St Louis Cardinals

Since free agency began in November, Matt Holliday and Jason Bay have been the consensus two best hitters on the free agent market.

The general thought seems to be that while Bay is a great hitter, Holliday was the more desirable free agent for several reasons:

* Age: Holliday is almost 30 years old and should be entering his prime years. In contrast, Bay will be 32 years old this season.

It's finally official: the St. Louis Cardinals have retained All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday.

Holliday and the club announced today that they've agreed to terms for a 7-year/$120 million contract that will keep the sweet-swinging slugger in St. Louis through 2016.

The deal comes complete with a no-trade clause and a vesting option for 2017 that will kick in if he finishes in the top 10 for the 2016 National League MVP voting.

It’s truly happy “Holliday” in St. Louis, though us Cubs fans may not enjoy our New Year's quite as much now.

For the Cubs division challenger and long-time bitter rival St. Louis Cardinals put a dagger into the rest of the division by announcing the team has re-signed free agent outfielder Matt Holliday to a seven-year, $120 million contract.

The St. Louis Cardinals and outfield free agent Matt Holliday have come to terms on a new contract making Mr. Holliday the highest paid team member for 2010.

Scott Boras, Holliday's agent, has confirmed it's a seven year, roughly 120 million dollar deal for the free agent outfielder. Holliday revealed those numbers late this afternoon on ESPN Radio. All were in agreement that the brawny baseballer wouldn’t have to “ever set foot into Aldi again.”

Mark DeRosa has officially signed with the San Francisco Giants, and Troy Glaus and Joe Thurston both have signed with the Atlanta Braves. 

Needless to say, the St. Louis Cardinals are now left with a hole to fill at third base.

As Matt Holliday's status remains uncertain, GM John Mozeliak has other targets that he has been rumored to be pursuing.

The hottest name linked to the Cardinals appears to be switch-hitting infielder Felipe Lopez.

First off, it is officially Christmas now, at least where I live. So, Merry Christmas to all you readers!

Okay, happy junk out of the way and onto business. This one will be short, as getting up early for Christmas Mass puts a damper on the college lifestyle of sleeping in.

All I hear about is how signing free agent Matt Holliday to a long-term deal will be detrimental to the signing team.

Let's look at that, shall we?

It's been noted in traditional media sources, online, blogs, and reader comments on this and other sites that if Matt Holliday is not signed by the St. Louis Cardinals, they will move to their best Plan B: re-signing Mark DeRosa. 

DeRosa is a name that has been bandied around quite a bit in connection with several teams. I have to admit I'm a little stunned by just how interested teams are reported to be in him and at the amount they've been potentially interested in spending on a player who has been mostly a non-impact one for most of his career.

What we know right now is that there is one team pursuing Matt Holliday.

Despite Scott Boras' best antics, everyone that follows baseball knows only the St. Louis Cardinals are in the running for Holliday.

Why hasn't Holliday signed yet?

Boras.

Boras won't let Holliday sign until they have exhausted every option and gotten the offer they want from the Cardinals. In other words, he wants to prolong this until he gets his way.

I’m not normally one to criticize Chris Carpenter.

I spent a solid month arguing with whoever would listen about why he should win the Cy Young, and even wrote a manifesto about why he was a the best choice.

The MLB winter meetings are commencing this week in Indianapolis.

Perhaps the St. Louis Cardinals could pencil in a 15-minute sidebar in economics. Perhaps they could commandeer fellow executives to a session where they instructed them on the finer points on looking like asshats.  

Or maybe they could just ask the Oakland A’s for Brett Wallace back. Pretty, pretty please?