When Matt Holliday turned down an offer from the Colorado Rockies this spring that was for four years and around $80 million it kind of sent a message that Holliday didn't want to be a Rockie for too much longer. It looked like Matt was just planning out the two-year $23 million deal he got in arbitration and then test the free agent market at the end of the 2009 season.As a result, there were plenty of trade rumors surrounding Holliday over the summer, but none came to fruition and Holliday is still in Colorado. Of course, with the season coming to an end soon, folks in Colorado are wondering if this will be their last chance to see Matt play for the Rockies, but Matt wants them to know he doesn't want to leave. It's just up to the Rockies to give him the kind of deal he wants.
"I'd like to stay here and be part of this and play here a long time, but there are things as a player that are important to me, and if those aren't part of whatever their offer is or ends up being, maybe I will test the market," he said.
"But to say that I don't want to be here and that I'm headed to the open market to get the most money I can get is extremely inaccurate."Matt's beef with the Rockies earlier offer is both the length of the contract and the lack of a no-trade clause. Holliday says he'd be willing to sacrifice dollars for years on the deal as long as it has a full no-trade clause. His reasoning being that he'd like to have the security of knowing he's going to be in Denver for a long time, and that he won't have to uproot his family and move them somewhere else at any point the Rockies feel like they need to move on.
It's a reasonable request in my opinion, and I understand where Matt is coming from here. At the same time, though, I completely understand where the Rockies stand on it as well. Holliday is 28 years old and will be 29 by the time next season starts, and the Rockies aren't sure they want to give a big long-term deal to someone nearing 30. After all, they already walked down that path with Todd Helton a few years ago, and now they're stuck paying him $56.9 million over the next two years despite his back problems and declining numbers.
I think the best solution for everybody right now would be a trade this offseason. That way the Rockies can get the most possible value in return for him and any team that's willing to trade for him will probably intend to sign him to a deal as well.
