ST. LOUIS -- From late November 2008 to late July 2009, Matt Holliday changed addresses twice. He found himself a member of three teams in less than a year. So given the chance this winter, Holliday took steps to ensure he wouldn't be moving anywhere for a very long time.
Holliday signed a contract worth a guaranteed $120 million earlier this year, and he'll make $17 million a season with St. Louis. But to hear him tell it, those numbers weren't the most critical ones. What Holliday wanted was stability. He signed for seven years, and he has complete no-trade protection. He's going to be in St. Louis for a long time.
"With all the moving that we've done my first six years, my first 10 years in pro baseball, there's just a lot of moving," Holliday said. "You start getting kids in school, it's important to have some security. To have a no-trade clause and a contract of seven years was important to me. As long as we could possibly get, as far as bringing some stability to my children and my wife."
So while the Cardinals were afraid of a club swooping in with a high-dollar, short-term contract to lure Holliday elsewhere, that's not what the player wanted. He made it a point to let agent Scott Boras know what he was looking for. And while the dollars certainly are nice, the years were the priority.
"That was what I conveyed to Scott was the most important thing in the negotiations, was the length of contract and a no-trade clause," Holliday said. "And I asked him to convey that to Mo and any other team that was interested."
He'll soon head to Florida for his first Spring Training as a Cardinal. He has a new number of course, having switched from No. 15 last year to No. 7 for 2010. Even so, he already feels at home -- if not in Jupiter, Fla., where he'll be training, then certainly in St. Louis.
"It seems like a great place," he said. "[After] two months, I probably couldn't tell you how to get anywhere. But it seems like a great place. I've talked to some of the guys that live here, about some of the areas that people live in. I'm from Oklahoma and it seems like a similar Midwest type of town. I won't miss anything that comes from the East or West Coast. I love to play baseball. I love to practice baseball. I love to win, and hopefully we'll have a chance to do that. Everything else that kind of comes with it isn't really that interesting to me."
Which is to say, he's exactly the kind of player the Cardinals organization -- and its fans -- likes to have around. There are several reasons the club was willing to commit seven years to Holliday, and it's not just about his talent. It was obvious to everyone that this was a good fit. Thus the lengthy commitment for Holliday to stay in St. Louis.
He also won't be changing positions in the lineup anytime soon. A big part of Holliday's appeal to the Cardinals was his fit in the No. 4 spot in the batting order, behind Albert Pujols. Manager Tony La Russa has long argued that the hitter behind Pujols doesn't need to be a home run threat, so much as a difficult hitter to pitch to. It's very tough to get Holliday out -- witness his lifetime .387 on-base percentage and .318 batting average. Thus, when Pujols gets on base, it's likely to start a rally.
Holliday may have 'only' hit 25 and 24 home runs the past two years, but in his team's view that's not what he's there to do. Or at least, not entirely.
"He's got a short swing, hits a lot of line drives," said fellow Cards outfielder Ryan Ludwick, who probably will bat fifth most of the time. "Any time you've got a guy that gets on base as much as he does, obviously that puts you in position to score more runs. Albert and then Matt, on-base percentage-wise, those guys are on base a lot. So whoever is hitting in the five and six slot is going to be pretty excited because we're going to have a lot of runners on base."
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