Matt Holliday told KSLG 1380 AM in St. Louis that he’s hoping to stay with the Cardinals long-term. Holliday is a free agent after this season.

From MLB Trade Rumors.com:

“That would be really exciting for me to get a chance to be here and play next to Albert [Pujols] along with the rest of these guys and to do some special things over the next however many years,” Holliday said. “Hopefully this will be a long-term relationship.”

He hasn’t begun negotiating an extension with the team, but says there’s a chance he signs one before the season’s over.

“Hopefully there’ll be some progress and hopefully I’ll be able to stick around here for a long time.”
Holliday, who will turn 30 this offseason, makes $13.5MM this year. His improved offensive stats and strong outfield defense will likely make him one of most highly coveted free agents after the season if he doesn’t sign an extension first.

With how well Holliday has played since arriving in St. Louis, it appears that he and the Cards are a match made in baseball heaven. He offers the club protection behind Pujols in the lineup and also gives them a major upgrade defensively over Chris Duncan, who had been the Cards starting left fielder before Holliday was acquired.

Unless another team (the Yankees?) swoop in and blow Holliday away with a contract, it appears that he’ll be a Cardinal long-term.

The St. Louis Cardinals have finally found slugger Albert Pujols some protection in the lineup, as the Red Birds traded three minor league prospects to the A’s in exchange for outfielder Matt Holliday according to ESPN.com.

One of those three minor leaguers was Brett Wallace, who was Baseball America’s 40th-best prospect entering the season, while the other two were 24-year old right-hander Clayton Mortensen and outfielder Shane Peterson, who was a second rounder in 2008. Apparently Oakland will also chip in $1.5 million to help pay for some of the $6 million still left on Holliday’s contract.

After a slow start, Holliday is now hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI. He instantly makes the Cardinals the favorites to win the NL Central and challenge the Dodgers and Phillies for the NL Pennant by adding much-needed protection behind Pujols in the lineup. His presence in the order should also make players like Mark DeRosa and Ryan Ludwick better as well.

Billy Beane once again did well in a trade. The Oakland GM wanted to get Holliday’s contract off the books (or as much of it as he could), but he also didn’t want to just stick a for sale sign in Holliday’s forehead and give him away for free after trading multiple players to acquire him from Colorado last winter. With Holliday set to become a free agent at the end of the season, Beane did well to not only shed salary, but also get one of the Cards’ best prospects in Wallace.

What will be interesting to keep an eye on over the next two weeks as the trade deadline approaches, is whether or not the Cubs or Brewers will make a big move to counter this trade. Chicago doesn’t have much to offer in its farm system, but Milwaukee, as usual, is stacked and could look to add a pitcher. Although it would require giving up a haul, it’ll be interesting to see if the Brew Crew makes a run at Roy Halladay or the Tribe’s Cliff Lee.

Jon Heyman of SI.com writes on his Twitter page that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa “badly” wants A’s outfielder Matt Holliday. And that’s not all, apparently St. Louis would also be willing to part with minor leaguer Brett Wallace, who was Baseball America’s 40th-best prospect entering the season.

Holliday-to-St. Louis is starting to pick up steam and it appears that the Cardinals have jumped in front of other teams to acquire his services. With Holliday set to become a free agent at the end of the season and still owed $6 million on his contract this year, Oakland GM Billy Beane would like to move him before the July 31 trade deadline. So if he can acquire a top prospect like Wallace, then it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t pull the trigger.

What helps Beane in this case is that Holliday is starting to swing a hot bat. Through Thursday night’s action, he’s hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI. That’s a stark improvement from earlier this season, when he was struggling to even top .260.

Holliday would be a solid addition to the Cardinals’ lineup, one in which needs a bat to help protect Albert Pujols in the lineup. And Holliday would not only make Pujols better, but also other contributors like Mark DeRosa and Ryan Ludwick as well.

According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Cardinals are once again showing interest in A’s outfielder Matt Holliday.

