Cardinals ‘have options’ for life without Holliday

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the Cardinals “have yet to present an offer to” Matt Holliday and “acknowledge it is virtually certain their former cleanup hitter will reach the open market.” “We have to be prepared if we can’t sign him,” general manager John Mozeliak said. “We need to have other options to pursue. And we do. There are always options. If something we pursue with Matt falls through, we’re certainly going to re-evaluate where we stand.” Mozeliak added that he doesn’t plan to get into a bidding war despite agent Scott Boras’ claims that Holliday should command something close to the eight-year, $180 million deal signed by Mark Teixeira last offseason. And he shouldn’t, because my guess is that Holliday ends up closer to $100 million than $180 million. Strauss speculates that the usual suspects like the Yankees, Mets, Angels, and Red Sox will be in the mix for Holliday, but Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News reports that the Mets are unlikely to seriously pursue Holliday or Jason Bay at their expected asking prices and the Red Sox may only turn to Holliday if attempts to re-sign Bay fall through.