Matt Holliday Officially

The Cardinals have officially landed the biggest prize of the 2009 trading season so far, acquiring left fielder Matt Holliday from the A's in exchange for three minor-league prospects.

FanHouse's Ed Price and Jeff Fletcher first confirmed the deal early Friday afternoon, with sources from both clubs indicating that initial reports from ESPN's Tim Kurkijan and FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, were "on the money."

"We are extremely excited to have acquired Matt Holliday," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement. "Matt is an impact player who gives us an instant added threat in the middle of our lineup. These types of opportunities are rare. The price to complete this deal was steep, but our organization feels that it should greatly improve our chances to compete for a postseason berth."

The A's will get three minor leaguers -- third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Patterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen -- in return for the slugger. The A's are also expected to send cash to the Cardinals to help pay some of Holliday's remaining $6 million in salary this season.

Holliday has been on fire for about a month now, hitting .331/.410/.557 since June 26. Coupled with Ryan Ludwick, who's crushing the ball to the tune of a 1.130 OPS in July, the Cardinals finally have the lineup protection they desire for Albert Pujols. Making the deal without giving up anyone from their current big-league squad likely makes the Cardinals the favorites in the very tight NL Central.

The teams had been serious about a Holliday deal a few weeks ago, but at that time the Cardinals were unwilling to move Wallace. Wallace was likely a key to the trade from the A's perspective, because the team is bereft of top hitting prospects who are close to the majors. The A's also have voids at third and first base in the long term.

"Brett is a guy were familiar with, a guy we had longed for. Last year at draft time we had a difficult choice between him and Jemile [Weeks]. Wallace is an awfully steep price for Holliday. He has crushed the ball at almost every level since being drafted by St. Louis last June. "We think [Wallace] will be a middle-of-the-order power guy," Beane said.
Mortensen is a 24 year-old pitching prospect at Triple-A Memphis, and Peterson is a 21 year-old outfielder at Double-A Springfield. Peterson has shown some impressive plate patience for such a young player and Mortensen racked up some big strikeout numbers early in his minor-league career, but they're both regarded to be much lower down the Cardinals' prospect ladder.

Oakland will call up outfielder Eric Patterson to take Holliday's spot on the roster. Wallace is not expected to reach the majors this season.

article source:mlb.fanhouse.com