Hope Oakland isn’t giving up TOO much for Matt Holliday
One of the most-speculated players of this Hot Stove season is Matt Holliday, the left fielder for the Colorado Rockies. Rumors have linked him to just about every team, and it seemed that the Rockies’ demands for him were steep.
All along, I wondered if teams would be suckered into giving up more than Holliday is worth. His offensive numbers certainly LOOK fantastic, but a closer look quickly reveals that he benefited greatly from playing in a hitter’s park.The 28-year-old righty has hit 128 homers in his five seasons in the Majors, but 84 of them - that’s over 65% - have come at home. Maybe I’m wrong here, but it seems like that number is disproportionately high given that a team’s schedule is split roughly in half between home and road games.
Is Holliday a formidable hitter? Oh yes. But should the A’s realistically expect him to hit near as many homers in their Coleseum as he did at Coors Field? That would be beyond foolish. I hope they adjust their expectations and how much they give up for him according to how good he actually is, rather than according to how he performed in an extreme hitter’s park.
As of this posting - about 4 p.m. Central - we don’t know who Oakland is sending to Colorado for Holliday. This page will be updated as those facts come out.