obviously I don’t want to get Mets fans too excited, but Holliday is actually more of a reality than we may all have thoughts just 24 hour ago.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:00 am
Holliday and two #3 starters (Marquis,Piniero,Garland,Wolff,)and I’ll take my chances.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I agree. Holliday, two 200+ inning starters, and health from the rest of the roster, and the Mets can contend.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Cool. So the Cards are gonna keep him, then.