On Wednesday, many fans within Birdland who had access to the Internet read in a report by FoxSports’ Tracy Ringolsby that the Orioles are indeed interested in slugger Matt Holliday.
Although most feel that Holliday will just re-sign with the Cardinals, seeing his name in the same paragraph as the words “Baltimore Orioles” raised my eyebrows.
Now reading the news that the Orioles offered Holliday a hefty contract to play in Baltimore made me warm and tingly inside albeit with a dose of heavy skepticism.
Baltimore, meanwhile, did make an eight-year, $130 million offer to Holliday, and general manager Andy MacPhail did discuss the possibility of arranging a meeting between himself, Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Holliday in Austin, Tex., where Holliday is living in the offseason.
It didn’t take long for the Orioles to refute the report (as James mentioned in a previous post). Team officials led by Andy MacPhail basically called today’s news as more or less a falsehood (which was confirmed by Peter Schmuck and Roch).
That led me to think about Scott Boras.
Could Boras be once again playing the media and a selected team or two to drive up interest for his client — Holliday — and in turn drive up his price?
He’s a master in this game, despite few a failures over the years. However, in the eyes of most people in the sport, it looks like the market for his client is fairly thin.
This evening, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated/CNN reports the Cardinals offered Holliday a lucrative contract (but not as much as Baltimore’s alleged amount).
I think Holliday still ends up in a Cardinal uniform, though the Evil Empire can jump in at any moment and swoop him. Plus, let’s not forget about Boston — the Evil Empire 1A.