Holliday to Cards, redux: For the second time, rumors are swirling about the Cardinals’ interest in the A’s Matt Holliday, below. One NL source said Wednesday that St. Louis might be edging closer to Oakland’s asking price, minor-league third baseman Brett Wallace, because the Cardinals need a left fielder and their other option essentially would be Washington’s Josh Willingham.

Nothing has changed much for St. Louis since before the All-Star break. They’re still in first place (granted, only by a game over the Cubs and Astros now), their pitching is still solid, and they have nobody to protect Albert Pujols in the lineup, although Ryan Ludwick has shown flashes that he could take over that role at some point in the second half.

There are a couple of things working in the Cardinals’ favor when it comes to Holliday. One is that they’re dealing with the A’s and GM Billy Beane, who hates trading in his own league and usually works with NL teams on bigger deals (see Dan Haren, Mark Mulder and Milton Bradley).

Another factor in the Cardinals’ favor is that Holliday is a free agent at the end of the year and isn’t hitting that well. So while Beane isn’t going to hand him over on a silver platter, he also might have to take a deal of lesser value to make sure he gets something out of the deal he made for Holliday, which is essentially turning out to be a major bust.

We’ll see if St. Louis can put enough of a package together to entice Beane to deal Holliday.

The second half of the 2009 MLB season has kicked off and with that, I’m going to make some predictions that are sure to be proved wrong in a couple months.

Feel free to whip out your crystal ball in the comments section but before you do, please do everyone a favor and take off your favorite team prescribed glasses and be objective for once in your life, will ya?

1. The Blue Jays will trade Halladay…to the Phillies.
Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi is reminding everyone who will listen that he doesn’t absolutely need to trade Roy Halladay – which he doesn’t. But the bottom line is that he’ll probably get more in return for the “Doc” this season than he would next when Halladay is set to become a free agent after the 2010 season. And despite Ricciardi stating that he’s open to trading Halladay within the division, he’s not stupid. He’s not going to trade Halladay to the Red Sox or Yankees and risk becoming public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Jays fans for not only getting rid of their best and most popular player, but also trading him to a division rival in the process. In the end, I think Ricciardi will trade Halladay to an NL team and my guess is that it will be Philadelphia that will eventually puts a package together to acquire him. Although they might balk at the $7 million that’s remaining on Halladay’s contract, the Phillies are built to win now and need more starting pitching to make another run at a World Series. They also have enough appealing prospects to entice Ricciardi to make a deal.

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More specifically, Tony La Russa is searching for another bat to project Pujols:

“The No. 1 thing we can get is a guy to hit behind Albert [Pujols],” La Russa said. “That’s the No. 1 thing.”

And whereas in past years, such comments have sounded like an attempt to prod the Cardinals’ front office, on Thursday they had a different tone. La Russa spoke like a man who has expectations, rather than hopes. La Russa indicated that the club has some financial flexibility, and it’s clear that St. Louis has some young pitching to deal — especially relief pitching.
“It’s really hard to make a significant move,” La Russa said. “There aren’t many guys that fit what you’re looking for. I felt like last year they made an attempt. And since Day 1, we came into this year knowing we were a better ballclub than we thought last year at this time, and we’ve gotten off to a good start, but we know we’re thin.”

The most intriguing name that the Cards could eventually pursue would be A’s outfielder Matt Holliday.

Oakland currently resides at the bottom of the AL West standings and is 8.5 games back of Texas. Not that they’re completely out of contention, but GM Billy Beane could be looking to do one of his trademark deals soon with Holliday set to become a free agent at the end of the year. It’s not a matter of if Holliday will be dealt, but when.

Getting back to the Cards, I don’t know what they would have to give up to swing a deal for Holliday (and it’s not fair at this point to speculate), but adding him to their lineup might be the thing they need to create a cushion between them and the Brewers/Cubs in the NL Central. Of course, a healthy Chris Carpenter remains the biggest factor in how much success St. Louis will have this season, but landing Holliday could make them World Series contenders.