Cards Go On Holliday…HA!

The Holliday season in STL came early this year...I can keep going

We rarely cover trades at Bootlegger Sports because there is a lot of them and it’s hard to make jokes about them sometimes.  This season in MLB there’s really only two guys on the market anyone has been looking at, so I figured you might want an update when half of them got traded.  Matt Holliday was finally moved today when the A’s struck a deal with the…wait for it…any guesses…oh, you already know…screw it…it was the Cardinals. 

It took no one from the current major league roster, but instead 3 former high draft picks for St. Louis to secure Holliday’s services.  The outfielder is only signed through the end of the season, however, so the Cards may have just mortgaged their future for a chance to win a ring right now.  Or maybe they just didn’t want to the Cubs to get Holliday, those two teams just can’t seem to get along. 

This trade means that Albert Pujols will have someone capable of hitting behind him and maybe even forcing opposing pitchers to throw him a strike sometimes.  This marks the first time since…ever(?) that Albert has had another quality hitter in the line-up behind him.  His entire career he’s been making due with past-their-prime former stars like Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds or potential future stars like Ryan Ludwick.  Holliday hasn’t exactly set the world on fire since leaving Colorado, so he may soon appear in a list with Edmonds and Rolen. 

On the other hand, think about the last time St. Louis managed to work a big trade just before the deadline with Oakland.  The guy the Cardinals brought in was pretty damn productive, but just to be safe MLB better start drug testing Holliday twice per week. 

Those who follow baseball probably should have seen this deal coming after the Cards dealt outfielder Chris Duncan to Boston for Julio Lugo.  Sure, Duncan was headed to the minors anyway, but it cleared some space in their crowded outfield for Holliday.  I didn’t hear anyone talking about that though.  We all just thought, ‘huh, Duncan was traded…I wonder if Pujols is going to homer tonight.’ 

I wouldn’t say that adding Holliday makes St. Louis a better team than the Dodgers, so I still don’t think they are going to the World Series.  Still, it gives them a much better chance of winning the Central and if recent history has shown us anything, it’s that the Cardinals like to win it all when they have no business even being in the series. 

The one thing I know for certain is that this trade will open the floodgates for punny headlines.  Every St. Louis area journalist just creamed their sweatpants thinking about all the possibilities with Holliday.  And you know ESPN will get in on that act too.  It’s just too bad there’s no player named ‘Staycation’.

Tags: Albert Pujols, baseball, Matt Holliday, MLB, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals

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