Holliday Contract a Steal For Cardinals

Matt Holliday will look to earn his $16.667 million in 2011
for the St. Louis Cardinals

Last year the St. Louis Cardinals made a splash when they signed Matt Holliday to an 8 year, $120 million contract to play left field and protect the mighty Albert Pujols.

Many criticized the Cardinals brass for this deal, saying it was too much money and too many years for Holliday, especially when the organization still has to lock up their pride and glory future Hall of Fame first baseman Pujols.

So how does that contract look now?

Well, when you compare it to the dollars that teams are throwing around for the hottest free agent outfielders this off-season, it looks as the though Cardinals got a steal with their contract with Holliday.
 
Earlier this week, 32 year outfielder Jayson Werth signed a 7 year, $126 million dollar contract with the Washington Nationals.  

Earlier today, 29 year old outfield Carl Crawford signed a 7 year, $142 million dollar contract to roam the outfield and base paths at Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox.

Lets remove the names from each of these players stat lines and you decide who is the better value.

Player Average  HR's  RBI's  OBP  Runs  SB's

1         .307       19      90      .356   110    47
2         .296       29      85      .388   106    13
3         .312       28      103    .390   95      9

Obviously the stats for all three players are very good.  But lets unveil the player and their annual salary.

Player 1    Carl Crawford      $20.28 million per season
Player 2    Jayson Werth       $18.00 million per season
Player 3    Matt Holliday       $16.66 million per season 

Holliday is absolutely a steal and the best value of the three for the money. 

Yes Werth and Crawford steal more bases and score more runs, but Holliday hits for a better average, drives in more runs, and gets on base more often. 

I'm happy that Jayson Werth got a huge pay check and I think that Crawford makes the Red Sox scary good, but Holliday looks to be the better value between the trio. 

Lets see if the money the Cardinals saved by locking up Holliday last year will go towards locking up "El Hombre" for the future.

Related articles

• Jayson Werth to The Nationals: If Bad Puns Were Dollars I'd Be Rich (bleacherreport.com)
• St. Louis Cardinals have 2.5 months to extend Albert Pujols' contract … or else (sports.espn.go.com)
• "Red Sox Interested In Carl Crawford: Are They Willing To Commit?" and related posts (overthemonster.com)