Jay Trucker of the Baltimore Examiner website has an interesting piece based on what Brian Roberts said in his weekly spot Tuesday afternoons on The Fan pertaining to one free agent.
Roberts mentioned Matt Holliday.
The veteran mentioned the need for a starting pitcher, though he admitted the market for a strong arm would be tough, but he did have a suggestion for bolstering the Orioles lineup—Matt Holliday.
Holliday and Roberts know one another personally and have spoken this offseason. Holliday, 29, finished the 2009 campaign with a torrid 2nd half performance in St. Louis. Roberts said that in their conversation, Holliday told BRob that he liked St. Louis but was filing for free agency and ready to test the free agent market.
In 6 years of big league experience, Holliday spent five seasons with Colorado before splitting ’09 between Oakland and St. Louis. He has a .318 career batting average and a .933 OPS, though he struggled in his brief AL stint with Oakland.
(snip)
Holliday has played left field exclusively, and this is where Roberts envisioned him playing for the O’s during his radio segment. While Holliday would provide a right-handed bat for the lineup, he would further clog the left field picture that already includes Nolan Reimold, Luke Scott, and Felix.
It’s good to see Roberts speaking his mind on what the Orioles should do. Sadly, saying you want something done, and actually seeing it in reality is quite another.
I’m going to envision Holliday as a potential Oriole as a pipe dream; however, he’d fit real well into the lineup and offer more than suitable protection to our hitters. He seems to be good guy, and after struggling in Oakland, he was on fire in St. Louis.
It’s assumed that the Yankees, Red Sox, and some of the other big market teams will open up the purse strings to acquire him, but it would be nice to see the Orioles join the fray.
His agent — the lovely Scott Boras — will make sure that his client gets paid; therefore, who knows if Baltimore would pony up a significant portion of their payroll for him when considering the young talent still under their control. Reimold, Pie, and even Luke Scott are serviceable, but having Holliday in the black and orange would certainly amp the offense, but he’s not a game-changer in the way a Pujols, A-Rod, or Hanley Ramirez is.
However, making an honest attempt at getting Holliday would send quite a message to us fans.
