Matt Holliday to the Braves?

by Matt Buggenhagen on Jul 14, 2009 2:41 PM EDT

A's reporter Mychael Urban, reported over the weekend that the Braves and Athletics were talking about the possibility of a deal that would send Matt Holliday and Orlando Cabrera to the Braves in exchange for Yunel Escobar. Until today all indications were that the deal was off the table.

However, recently Urban suggested that the deal could be back on the table if the A's were willing to pick up a "healthy chunk" of Holliday's remaining salary in Oakland.

This deal certainly makes sense for Atlanta. They are desperate to acquire another big back to compliment Chipper Jones in the middle of their order, and Matt Holliday is about the best available bat on the market right now. Braves manager Bobby Cox has had his issues with Yunel Escobar, so moving him out might not be the worst thing for Atlanta. To fill the void left by Escobar, the Braves could elect to use Cabrera as a short-term replacement at shortstop.

The bigger problem is sorting this deal out from Oakland's prospective. Why would they want to do this deal? I know A's GM Billy Beane would love to get a young shortstop, and at 26, Escobar certainly fits the bill; however, is he really willing to give up Holliday basically just for Escobar, all while still having to pick up a major part of the remaining contract. Highly unlikely. My guess would be that this deal could definitely be a building block, but I imagine Beane would demand more than just Escobar in return for Holliday.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Matt Holliday	85	315	42	87	19	1	8	43	43	56	10	3	.276	.373	.419

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Yunel Escobar	73	283	41	83	17	1	7	44	22	32	3	1	.293	.355	.435

Poll

If this deal went down, who would get the better end of it?

Braves

227 votes

A's

209 votes

436 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Beane would need more then Yunel, but maybe not too much

Throw in a 2 C prospects, and I think the deal could get done

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by Zach Sanders on Jul 14, 2009 2:58 PM EDT reply actions

More than Yunel? No way.

Paying Holliday his salary, keeping him, and collecting Type A FA picks would cost $6.5M and collect $5M in expected future value.

Paying all of Holliday’s salary, trading him for Escobar, would cost $6.5M and whatever Escobar earns. Escobar’s a 3 WAR player, at minimum. They’re worth $14M on the FA market. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Escobar has three arbitration years left on contract. So he’s nearly free this year, and will get paid 40%, 60%, and 80% of FA value (approximately) during arbitration. So that’s production worth $50M and he’ll be paid about $27M (probably less as defensive shortstops are undervalued.) In other words, a net gain of $23M. Yeah, if I were the A’s, I’d take that deal.

Shorter version: it’s only half a year of Holliday!

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by Sky Kalkman on Jul 14, 2009 9:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Esp. b/c they can't assume he'd turn down arbitration if they offered it, so the picks are guaranteed.

Would be nice to get more back though, for Beane’s sake.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 14, 2009 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions

I would love this deal as an A's fan

The A’s currently have a 0.3% chance of making the playoffs, and Holliday and Cabrera are hardly doing anything. Oakland is in desperate need of a shortstop; they just drafted Green, but he’s still a season or two away – still, too many shortstops is never a problem for any team. If you have a chance to get somebody like Yunel, and get rid of Cabrera and Holliday, I wouldn’t quibble about this prospect or that prospect. I think this deal makes more sense for the A’s than a lot of the other fantasy deals I’ve heard floating around.

by NateHST on Jul 14, 2009 2:58 PM EDT reply actions

Just Yunel and paying alot of salary would be much less than once hoped for

but at this point good enough. Good young cheap SS’s are very hard to find. The A’s really don’t want to find out if Holliday would actually accept arbitration and get paid $16 million because his value was wreaked in Oakland and no one will pay him what Boras thinks he’s worth.

"Gratuitous gesticulating together sounds even better"

by OmahaHi on Jul 14, 2009 3:15 PM EDT reply actions

Good points.

I would still want more back though, if I was an A’s fan – maybe a B or two C’s, like others have said.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 14, 2009 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions

i think A's would demand a bit more

Cash, 2-3 months of holliday, 2 draft picks
it remains to be seen if cabrera is a type A or not, but if Yuni Betancourt goes for 2 prospects, Cabrera has some value by himself. Plus he might be worth at least 1 draft pick after free agency.

