by David Uberti
The St. Louis Cardinals not-so-politely wished the rest of the NL Central a happy new year when they signed Matt Holliday this week. Locking up the left fielder for the years to come will make the Cardinals frontrunners in the division for 2010 and beyond.
The seven year, $120 million contract inked by Holliday on Thursday cemented an overall productive offseason for the 2009 Central Division champs, who also quietly acquired Brad Penny and brought both Manager Tony LaRussa and pitching coach Dave Duncan back for another season.
Holliday had a massive second-half for the Cardinals, hitting .353 with 13 homeruns and 55 runs batted in over only 63 games. Over that span the team went 39-24, pulling away from the Chicago Cubs to make the playoffs. His success, however, was overshadowed by his first round playoff blunder at Los Angeles when he missed a routine fly ball.
As a hitter, Holliday is as complete as they come (if your name isn’t Pujols or A-Rod). His presence in the St. Louis lineup will provide Pujols with the type of protection he’s never had; pitchers won’t be able to only concentrate on El Hombre anymore. Holliday also steals bases, draws walks, scores runs, and plays good defense.
The rest of the division hasn’t been able to keep up this offseason. The next biggest transaction has been the 3-year deal the Cubs agreed to with journeyman outfielder Marlon Byrd. The Astros signed the inconsistent SP Brett Myers to a 1-year deal; the Pirates shored up their middle infield with Akinori Iwamura; the Brewers picked up speedster Carlos Gomez. The Holliday deal is clearly this offseason’s biggest news.
There’s one scary thing about Holliday’s contract: He will now be making more than Pujols, who is beginning to enter the “Best who ever lived” conversation. Sure, they locked up Holliday for almost double of how much Boston paid for comparable production in Jason Bay. With its dominant pitching staff, however, St. Louis may have a legitimate chance to challenge the Phillies for the NL pennant in 2010. The strong 1-2 punch of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright make the Cardinals a shoe-in for the 2010 postseason. Adding Holliday to the equation may just elevate them to the upper-tier of the MLB.
The Chicago Cubs are sure to have a better 2010 season: the departure of Milton Bradley and the numerous other off-field problems (Lou Piniella admitting he smoked weed, etc.) they suffered last season will now be gone. But they are not yet ready to upstage Pujols and Holliday’s show. The world already knows the type of production Pujols will provide; Holliday is the wild card. If he continues to play at Busch Stadium the way he did at the end of last season, the Cardinals will be going deep into the playoffs for a long, long time.
