Matt Holliday Trade, Revisited

Around this time last year, one of the big questions surrounding the Colorado Rockies was how they would replace the offensive production of Matt Holliday. Now, the biggest question is how far will they go, and most of the reasons for that is because of the pieces the Rockies got in the Holliday trade. A year after the trade, let's take a look at who got the better of the trade. For purposes of this argument, we'll include the St. Louis Cardinals along with the A's and Rockies, the two original teams in the deal. But because of the trade between the Cardinals and A's, the Card's are involved in this discussion.

Final pieces:

A's- 3B Brett Wallace, OF Shane Peterson, RHP Clayton Mortenson.

Cardinals- OF Matt Holliday, $1.5 Million.

Rockies- OF Carlos Gonzalez, RHP Huston Street, LHP Greg Smith.

At first glance, the Cardinals look like the obvious winner of this trade. Not only did they get one of the best hitters in the National League, but they also got $1.5 million? That seems like shear robbery. But take a closer look. At the time of the trade from the Rockies to the A's, Holliday was 28. The next time he was traded, Holliday was 29. Gonzalez is 24, Street is 26 and Smith is 26. Gonzalez was the focal prospect, and he is a faster, better defending version of Holliday, and Street was a perfect replacement for Brian Fuentes. Greg Smith has potential to be a good starter, but injuries hampered his first season for the Rockies. The A's haven't had any kind of production from either Wallace, Peterson or Mortenson, but all three have big upside for the future.

The verdict:

I give this trade, just based on the production of one season and one postseason, a B+ for the Cardinals. The only reason it's not an A is because Holliday may have cost them in the playoffs with the error in the outfield against the Dodgers. This team won a World Series in 2006 without a big bat behind Pujols, you have to think that Holliday would help bring another. I give the Rockies an A- because of the great regular season that Street had and the fantastic postseason that Gonzalez had. Just like with the Cardinals, Street did blow two save opportunities in the playoffs, but Gonzalez was so good, that keeps them in the A range. I give the A's a C+, only because there hasn't been much production from the three new players, and Holliday was very average in Oakland.

The 2010 season will be the true season that shows who got the better of the deals that these teams made. Holliday got his big deal, Gonzalez and Street will lay a big part on what we hope is a big season for the Rockies, and the A's continue to rebuild with the young pieces they received.