Whatever Braves fans want to convince themselves, Escobar has work ethic/attitude issues and is in Cox’s doghouse or he wouldnt be mentioned in trade talks…that cant be ignored

by Asfan4ever723 on Jul 14, 2009 3:15 PM EDT reply actions

You only get draft picks if you offer the player arbitration and he turns it down.

Which, at this point, looks like isn’t going to happen. Boras knows Holliday won’t get nearly as much in FA as he originally planned, so he’ll push him to accept it if it’s offered.

Also, I wouldn’t be using Betancourt as a point of comparison for other SS trade options – he wasn’t worth what Seattle got for him, and the deal only happened because Dayton Moore loves Betancourt.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 14, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Cabrera has a clause in his contract saying that he can't be offered arb

because he felt it hurt his value with the signing team having to give up a high pick.

I would love it, if the A’s got more, I just wouldn’t make picking up salary or getting other fringe prospects a deal breaker. This is probably the best SS the A’s can get and they need to make it happen.

"Gratuitous gesticulating together sounds even better"

by OmahaHi on Jul 14, 2009 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I think the thing to remember is that not only would the A’s have to give up Holliday, but they would have to eat a large portion of his contract. Ultimately eating the contract might be the biggest problem. I know Beane would love Escobar, but I have to believe he imagined getting more in return when he acquired Holliday.

Let’s not forget Beane basically acquired Holliday with the intention of trading him, I’m sure it’s important for him to be the clear cut winner in any deal he makes. It would be a bad shot to his ego if the move to get Holliday backfired.

by Matt Buggenhagen on Jul 14, 2009 3:26 PM EDT reply actions

Looking at Holliday's performance, why would the Braves make this trade??

Escobar is hitting better than Holliday anyway. Would they really bank their youth on Holliday regaining some kind of Rockies form??

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by matthiasstephan on Jul 14, 2009 3:57 PM EDT reply actions

They're actually hitting about the same

But Holliday’s doing it in the American League while playing half his games in the Coli. A trip back to the NL would almost certainly help Holliday quite a bit. I doubt it’s enough to offset the fact that Yunel is doing it as a SS.

by NateHST on Jul 14, 2009 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

This is a horrible idea. Escobar will be a perrenial all-star, is cheap and will be for some time. The only reasons I could see the Braves FO doing this is because:

Escobar’s agent is Wasserman Media (who screwed us over in the off-season with the Furcal deal.) And Wren is trying to dump off their remaining clients, with the only other one being Peter Moylan.

Bobby has issues with Yunel’s attitude.

I love you Bobby, but get over it. The guy’s a stud and I would hate to see him go for a rental of Holliday… Can we say Mark Texieria?

by Bmacbandwagon on Jul 14, 2009 4:55 PM EDT reply actions

Completely agree

Wren shouldn’t do this for a number of reasons:

We have no reason to think that Holliday will re-sign with us.

Holliday’s power is down and Turner Field is not known for it’s ability to give up HRs.

Cabrera is on the decline. Yunel is out performing Cabrera while being paid less (if I remember correctly).

Run away Wren, run far way.

by Cap'n Eddie on Jul 14, 2009 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm going to disagree with one point

Bobby Cox doesn’t have to get over anything, he’s done a lot more in this game than Yunel Escobar. Rather Escobar should check his attitude.

by Matt Buggenhagen on Jul 14, 2009 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions

touche’ I’ll give you that one. However, I think I remeber something about Bobby saying his last year would be 09. That may have changed with the Chipper extention, but if he really is going to hang it up, I think he would be big enought to tell management not to make a move just to make a “Bobby Cox” team, when somebody else may be manager in a couple of years.

by Bmacbandwagon on Jul 14, 2009 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Not sure when Bobby Cox is going to retire, but regardless, Escobar needs to cool his attitude. I think people are tired of talented players carrying a crappy attitude. He’s got so much ability, and to be honest if his attitude didn’t suck, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about this trade. The last thing Escobar wants to become is another Milton Bradley, who gets traded every other year because nobody wants to deal with him. Bobby Cox is highly respected in this game, and when someone like him puts a black label on you it can often stick around for a long time.

by Matt Buggenhagen on Jul 14, 2009 6:15 PM EDT up reply actions