Major League Baseball

GM: Cardinals hit threshold with Holliday

Published Jan. 8, 2010 2:49 p.m. ET

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The St. Louis Cardinals might never know for sure who else was courting Matt Holliday.

General manager John Mozeliak knew this: The franchise-record $120 million, seven-year contract the free agent outfielder got to stay in St. Louis was as far as the team was willing to go. And it was enough.

``We were at that threshold where we needed to have a deal,'' Mozeliak said. ``Otherwise we would have had to consider allocating in a different direction.''

A well-defined different direction, too.

``I think we had enough things lined up that if we wanted to get it going, we probably could have pulled this off in seven to 10 days,'' Mozeliak said.

Both Holliday and agent Scott Boras said they had options, which complicated the negotiations. A face-to-face meeting over the weekend at Holliday's home in Austin, Texas, helped seal the deal.

``His choices are sometimes you can optimize the economics of the situation and be in a different place,'' Boras said. ``And you can certainly take a situation where economics are a factor but not the determining factor.''

Translation: Even if the Cardinals didn't get a discount, they weren't forced to overpay for Holliday, whose deal fell far short of the eight-year, $180 million contract Boras got from the Yankees for Mark Teixeira.

Mozeliak wasn't sure how serious other teams were. He just wanted to make every effort to keep Holliday, who helped spur the Cardinals to an NL Central title but also cost the team four top prospects.

Holliday, who had 55 RBIs and a .353 average in 63 games with St. Louis last year, always considered the Cardinals the front-runners.

``I felt pretty positive about it the whole time,'' he said after the deal was inked this week. ``The last couple of weeks, obviously you start to plan on hoping to be here.''

The Cardinals weren't always so sure.

``There were some tense moments, sure,'' chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said. ``Until it was actually done, it wasn't done.''

If the deal fell through, the Cardinals likely would be hard-pressed to pull off a similar deadline-style deal next summer given the state of the farm system.

``We don't have this type of talent coming up any time soon,'' Mozeliak said. ``That's what really pushed us to get this done.''

The length of the contract was not a major concern for the Cardinals, even though Holliday will be 37 when it expires.

``He's in great shape, always has been,'' DeWitt said. ``You make your best judgments, and if you want to bet on somebody to have a long career he'd be the type of player you bet on.

``You've got the right kind of person, the right kind of player.''

The biggest risk for Holliday is what happens if Albert Pujols goes elsewhere after 2011 when his contract expires, manager Tony La Russa retires and the Cardinals can't remain competitive. Other key components are pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.

``You're talking about three or four talented players that may or may not be here in two or three years that are absolutely the core of this team,'' Boras said. ``I can sit down and say the same thing about nine other franchises.

``I always tell players you have to think about the situation, what you have control over and what the team has control over, and do what's best.''

Mozeliak said he'd be ``very comfortable'' taking the current team to spring training, a mix of highly paid stars and productive players not yet in the prime earning years. Holliday, too.

``Having a chance to win every year,'' Holliday said, ``was right at the top of my list.''

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