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When you think of Scott Boras you think of baseball super agent. He has gotten some unreal deals for his clients in the past few years; guys like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, and Barry Zito. Well, put another name on the list of multi-millionaires, Matt Holliday. He just signed a 7 year, $120 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis was told by Boras, true or not, that their were other suitors for Holliday and that drove up the price. Whether you believe that or not, I would be happy if Boras was my agent. It wasn’t as much as Teixeira’s deal last year with the Yankees, but it was a monster. Holliday’s numbers last year in 63 games with the Card’s were impressive, 13 home runs, 55 RBI and he hit .353.
Holliday is exactly the protection the Cardinals were looking for to hit cleanup behind Albert Pujols. The Cardinals pre-Holliday had seven hitters in the cleanup role in last seasons’ first 63 games. Four of those guys are no longer on their 40-man roster. Holliday filled the role in 62 of 64 games after his arrival. Signing Holliday makes the Cards the prohibitive favorite to repeat as the National League Central champion.Matt Holliday joined ESPN 101 with Bernie Miklasz in St. Louis and talked about signing with St. Louis,
maintaining the high level of play that comes with a big contract, and what it meant to him and his family to be in St. Louis.Asked how much influence his family had on his decision to sign in St. Louis:
“That’s was huge. Obviously family is very important to me. To be able to have my kids around me as they grow up is very important for me and the family. I think finding a place where it’s ok to bring your kids in the locker room, maybe bring my oldest in and let him hang out with me on the weekends or when he is not in school. Obviously there is the business part, but I think equally important to me was how this sits for our family. The longevity of it is great, the no trade, you know all of the things were important based upon me being a good father and husband. Those were very important aspects of the deal and I happy with how it turned out.”
Asked if he ever felt like the deal would not happen with St. Louis:
“There are times when maybe it’s not going like you hoped. At the end of the day I was always going to take St. Louis’ best offer and consider it. So I always conveyed that to Scott (Boras), that I wanted to know before we moved on and before they moved on I wanted to know what there best offer was. I always felt like I would have the opportunity one way or another to make a decision on St. Louis. I never was tremendously worried about the deal, but in your mind you have to prepare for all those things just so the disappointment level is not too high if it ended up where they went in a different direction or we went in a different direction. So I tried to make sure that mentally I was maybe ok with it if it didn’t work out. I think in the back of my mind I always sort of wanted to end up back in St. Louis. I definitely think that push come to shove that’s where I wanted to be. I was never too worried about it, but at the same time you have to be ready for it.”
Asked about what it takes to stay at the top of his game year in and year out:
“First and foremost, I expect a ton out of myself. I am a very driven person, somebody that expects to perform at an extremely high level and to continue to get better. I expect to be in the kind of shape that I am in right now when I am 36 years old. I don’t anticipate changing the things I do. Like I said, I expect a lot out of myself, and fans should be assured that I take this game very seriously, I take my preparation very seriously, and I take all these things very seriously. I will say that I won’t be outworked; I will not be out-prepared until my career is over. I am excited about the chance and challenge of maintaining a high level of excellence for the rest of my career. Those are fun challenges, you know I almost embrace people doubting things you can or can’t do. I am excited about maintaining the high level of performance for the next seven years and hopefully the fans will over the time period will see how well I can perform and maintain my level.
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