Buzz: The Inevitable Price of Matt Holliday
Earlier this week at the GM Meetings, Scott Boras told reporters that his client, Matt Holliday, is a ‘franchise player,’ just like Mark Teixiera, who signed an eight-year, $180 million with the Yankees last off season.
“You have a franchise player at a young age and you have a chance to differentiate yourself from all others,” he said.
Dave Cameron of Fan Graphs explains, “Holliday’s dependence on a high BABIP for his offensive value makes him a greater risk (than Teixeira), and increases in risk drive down value.”
Cameron believes Holliday will end up signing for 10 to 15 percent less money than Teixeira got from the Yankees.
…so, say, $19 million per season, and, like, six or seven years, instead of eight… which, by the way, is roughly that same seven-year, $119 million deal i mentioned last week, or like Carlos Beltran signed with the Mets in 2004… the thing is, right now, i don’t think any team believes they need to offer that much money… i have heard interested teams intend to offer around $80 million over five years… this is not to say they refuse to pay more, i just don’t think they think they’ll have to… so, in the end, if a team steps up, guarantees a sixth year and pushes the total up above nine figures, that could be the final bid…
In a post to his blog for the New York Post, Joel Sherman explains why he believes the battle for Holliday will come down to the Mets and Cardinals.
Speaking of statistical comparisons, check out James Kannengieser’s post to Amazin Avenue, where he explains why Holliday is a better defensive outfielder than free-agent Jason Bay.
